keeping an eye on yurt platform

[Larzo]

I called Hammond lumber this morning. He seemed to indicate that it was not uncommon for decks that are 2 or 3 feet high to not have any cross bracing. I definitely still plan to get up there this weekend and install cross bracing, but I feel a little better that he told me that

They have some kind of T braces. I am not sure what connector nails are, but it sounded like there are no special tools that I will need

[Bob Rowlands]

You have a free standing

yurt platform

, not a deck attached to a house. Also your posts are sitting unattached to simple on ground piers, not attached to poured concrete piers set to frost line in the earth. There is a difference between the two. Also I'm just looking at a photo where it appears the platform frame is marginal. I'd attach the beams to the posts with connectors and X brace the posts, based on the photos. Good luck.

[Bob Rowlands]

8s= 8 penny nails. Connector nails are alot stronger than 8s. Also, since the posts are 4x4 and the beam tripled 2x, you'd have to furr the side of the post flush with the beam for a 'T' connector plate to anchor the two together. Therefore use a ninety degree 'L' connector to join the two. Install it to the bottom of the beam and to the side of the post. X bracing will take care of the lateral thrust that a t connector addresses.

The internet is really not the place to discuss this stuff. A detailed drawing is preferred and I can't do that here. Good luck.

[hierony]

From the photos, it's hard to tell exactly what's going on. For instance, that platform would not be able to hold _if_ all those posts were just free-standing (neither braced nor attached to the beams). It looks like there might be bracing on a few of them, or maybe the platform is braced at four points around the perimeter. But to really know what's going on, somebody would have to get down under the platform and look a bit more closely--hence the suggestion to get a construction friend/contractor to look at it, who could also explain in person what to do to shore it up. In any case, what Bob described will give you a nice sturdy setup.

For a bit more visualization, check out Rainer Yurts 21' platform plans. You'll notice that they specify a slightly different pier block and have the beams directly on the blocks. This works when you have a pretty level site. Page 9 shows a good example of bracing, but only where there's a taller post on the downhill side. You'd probably want to brace most of your posts.

[Larzo]

I added quite a few Y type supports. I could not do cross bracing because the piers are too far apart - typically 7 feet apart.

What I mean by a Y support is where a 2x4 goes from the bottom of a support pole and is connected to the platform beam.

The guy at the lumber yard told me to use these very large screws.

I also added to 8 of the concrete footings, some thick foam matieral that is about 2 feet around the footing to help prevent frost.

From the diagram below. The area that is to the NW side of the platform is about 1 foot or so from the ground to where the support meets the platform beam and the SE side is about 3 feet.

There are no cross beams going E-W. Actually there are some kind of E-W boards, but I realized they are all hidden by the 18 inches of floor

insulation

I added 5 years ago. Those are what the floorboards sit. Since I could not use those, the guy at the lumber store told me to add floor joists. These are the 5 beams in the diagram in a red color going E-W (that I installed). They are not actually underneath any real floor that is holding them down but are just held in by the joist hangers. I think I will have to add L connectors by the edges of those floor joists to make the connection there stronger because the joist hangers don't seem as rugged to me. Those floor joists are the only thing that allowed me to install East to West Y bracing. But only 2 supports have a full Y brace because you can tell from the diagram that the others supports only have a floor joist on one side. I spent all day Saturday and half of Sunday working on this. There are quite a few North to South Y braces in most all spots.

The Strong type T connectors would not fit so I used a number of large L shaped braces.

[Bob Rowlands]

Good job larzo. That should help with stabilizing the platform.