Can Anyone Help Us With Advice Please As We're Having Problems In The High Winds

happy...camper · 01-11-2015, 10:33 AM

Hi everyone we have had a bit of an issue with our yurt and were advised to try this forum for help but my other half had a lot of issues with trying to post on the forum so i'm having a go

My partner wrote this & then could not post due to getting a "We have marked much of your activity as suspicious, you cannot perform this function at this time" error from him trying to upload pictures. Could he please be unblocked (Username Marrv)?

Firstly let me say hello to everyone here, only just been directed to the site from another.

We put up our yurt in September in North Yorkshire, UK and have since twice experienced the same issue with it.

Before Christmas we had some high winds (gusts up to 50mph) which managed to push the windward facing side of the yurt wall inwards by 1-2 ft.

The opposite wall held in place (we braced the bottom of the lattice when putting it up) and the result was the door was leaning at around ~20 degrees (I thought was more).

Once the weather calmed we put the yurt back to how it should be (removed covers, re-positioned walls, re-centred the crown)

I then screwed internal blocks against the bottom of the lattice work, thinking that the reason the wall moved was the winds caused the wall to slide across the platform it is on (OSB boards).
At this point we also switched out to using ratchets on our bands as we had trouble getting / keeping them tight enough, we are fully aware that is is not ideal as it can easily allow for the bands to be over-tightened but are being as careful as possible to not do this.

Recently (last 2-3 days) we have been having high winds again & the door has left vertical again, but only by a few degrees this time. It seems as if the walls have shifted, and the roof poles are very tight on the door side & pretty loose on the windward facing side making me think the roof "half" has pushed over. The crown wheel supports where also no longer vertical either.

The sitting of the yurt is not in the open, it is shielded from the South side via a beech edge running east > west, the west side is pretty exposed though. The is an leylandii in the hedgerow fairly close to the yurt, the tree itself is stable & we know of the dangers of branches. The tree is likely to be removed this summer.
The yurt itself is also below the ground by one or two feet on the South side, and the west > east is on a slight hill (it is no-where near the top). Looking from the west to the eat;

We are currently looking at putting up a staggered wind break on the western side to break up this wind (in picture above will be in front of the yurt)

Anyone ever experienced this issue or have any suggestions, have contacted the seller & they "thought it would have been impossible".

As we are both (my partner & I) new to yurts we are somewhat flummoxed and inexperienced.

Tried to link or upload images but got a "please do not use remote images, upload them instead" error. As it will not let me link to where they are uploaded nor embed the image in the post not sure how to put pictures up!

Jafo · 01-11-2015, 10:37 AM

You can upload your pics this way:

http://www.yurtforum.com/forums/yurt....html#post1832

Because right now we can't see exactly what you mean.

happy...camper · 01-11-2015, 10:44 AM

thanks for the link but can you unblock marrv please as he is the one that has the photos

Bob Rowlands · 01-11-2015, 11:36 AM

I deal with very high wind -over 50 mph-occasionally. To see photos of my yurt on here, type- Homemade yurt - in the search box. Then scroll down and you'll see the thread title and my name.

Look at the rope bridle on the yurt roof. The five legs on the bridle are anchored to five concrete piers just outside the platform. Each pier has a bolt embedded in the top.

I actually have ten of those piers just outside the footprint of the platform. I have a 1/8th cable installed through the bolts set in the piers. The cable surrounds the perimeter of the yurt, including the door. Rope passing through loops stitched into the roof cover are anchored to that cable.

Also look at the closeup of the 'ell' brackets anchoring the yurt wall crosses to the deck. Lastly my yurt is tensioned with a cable, which does not stretch at all.

Good luck.

Jafo · 01-11-2015, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by happy...camper

thanks for the link but can you unblock marrv please as he is the one that has the photos

He should be able to post now..

happy...camper · 01-11-2015, 11:53 AM

thankyou

Marrv · 01-11-2015, 11:54 AM

The first picture is when the wall initially moved before Christmas

The second is the angle that the door ended up at once the wall moved.

The Third is the location of the yurt looking east, door is on far side.

Pics resized to 620px at maximum dismension

& ty for letting me post

Groovyyurts · 01-15-2015, 02:33 PM

Hello Happy Camper,

There's a few things that you can do to improve the situation when there are windy conditions.

1- If the yurt tends to be pushed sideways by the wind, you might want to consider adding a border to your platform to prevent it from sliding. We usually suggest 6-12" high surrounding your wood structure. You should be able to fit the wood structure and

insulation

inside the border, while the canvas stays outside in order for the water to drip out, not in.

2- Buckle up! During strong and violent wind, make sure to tie the inside rope to an heavy object or directly to your platform. Putting pressure from the tonoo down helps compress the roof and put weigh on the lower wood structure, therefore strengthening the whole structure.

3- Add some ropes! In windy weather you can add two diagonal ropes across the top and down on the opposite walls, like you see in photos of some traditional yurts. it helps keep wind from getting under the cover.

4- Wrap it up! Make sure your ropes are as tight as they possibly can! these ropes guarantee the solidity of the yurt!

I hope these solutions will help you in your situation

Marrv · 01-17-2015, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Groovyyurts

Hello Happy Camper,

There's a few things that you can do to improve the situation when there are windy conditions.

1- If the yurt tends to be pushed sideways by the wind, you might want to consider adding a border to your platform to prevent it from sliding. We usually suggest 6-12" high surrounding your wood structure. You should be able to fit the wood structure and

insulation

inside the border, while the canvas stays outside in order for the water to drip out, not in.

2- Buckle up! During strong and violent wind, make sure to tie the inside rope to an heavy object or directly to your platform. Putting pressure from the tonoo down helps compress the roof and put weigh on the lower wood structure, therefore strengthening the whole structure.

3- Add some ropes! In windy weather you can add two diagonal ropes across the top and down on the opposite walls, like you see in photos of some traditional yurts. it helps keep wind from getting under the cover.

4- Wrap it up! Make sure your ropes are as tight as they possibly can! these ropes guarantee the solidity of the yurt!

I hope these solutions will help you in your situation

Hello,

Thank you for your reply;
1) We already have an "upstand" on the yurt, just was made from plastic not wood. Looking to changing it to WBP at some point soon
2) What is a tonoo?
3) Just awaiting on the delivery of these.
4) The first time we found this, now they are tightly done up.