BajaNomad - Fact or Fiction?

Fact or Fiction?

Feathers - 3-27-2012 at 10:22 AM

Here in La Bocana, there's an occasional home surrounded with half-buried tires.

I've heard it said that the tires are placed to be used when the wind blows hard. A rope is tied to a tire, slung over the roof and tied to a tire on the opposite side to keep the roof from blowing off.

I'm a fact finder, of sorts... so I'd love to hear from anyone who actually knows whether this is true... or not.

DENNIS - 3-27-2012 at 10:30 AM

Could be. It sounds like what they call a "dead man" used in winching. Dig a hole in the ground.....bury a log or other wide object in the ground with a rope tied around it and use it as an anchor for pulleys.

mtgoat666 - 3-27-2012 at 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Feathers
Here in La Bocana, there's an occasional home surrounded with half-buried tires.

I've heard it said that the tires are placed to be used when the wind blows hard. A rope is tied to a tire, slung over the roof and tied to a tire on the opposite side to keep the roof from blowing off.

I'm a fact finder, of sorts... so I'd love to hear from anyone who actually knows whether this is true... or not.

FEMA under Bush 2 (atta boy, Brownie!) started this process, after they saw the practice at the Decatur tire factor. They now use tire anchors to tie down mobile homes in tornado country. The engineering solution has spread worldwide like wildfire. You better run out and buy a truck load of tires right now!

Feathers - 3-27-2012 at 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by lencho

Quote:

Originally posted by Feathers
I'm a fact finder, of sorts... so I'd love to hear from anyone who actually knows whether this is true... or not.

Have you asked the people who own those homes? :?:

Should I have prefaced my question with the fact that my Spanish-speaking skills are muy poquito?

Feathers - 3-27-2012 at 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666

Quote:

hahaha... not likely.

Feathers - 3-27-2012 at 10:38 AM

Thanks Dennis... "could be"... that's a start.

vgabndo - 3-27-2012 at 10:58 AM

I'm going to guess that this is a cheap property line delineation. My growing understanding of the host culture leads me to believe it would be at this point where an uninvited visitor would need to stop and be acknowledged from within. Fences need maintenance, fall down, and block the view. Tires are forever and they are all that is needed for making a line that all understand.

That's my guess, from what I've observed, and not knowing how they appear on the ground in LB.

Osprey - 3-27-2012 at 11:19 AM

I'm with Dennis. I run my big boat ropes criss cross over my big palapa before a storm, tie them off to the big deeply imbedded corner posts. If I only had flimsy above ground posts but could find free tires to sink for a deadman, that's what I would do. Sounds uniquely Mexican.

[Edited on 3-27-2012 by Osprey]

Feathers - 3-27-2012 at 11:22 AM

Vgabndo: This would be my "guess", too.

The tires appear to run the perimeter of the property... and these homes are definitely pre-Katrina.

None of the newer dwellings use tires in this fashion.

[Edited on 3-27-2012 by Feathers]

Cypress - 3-27-2012 at 01:30 PM

Bush was nothing to be proud of , but this Obama clown is a wonder to behold. :lol:

Cypress - 3-27-2012 at 01:40 PM

And that is a fact! :biggrin:

BajaBlanca - 3-27-2012 at 02:46 PM

that is a real good question.

Les thinks they think it is pretty. and a cheap fence. i think I agree with him. I am trying to remember what they did when we had gale force winds here once, and I simply don't remember but i will ask around. They do put ropes over the roofs, but I don't recall what they were attached to at the ends ....

durrelllrobert - 3-27-2012 at 04:27 PM

tires stacked flat and filled with dirt are often used as retaining walls down hear also. in fact there is one house up on the hill where they built all 4 walls of their guest house out of tires this way.

rts551 - 3-27-2012 at 04:33 PM

Fact. not for hard blows necessarily, but for the hurricane threats. Last Hurricane/tropical storm in out area was about 1999.

Santiago - 3-27-2012 at 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by durrelllrobert
tires stacked flat and filled with dirt are often used as retaining walls down hear also. in fact there is one house up on the hill where they built all 4 walls of their guest house out of tires this way.

Bob:
Are these tires offset so that each row is one-half or even maybe one-third offset to the row below?

vgabndo - 3-27-2012 at 05:12 PM

That's a clean and strong re-purposing answer for a tie down! On the gulf coast I saw a lot of fishing nets over palapas as a tie down, do folks use ropes over metal roofs too?

Bajahowodd - 3-27-2012 at 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Cypress
Bush was nothing to be proud of , but this Obama clown is a wonder to behold. :lol:

And you had to politicize this thread because......?

Udo - 3-27-2012 at 05:50 PM

Does anyone have any photos of these "fences"?

Cypress - 3-27-2012 at 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666
FEMA under Bush 2 (atta boy, Brownie!) started this process...

Just reponding to the usual dig at former president Bush. Is that OK with you? :biggrin:

Feathers - 3-27-2012 at 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by BajaBlanca
that is a real good question.

Les thinks they think it is pretty. and a cheap fence. i think I agree with him. I am trying to remember what they did when we had gale force winds here once, and I simply don't remember but i will ask around. They do put ropes over the roofs, but I don't recall what they were attached to at the ends ....

Thanks for replying Blanca... I was hoping you would!

Did you find your camera? You're more than welcome to borrow mine if the need arises.

Feathers - 3-27-2012 at 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Udo
Does anyone have any photos of these "fences"?

I don't Udo.

It was too windy to go outside today... and my tether wouldn't reach that far. :biggrin:

RnR - 3-28-2012 at 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Feathers

Quote:

Originally posted by Udo
It was too windy to go outside today... and my tether wouldn't reach that far. :biggrin:

Bring a tire with you.....

Udo - 3-28-2012 at 08:03 AM

I would bring six tires...if it would help!

durrelllrobert - 3-28-2012 at 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Santiago
Bob:
Are these tires offset so that each row is one-half or even maybe one-third offset to the row below?

Yes. For retaining walls on hillsides it looks like they ofset them about 1/4 - 1/3 the diameter in addition to staggering them 1/2 from one row to the next

Feathers - 3-28-2012 at 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RnR

Quote:

Originally posted by Feathers

Quote:

Originally posted by Udo
It was too windy to go outside today... and my tether wouldn't reach that far. :biggrin:

Bring a tire with you.....

... @ Udo, too! :lol: