A sorry day in the snow; but life goes on

[warren46]

I have procrastinated making this post because I have sad news to report.  The snow and ice of last week were too much for my sawmill shed.

The good news is that no one was hurt and the mill suffered only minor damage.

The bad news is that the sawmill shed is a total loss.

I will rebuild a much smaller shed this time since funds are not available right now for a large shed.

Warren

  

[bandmiller2]

Enough to make you sick, sorry mate. I'am sure you can reuse most of the materials especially the tin. Seems now even you southern boys are going to have to figure for snowload. Frank C.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

DanG Warren......hard to believe. I would have never thought that by looking at your other pics.

[drobertson]

Man, hate to see this, its amazing just how much snow weighs when it piles up.  david

[thecfarm]

That is too bad.

[Corley5]

That hurts  :(

[Magicman]

Wow, that is terrible.  It seems that we hardly have enough time to do it once, much less again.   :-\  I wish you the best with your cleanup and reconstruction.

[Dave Shepard]

 :( I'm glad nobody was hurt, and that the mill wasn't seriously damaged.

[dboyt]

Glad you & the mill are ok.  Been a rough winter, and I hope things look better when the snow melts and things warm up!  Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Peter Drouin]

I'm sad that happened to you. Make the next one so it will hold a ton.
We have to do that up here.I try to make mine so I don't have to shovel the snow off

[Chuck White]

Man, that's a shame Warren, you had a nice sawshed there!

[beenthere]

Reply #12
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,69562.msg1050296.html#msg1050296

Those trusses are designed for chicken houses here in North Carolina.  The are engineered to take our snow load.  The shop building in the background has the same design and has taken whatever snow happens in Union County North Carolina.

An earlier quote from you. How did the shop building handle that snow load? 


From the pics of the shed, just seemed to not have much bracing to handle roof loads. Were there any clues from the twisted remains that indicated what failed?  Might be real tough to tell, but sure sorry to see what happened.

[clww]

Very sorry to read of your loss. Glad nobody was injured.

[scully]

Man that just plain sux ! I think you can salvage allot of the material ,I know I sure would try ! Hope you get it back together soon .

[Klicker]

Sorry to see your loss. I know the feeling. We lost a 26x48 greenhouse  this winter

[Ohio_Bill]

Sorry for your loss . Glad the mill was not damaged to much .

[SPD748]

That's terrible Warren. When I moved the mill, I noticed that the lower sections of the trusses were or appeared to have been modified or cut. Could that have been the failure point? I hope that most of what's left can be reused. There's a truss manufacturer near Morganton, NC that makes steel trusses which are definitely snow rated for the area. He quoted me $300 ea for 30 footers. Let me know if you need his contact information.

-lee

[lyle niemi]

This isn't good to see, there has been a few buildings go down up here because of the snow, no such thing as overbuilding something

[Ianab]

Just thinking about how it failed?

Where the walls actually pushed outwards by the snow weight. With a trss design like that there isn't the normal tension member at the bottom, which holds the ends of the truss together under weight.  If the wall posts where able move (or even flex) then the truss would fold up easily.

Doesn't help now, but it might in the rebuild? Something as simple as a cable or steel rod spanning the bottom of the truss and put under tension would have made them twice(?) as strong?

Ian

[Magicman]

Just thinking about how it failed? 

Our chicken house builders had to quit using metal trusses many years ago because of failures.  All are now wooden trusses.

[samandothers]

Warren
Very sorry to hear and see this but glad you were not there when it occurred and no one was hurt.

If you need a hand with work there let me know.  Hopefully you can salvage much of the roofing. 

[fat olde elf]

I called Warren this afternoon. He is in good spirits and seems grateful that his mill survived the catastrophe.  Ianab has a valid point about horizontal support.  I have been involved in greenhouse construction for many years. Even with seemingly adequate horizontal support the greenhouse industry loses structures every year to snow load.

Warren is 23 miles south and west of me near Charlotte NC. In this general area we got 7 to 10 inches of different kinds of snow, sleet, and ice. This was a major event for the folks here.  I am sure Warren will rebound from this in fine shape and will soon be back to making sawduct.  Take a look at the quality of fine furniture this guy turns out. previous posts.............

[warren46]

That's terrible Warren. When I moved the mill, I noticed that the lower sections of the trusses were or appeared to have been modified or cut. Could that have been the failure point? I hope that most of what's left can be reused. There's a truss manufacturer near Morganton, NC that makes steel trusses which are definitely snow rated for the area. He quoted me $300 ea for 30 footers. Let me know if you need his contact information.

-lee

Lee,

I plan to go much smaller for the new shed.  I expect to saw all of the framing materials and reuse the metal roofing.  I used cable as "rafter ties"  but went to small. That is what failed first and then the trusses buckled at the top of the posts.  I tried to go cheap and suffered the cost.

Warren

[warren46]

I have not posted since the snow but I have been busy.  I am happy to report that the minor damage to the mill (that was not as minor as it first appeared) has been repaired.  I sawed some pine yesterday and hope to fill a couple of orders for oak today.  One of the orders is for 16' oak 12 X 2.  Those will be a challenge to get off of the mill.

I also have been milling flooring from some reclaimed pine I sawed for another customer.  Remind me to charge more for milling lumber into flooring :-\

I know why the roof collapsed.  I sent a boy to do a man's job when I installed cable ties across the building as rafter ties.  I should have used two half inch cables per truss instead of a single quarter inch cable.  The turnbuckles on each tie failed allowing the roof to collapse.

Thanks for all of you comment to my original post.

Warren

[Brad_S.]

I am happy to report that the minor damage to the mill (that was not as minor as it first appeared) has been repaired.

Glad you were able to make repairs to the mill. They don't make 'em like that anymore!
Signed,
A Timber Harvester fan.