Brand new building for the operation

[oakiemac]

Here is a side view.



Here is a front view.



Here is a view from inside.




Its a Clear span building, fabric tension cover over metal frame. 48'x34'x17' tall. I'm going to use it for storing kiln dried lumber and some small equipment. I have been renting space in an old factory about 20 minutes away and now I wont have to. Will be nice having everything here instead of driving to pick up. I still have some work to do on the building. The back is not on yet and there are some trim pieces I have to install but most of the work is done.

[beenthere]

That sure looks convenient. Glad to see the progress.  8)

[Chuck White]

Looks like a great idea going there!

Is the fabric heavy-duty enough to handle the heavy snow!

[WDH]

Man, it sure would be nice to have one of those!

[Larry]

Looks good to me.  Will you have to pay property tax on it?

[LOGDOG]

Nice building.

[oakiemac]

I'm not sure on property tax. That was one reason I bought this instead of a pole barn contstruction. But somebody called the zoning guy and complained about the building so he came out and he-hawed around but finally determined that I did need a zoning permit which he gave me for $25. So I guess tax will be up in the air but most like I will. His reasoning was that the anchors were imbedded in concrete-therefore a permanent building.
Snow load was a question that I had and they told me they have them all over Michigan and up state New York with lots of snow. Most will simply slide off the edges but if we get a lot then I'll have to brush it off or push it off from inside.

I eventually want to heat it with an outdoor wood boiler but I'm trying to figure out what type of insulation to use. They sell a then product called Texfoil which looks like aluminum foil but is supposed to reflect all the heat back into the building. This might be a way to go but I'm not sure yet.

[red oaks lumber]

fine fine lookin shed  :D you will love not having to travel

[WH_Conley]

the Texfoil/Tekfoil is good stuff. I worked in a tent something like that one winter. You can shove the snow off. I was always afraid it would melt and not get dry before it froze back, holding the next snow on. Maybe we just got lucky, never had a problem.

[Brucer]

Those tents will usually shed snow pretty well, but never ever get complacent about it.

Here's a picture of my customer's tent in the middle of his third winter. He never had to knock the snow off it -- just periodically clean snow away from the sides with a loader. That's my first mill across the end.



This is the same tent in the middle of the fourth winter. This happened over the Christmas vacation when no one was on site. For some reason the snow didn't slide. To make things worse, they had cleaned the snow away from the sides just before everyone took off. It turns out the piles of snow along the sides acted as a buttress. Without it, the sides bulged out and then the center just folded down. My second mill was in the tent but fortunately it was parked along one side.



This is the view from the other direction. You can see the mill in this picture, or part of it anyway. I was very lucky -- there was a steel rib folded down just in front of the mast, and another one just behind it. The only damage was a slightly bent belt guard on the debarker.



The guy who bought this property after my customer died put up  a tent last summer. I warned him about the snow damage, but he wasn't worried. He'd used it for years with no problem at his last site. It got flattened in February.

[WH_Conley]

WOW!!!

[thecfarm]

The only problem I can see is snow piling up on the sides. Just like green house hoops. Just keep the snow away from the outside edge and you should be all set. A nice building to have close by. Probaly will pay for it self in a few years instead of renting space.

[inspectorwoody]

Nice building.  8) I've never seen one with lumber being used for the ends. Looks nice.

I've never seen one taken down by snow before. Holy Smokes. 

I'm friends with an Amish family and they have two 30x90 hoops they use to raise flowers in. They don't do anything in regards to snow and they have stood for a few years. They did have to modify a few things to make the rafters etc. stronger as they hang the baskets from them.

[Coon]

These types of buildings are used here on the frigid prairies too.  Many of the people that own these up here prop up a pole, every few ribs, in the center for extra support with heavy snow loads. 

Putting heat into a building like that may result in condensation on the inside of the fabric.  I talked to one guy that had these issues and what he ended up doing was buying another building package that was the same.  He modified the second package slightly so that he could fit it inside the first one leaving enough space in between the two walls to leave some airflow.  I believe he told me that he had about 6 inches of airspace.  As far as I know the structure is still being used today and this was put up about 5 or 6 years ago.

[oakiemac]

Those pictures of the collasped building are my worse nightmare. There was one company that made this type of buildings that had a lot of collapse problems and was sued and went out of business. They were built substandard to the Clear Span buildings. However I'm still worried about excessive snow.

[beenthere]

oakimac
Seems without too much work with some 1x4 or 1x5 oak boards of reasonable quality, you could add support under the hoops by criss-crossing and glue/screw at the overlaps. Making some wannabe trusses that would add substantial support to any of the hoops that might want to give in to a potential snow load (as that load may be concentrated and need to be shared over a larger area).
Just a thought, and it might look like this (assembled in-place and fab'd as time permits).

Might even do the job if the red lines drawn were simply tension wires/cables that were clamped where they cross each other.

[Brucer]

I didn't post those pictures to give anyone nightmares. There's a lesson or two to be learned.

The owner's workers noticed that the snow was collecting on the rounded peak a little more often then it did in previous years. They even made a pole with a flat board on the end to "bounce" the fabric. It didn't take much bouncing to cause everything to slide.

The general feeling was that "the snow's a little bit weird this year". I wonder if it was the texture of the fabric that had changed. Maybe UV had caused the slippery surface to become less slippery.

If I were to set one of those up on my site, I'd be keeping a journal about the weather, snowfall, how much collected on the roof, etc. And I'd be looking for changes each year.

It wasn't hard to get the snow to slide. As soon as something started it sliding in one spot, the whole structure would vibrate and the snow would just come off. So it would have been simple to have someone come in once a day to make sure snow wasn't building up.

As I said, I'm pretty sure that leaving some snow piled up along the sides would have saved it. I analyzed the failure as we were taking the structure apart (by cutting apart the ribs). Here's the most likely sequence.

1) For some reason snow was building up deeper than usual before sliding.
2) The extra load pushed down on the centre, causing the ribs to bow outward.
3) With no snow along the sides to act as buttresses, the ribs failed on both sides, about half way between the peak and the base.
4) The center part folded down causing the peak to buckle. Each rib ended up looking like a McDonald's arch.
5) The end nearest the adjacent building failed first, probably from drifted snow. As each rib failed, it overloaded the rib next to it. People in the business next door said it sounded like a giant zipper being pulled, followed by a muffled thump.
6) The entire sequence had to have happened very quickly. Otherwise the vibration from the first ribs failing would have shaken loose the snow at the other end (and that didn't happen).

The first clue to an impending failure was when the snow started building up more than usual. The second clue, which no one was there to notice, would have been the ribs bowing outward.

One other lesson to be learned. The owner had insurance on his buildings and equipment. But when he tried to collect for the tent collapse, the claim was refused. He'd failed to notify the insurance company when he installed the tent.

[oakiemac]

Beenthere-the rip support system that you drew might help but then again shouldn't be necessary. It is supposed to hold up to heavy snow. I might make a few poles that I can insert on the ribs if heavy snow is forcasted then removed after the snow fall.

Building is insured and I did specify the type of construction but then again insurance companies usually find a way out of paying.