How well do shelter logic hold up in heavy snow areas?

[ruffdog]

Can yo be more specific, do you still have to tap it from the inside to remove the snow.

I have never done any snow removal once I put the metal on. When the fabric was on, I would use a broom to pull the snow and ice off. Just like with the small 10x10 building, once some of the snow melts and then refreezes, it is now "stuck" to the fabric and builds up. I would have to use the broom from the bottom and bump it from the bottom to break it up. The plastic on the big building ripped length wise down what looked like a flaw in the plastic.

 

[jix]

Shelter Tech out of Woodstock NB is an amazing structure, but not cheap. I have a 14W x35Lx10H footer that has been up for 7 years, three hurricanes, snows at least three feet deep and ice storms on the roof. It cost about $3500 but it is the strongest temp building I have seen anywhere for harsh winter conditions

Shelter tech offers a "Canadian" grade shelter, far heavier components than standard. That is what I got. I over-killed the ground anchors and the wind tie-downs big time, and installed 4 diagonal corner braces made from Steel conduit into the skeleton. No amount of snow (a heck of a lot) causes me concern. It has withstood snow and ice on the roof three feet deep, all saturated with freezing rain each winter...and hurricane Arthur..without a burp. A good strong crushed stone base is important too. They gotta be on a level, stable base...not on soil

Yes, pricey, but you get what you pay for. The best aspect is that "temporary" buildings do not attract the taxman. I would not purchase the standard grade from anyone..they just collapse under snow, or blow away in high wind.

The strength of the steel frame is the issue...and the CANADIAN grade framework is extremely strong indeed. My snow load has been very, very high ( many tons) without damage. The four diagonal corner braces (in tension, not compression)which I added are the killer difference, becoz they prevent end-to-end "bookfolding" of the frame in high wind or heavy snow. The four lengths of 1" x 12 ' conduit I used to make them cost me an extra 60 bucks...but they are absolutely necessary to prevent longitudinal stress from collapsing the framework.

 

[ruffdog]

Correct, the fabric buildings lack the structural strength that allows the wiggle and sway down the length of them. Once you screw metal on the outside, it is IMPOSSIBLE for it to "bookfold" and gets rid of the swaying motion.

 

[curvecrazy]

I just had my 14'W x 10' H x 24' L Farmtek Round Top shelter collapse in the last snow even we had which was massive. I too, like so many others, do use a snow rake to remove the snow when I am doing regular snow removal. I had done so the previous night and there was a good 3ft on top of it. Overnight we got more than that if you can imagine and I saw it collapsed at 6am the following morning through the near whiteout conditions still happening. I thought a tree had fallen on it as I heard a noise in the house similar to that. Which is what lead me to look out. Now... this is a semi expensive hoop/fabric structure. I still can not believe it collapsed as it made it through last winter which was a duzzy with ample and constant snowfall. But as said, I cleaned it off religiously. So it collapsed right in the middle and went right to the ground. The sides were braced same as Jix mentions above which meant that the sides literally folded over at exactly the point where the angled braces were attached. They folded right in!
So this has been quite a headache as my snow removal equipment got buried in there. I had to shovel out the whole top by climbing on top to even get inside and assess the damage as not wanting to die under a secondary collapse no thank you. LOL So it literally bent right inward at the level of the purlins on each side kinking over the tubes/hoops there. Now there was probably 4 feet of snow fwiw.
What have I learned from this? Well, frankly I can't believe I was so naive thinking that shelter would be fine in our heavy snow area without bracing. I also am kicking myself for not using more hoops because from day 1 the 4 foot spacing between hoops struck me as excessive. I gut was telling me not to trust it. It was well anchored with ground stakes 32" deep and cinch downs fwiw. If I had it to do again, I would have purchased top rail fence tubing and made cross over braces about 7-8ft high. The company says in snow areas use 3ft hoop spacing but I say no way I would use 10 hoops or more in that 24ft length. Why not? I am also kicking myself for not making brace posts for the hoops which could be put in in case of forcasted snowstorm event. It would have been easy to make those and have them there ready for such an event. I did not and it collapsed and I am regretting. I ended up making them anyways because I had to jack the whole shelter back up to get at my equipment and each hoop I jacked back up was then compromised requiring a post at the center to hold it up. I am pretty sure if I had had the posts in there during the snowstorm it would not have collapsed. Farmtek is happy to sell me hoops for just about the price of a complete replacement building. Which is aggravating frankly. It's a $2300 building and I trusted them to make it right. It failed and they should make it right by my reasoning. But like most things I will end up fixing this myself and probably build a proper structure next year. Tired of having to remove the snow constantly which takes probably 10 minutes each time. And it builds up around it making it harder as the winter goes on since you have trouble then reaching with the roof rake. Basically this structure served my purposes well while it did, pretty much shelter for the tractor and implements and lawn equipment and some misc... but if I had to do it again I would seriously reinforce it. More hoops as a start. Cross beams next. Definitely some posts to put in for unusual snow events. I think I would even be inclined to put in a 2X6 ridgebeam end to end and make like an A frame support on each end with an angle brace built in so it would not sway back and forth. That might limit your end access slightly but it would be worth it to make sure it has support in case of????

 

[curvecrazy]

I just had my 14'W x 10' H x 24' L Farmtek Round Top shelter collapse in the last snow event we had which was massive. I too, like so many others, do use a snow rake to remove the snow when I am doing regular snow removal. I had done so the previous night and there was a good 3ft on top of it. Overnight we got more than that if you can imagine and I saw it collapsed at 6am the following morning through the near whiteout conditions still happening. I thought a tree had fallen on it as I heard a noise in the house similar to that. Which is what lead me to look out. Now... this is a semi expensive hoop/fabric structure. I still can not believe it collapsed as it made it through last winter which was a duzzy with ample and constant snowfall. But as said, I cleaned it off religiously. So it collapsed right in the middle and went right to the ground. The sides were braced same as Jix mentions above which meant that the sides literally folded over at exactly the point where the angled braces were attached. They folded right in!
So this has been quite a headache as my snow removal equipment got buried in there. I had to shovel out the whole top by climbing on top to even get inside and assess the damage as not wanting to die under a secondary collapse no thank you. LOL So it literally bent right inward at the level of the purlins on each side kinking over the tubes/hoops there and hyperextending the hoops at the center as they went 90 degrees the wrong way! Now there was probably 4 feet of snow that fell overnight and I was dead exhausted from removing feet of snow the previous day which I had worked at it all day long. fwiw. The forcasters said there was more snow coming in a second event and I thought myself there is NO WAY that it can be as bad as the first snow event which totally kicked my *****! So I cleaned off the hoop shelter the night before and did not realize how much snow was coming down overnight. Big mistake...........
What have I learned from this? Well, frankly I can't believe I was so naive thinking that shelter would be fine in our heavy snow area without bracing. But this was a highly unusual snow even and we got over 8ft in the course of 3 days or so. But... I am kicking myself for not using more hoops because from day 1 the 4 foot spacing between hoops struck me as excessive. My gut was telling me not to trust it. It was well anchored with 8 ground stakes 32" deep and cinch downs fwiw. If I had it to do again, I would have purchased top rail fence tubing and made cross over braces about 7-8ft high and probably 7 of those on the 7 hoops that it has. The company says in snow areas use 3ft hoop spacing but I say no way I would use 10 hoops or more in that 24ft length. Why not? I am also kicking myself for not making brace posts for the hoops which could have been put in under the center of the hoops in case of such a forcasted snowstorm event. It would have been easy to make those and have them there ready for such an occasion. I did not and it collapsed and I am greatly inconvenienced here, and regretting. I ended up making the support posts anyways because I had to jack the whole shelter back up to get at my equipment and each hoop I jacked back up was then compromised requiring a post at the center to hold it up. I am pretty sure if I had had the posts in there during the snowstorm it would not have collapsed. As it would not have been able to do so. Farmtek is happy to sell me hoops for just about the price of a complete replacement building. Which is aggravating frankly. It's a $2300 building and I trusted them to make it right. It failed and they should now make it right by my reasoning. My reasoning further is that they should sell me the hoops at cost since I am in this situation after purchasing their building. But like most things I will end up fixing this myself and probably build a proper structure next year. Tired of having to remove the snow constantly which takes probably 10 minutes each time. And it builds up around the sides of it making it harder as the winter goes on since you have trouble then reaching with the roof rake. Basically this structure served my purposes well while it did, pretty much shelter for the tractor and implements and lawn equipment and some misc... but if I had to do it again I would seriously reinforce it. More hoops as a start. Cross beams next. Definitely some posts to put in for unusual snow events. I think I would even be inclined to put in a 2X6 ridgebeam end to end and make like an "A" frame support on each end with an angle brace built in so it would not sway back and forth. That might limit your end access slightly but it would be worth it to make sure it has support in case of???? On another note, if I was doing it again I would make both ends openable access because many times I wanted to get into the far side and had to move everything in the shelter to get to the leaf machine etc.... fwiw Some things to think about.

 

[skyhook]

Thanks for that useful info, curvecrazy.
Mine is similar to yours, only 13 feet wide though, at 1/4 of the cost here in Canada, I suppose your tarp is made stronger because it has a 15 year warranty.
How long did you have it before it collapsed?
My loops are also 4 feet apart, and at 600$ for another tempo, I will be adding another one "inside" this one, making the space between the hoops "2 feet" apart.
Glad no one was hurt.

 

[Hiltz]

Remember the videos of the Metrodome in Minneapolis . What were they thinking. A "soft" roof in snow country.

 

[dave1949]

I dunno. In snow country it seems like those hoop & tarp sheds are like buying work. It might be worth it if it dodges the tax man or allows something where a permanent building wouldn't be.

Other than that for the size of the shed, the price of some poles, trusses and cheaper roofing material can't be that much more cost and a lot less work and worry. The sides and ends could be made from tarps if need be.

 

[George2615]

I had 2 10x20 shelter logic several years ago. If you are able to be home and clear snow off them as soon as it starts to build up they are fine.
I was at work one winter day when and we had well over 1 foot of heavy wet snow fall. By the time I got home both shelters had collapsed from the weight. I had tractor attachments in one shelter. They were OK but in the second shelter I had a classic car. The shelter collapsed onto the roof denting it. Had to pop the dents back out, a little body work then a whole car repaint. Insurance would not cover because the car was not in an approved garage storage area for my snow load area.
I think they would be great down south where they don't get heavy snow loads but in my area you need something more substantial to store a vehicle in. After that happened I built an 18x32 pole barn addition.

 

[super55]

I'm surprised to hear about your collapse curve crazy. I always heard Farmtek was about as top of the line you could get as in tarp type shelters. I see a lot of them around where I live. A lot of them really large buildings used for indoor horse arenas.