Quonset on loose rock or dirt???

[Frankdozer]

I want to purchase a quonset but the concrete support wall and slab, for financial reasons are out of the budget right now. Can I build it on gravel or loose rock or what? The size is 25 wide x 24 long with 14'3" height. Thanks, Frank

 

[smiley]

We put up a used temporary arch style about 30x70 at a new landfill project and anchored it to bunker blocks. These are large concrete blocks that some concrete companies make with leftover concrete. In my area they sell for $50 each I (think they're 3x3x4 ft).
The worst thing was that I had moved on to another project before the job was completed and unknown to me, they scrapped the building after the job was finished. About made me sick when I heard about it.

 

[JohninCT]

We put up a used temporary arch style about 30x70 at a new landfill project and anchored it to bunker blocks. These are large concrete blocks that some concrete companies make with leftover concrete. In my area they sell for $50 each I (think they're 3x3x4 ft).
The worst thing was that I had moved on to another project before the job was completed and unknown to me, they scrapped the building after the job was finished. About made me sick when I heard about it.

Did you st the arches on top of the blocks?

 

[JohninCT]

I want to purchase a quonset but the concrete support wall and slab, for financial reasons are out of the budget right now. Can I build it on gravel or loose rock or what? The size is 25 wide x 24 long with 14'3" height. Thanks, Frank

You could drill/dig some sonotube holes which would probably take less concrete and bolt it to them. Gravel floor.

 

[moeh1]

The concrete floor and sill beam are a large part of the load-resistance preventing the arc from spreading out under wind and snow load. I would recommend waiting until you can afford it.

 

[cmyoung2]

you have to have something to keep it from either spreading from it's own weight or snow, and someting to anchor in wind, and it doesn't take much wind to move one. If you try it on just dirt or gravel, I'll bet you lose the building in less than a year. You might not need a full 2'x2' footer, but you need something.

 

[smiley]

Did you st the arches on top of the blocks?

We partially buried the blocks then drilled and bolted the arches directly on top of them them.
Smiley

 

[bitternut]

Since you are in WNY what did you do about frost heaving the blocks and where did you get the blocks for $50 apiece? Was that a picked up or delivered price?

 

[5030]

The concrete floor and sill beam are a large part of the load-resistance preventing the arc from spreading out under wind and snow load. I would recommend waiting until you can afford it.

Not necessarily true....

I have a ClearSpan truss Arch hay and implement building, 100 feet long x 42 wide x 16 high and I built it on a pre engineered graded and retainer walled sand base. Every 8 feet I used a screw in anchor embedded in a concrete filled sonotube. The anchor is turnbuckled to the lower frame.. The truss feet sit on 2x12 PT planks tied with metal plates the entire length of the building. The front overhead roll up door wall is 4x6PT posts anchored in concrete and the rear solid wall is just framed with 2x2 galv square tube and fabric covered (supplied with the building).

It's been erected since 2007 and has never moved or shuddered even in windstorms. Best 5 grand I ever spent.

My wife and I built the entire building ourselves.

 

[smiley]

Since you are in WNY what did you do about frost heaving the blocks and where did you get the blocks for $50 apiece? Was that a picked up or delivered price?

We were not concerned with long term heaving or such as the building was temporary housing for a tire shredding operation to line the new dump for drainage. It probably would never have heaved anyway because the entire operation was sitting on gravel. If heaving is a concern and you're building on a slope, you can dig a ditch under the perimeter below frostline, install and daylight drainage pipe, backfill with stone or well compacted gravel in lifts, then set your blocks or pour a footer wall on top and put your building up. I have a near 200 year old barn that is built exactly that way except with a mud sill on rocks instead of gravel and it has never moved other than where the road was raised and the ground rotted the mud sill which I replaced with concrete.
The blocks that we used at the dump were larger retaining wall blocks. The $50 ones are advertised on the Utica craigslist occasionally. PostingID: 2608741141.
It's most likely Crainsville concrete and most likely picked up as the 2x2x6 would weigh in around 1 1/2 tons.
They show a photo using them for exactly what we're talking about here.

 

[5030]

The blocks are called Perry Blocks. I've seen a few truss arch buildings built on Perry Blocks. Actually, my employer came out and looked at mine and then erected one 200 feet long, 20 feet high and 50 feet wide, open ended on both ends anchored to a Perry Block wall, 2 tiers high on each side.

They store chipped wood in it. One end is processed chips and the other houses a large tub grinder to grind trees into wood chips for their 250 horsepower Hurst Biomass Boiler.

As an aside, mine has never heaved and it's attached to 2x12's. It's never moved at all and it freezes to 48" below grade here in the winter.

Interestingly, mine has no source of heat inside but the sand inside never freezes. There is more than enough radiant convection through the translucent center section to keep it quite comfortable inside all winter.

I fully expect mine to last the full 15 years the warranty covers the cover and possibly more. It's been 4 years now and the cover shows no weathering whatsoever.

 

[2458n]

yes,for $5000 grand you do not get much. And it is very easy to ruin five grand in equipment. Did you mention the name of the company where you purchased this?

 

[5030]

yes,for $5000 grand you do not get much. And it is very easy to ruin five grand in equipment. Did you mention the name of the company where you purchased this?

Actually, I got quite a bit. If I was to have a building that size built (pole barn) it would have been 4 times what I paid.

My wife and I along with one of the tractors and 2 DeWalt 18 volt cordless drill drivers put it up. It took 2 deWalt's because I roasted one.

Everything is included, even the earth anchors and nice hardened magnetic insert screw drivers. Even the duct tape to wrap the joints. They come with a set of engineering drawings that anyone can intrepret.

The hardest part other than building the engineered trusses and standing them was getting the width right. I had the all the trusses up with all the purlins attached and one side anchored and started on the other side when I realized that the bases of the opposing trusses were about 2 feet farther apart than called out. I just used a come-along to pull the not anchored side in to the correct dimension and anchored it. That took a bit of time. Other than that, it was screw, screw, screw and screw some more. The overhead metal corrugated roll up door on one end took a bit of rube goldberg engineering. I had to put the door assembly on top of a round bale stood on end and I lifted the round bale and door into position with a willing helper riding along.

The cover comes in one piece with pockets along the bottom that take galvanized pipe and the the pipe allows attachment of ratchet straps every 8 feet. The straps engage the bottom of the trusses. I threw a BBQ party for the guys at work and 15 of us pulled the cover over (on a calm day) and anchored it. Took about 3 cases of beer and 15 pounds of hamburger....

I got the building from Farm Tek in Dwyersville, Iowa. It's a Clearspan Storage Master I wanted the Clearspan specifically because the company I work for supplies the hot dip galvanized steel that they roll form their tubing from. I believe it's Agricultural Supplies, Fabric Structures, Equine Buildings, Grain Storage, Livestock Buildings from FarmTek

I have about the only one around these parts and people stop by and want to see inside all the time. Of course I oblige.

I'm no youngster, probably old enough to be most posters dad on this site and I, I should say we, put the thing up. Granted, it took a summer because it was a weekend and free time thing but if you really put your mind to it, I think you could erect onr in a couple days.

If we can do it, anyone can.

 

[FredH]

They have a lot of those same type shelters in Eastern Washington along I-90 , and have also seen them in Idaho and Utah , All places that the Wind can scream . As in 5030's case , properly installed it will likely last more than just the 15 year warranty period .


Fred H.

 

[USNative]

The concrete floor and sill beam are a large part of the load-resistance preventing the arc from spreading out under wind and snow load. I would recommend waiting until you can afford it.

That's the way to go on em', I have helped build a few of them and thats the way we did it.

 

[jdtractor]

hi to who ever i have a steelmaster A style building 30' x 50' with 2 ends, 1 solid, 1 cut for a 8'x16' door, and also cut for 1 man door. all door frames , all nuts and bolts, all instructions and blue prints along with insulation and caulking etc........... for sale . this building is complete as far as i know everything but the doors. its new purchased in 2010 , i regret buying it if anyones interested in buying my email is mcneely46@hotmail.com for a price. i can load for you, im located in southwestern pa. thanks

 

[moeh1]

5030, a truss arch I can believe would be fine the way you built it. My stamped plans that came with a steel quonset hut style building were very specific about the role the perimeter wall and floor played in keeping the building up. Just trying to keep somebody from having more issues down the road.... Most if the building companies have some experts on staff, worth asking them as well.

 

[5030]

5030, a truss arch I can believe would be fine the way you built it. My stamped plans that came with a steel quonset hut style building were very specific about the role the perimeter wall and floor played in keeping the building up. Just trying to keep somebody from having more issues down the road.... Most if the building companies have some experts on staff, worth asking them as well.

That's a different animal entirely. My arch building (arch) depends entirely on the concrete anchored anchors every 8 feet to maintain the arch itself. The engineered arches will spread if not anchored firmly. I had that problem erecting it initially (as I stated earlier in a post). I found out after the fact that you need to anchor one side and then bring the other side into the drawing dimension, in my case, 42 feet. The per square foot cost justifies the building over conventional construction and in our state, a building not built on poured footers in an ag setting isn't a taxable structure, something I considered in buying it.

My wife has a Klene pipe structure 6 stall horse barn that's built to be moveable and it isn't taxable either. Both are considered moveable structures. Once you put in a concrete floor and rat walls, the structure becomes permenent in our zoning and taxable as real estate.