Tension Fabric Structures, anybody have one?

[Defender Chassis]

I bought a saw from a guy a couple years ago that had one that he spoke highly of but I can not remember who he said manufactured it. I know that clearspan.com and teksupply.com has them but would like to hear from someone who owns and/or has built one. I would like to have one just to get the race trailer out of the weather and to provide overflow storage.

 

[Defender Chassis]

bump.............

 

[Okie Pete]

I don't have one but there are 2 near me and a neighbor just put one up . He is the type that if it is a bad deal he would not put one up. The 2 that are up have been through 2" hail ,high winds . A suggestion is to put up a 4' wall to raise the canvas up above the ground . So it doesn't get bumped by something sharp.

 

[Defender Chassis]

A suggestion is to put up a 4' wall to raise the canvas up above the ground . So it doesn't get bumped by something sharp.

Yes, that's what I was thinking. A 'pony wall' style.

 

[KenB]

I've had excellent results in SW PA with Cover-It and Shelter Logic brands quonset style. The two I have now are 12x20 and I use them for storing lawn equipment, tractor, implements, snow plow and other stuff I want to keep out of the weather but not in the garage -- even kept a car in one for awhile. I made a mechanism for the door similar to roll-up blinds, which makes it much easier to get in and out of -- teksupply may sell this as a kit now. I recommend anchoring the thing solidly to the ground with screw-in anchors, as well as installing a vapor barrier on the ground and louvers on both ends for ventilation.

You really do get what you pay for with these things. The metal struts and heavy duty canvas versions hold up much better than the cheap ones available at Tractor Supply and Sams Club.

Ken

 

[ZRX61]

Quite a few people have bought them where I live, they last about a month with the winds we have.

 

[Defender Chassis]

I was actually thinking of building a rather large one of these. Right now I am thinking 30x60.

 

[Jack Olsen]

I built something that might be in the same family, although it does not rely on the tension in the fabric for its structure. Surprisingly, it's held up to very high winds without any drama at all -- but I think that's because of the way air moves over the adjacent roof surfaces in my very particular application. (The green parking-space cover you see on the left sie of the first picture flaps all over the place when it's windy. The shade fabric on the larger frame will be completely still at the same time.)

I had to sew two large pieces of the shade fabric together to make this work. I used UV-resistant thread. The whole thing is held in place with a series of multiple clamps that are normally used to bind office paper together. I painted them and removed the little chrome handles once they were snapped over the frame. (So if a big wind does ever stretch it out, it'll come loose before it tears.)

This shows the view from underneath.

 

[thomascreation]

When I lived in Chicago I worked in equipment maintenance for a large construction company during the construction of a runway at O'hare. We had the coolest shop that was constructed in this manner. It was about 60'x 100' and used conex boxes ( shipping containers) along the sides for added storage and office space. The ends used large canvas doors that lifted vertical by crank. The entire building was dismantled at the end of the project and shipped to the next site. We spent some crazy weather bunkered down in that thing and never once had a problem.