Hoop/fabric type sheds

Anybody have any experience with the hoop style sheds that uses fabric type cover over the hoop framework? I'm in MN, and we can get some pretty heavy snows. Also, any idea as to how long the fabric covers usually last?
I need a building for machinery storage, and was planning a traditional pole building, but a fellow I know says these are the way to go. Cheaper, and can be easily put up with two guys. Thoughts and experiences?

Thanks

There is a gal up here in NW ND that has had one up for at least ten years, about 30 by 60 feet. White colored fabric or plastic covering, solid end walls, seems to be standing up fairly well. Also see quite a few in the oilfield yards around the area. Must stand up to our winds we have had this summer also. They are all still standing.

we have 7 and love them for hay storage and mch

Hi we got 6 30x72s here we raise hogs in. the first 4 are over 20 years old steel hooped the other 2 are wooden and maybe 12 years old, i'm not a real fan of the wooden ones here but they are nicer to fix ends/doors to. the tarps we use are white and give good daylight in the barns, with 10 year warranty, the oldest one lasted longer than that. But we had a huge kinda tornado through here 2 years ago destroyed 5 tarps when the barns were empty luckily. it was so strong it flattened hydro poles on the highway and knocked the top from the elevator in town, and was a direct hit through our yard into town at the elevator. so we would of had heavy damage to any building in that spot.

The key to tarps lasting is keep them tight and if it gets ripped by something repair it quick by gluing a patch on. buy one with ratchet tighteners and steel poles in pockets on the sides to for a pony wall type. Not the rope shoe lace type ones to tension the tarp, We had those before they need the ropes tightening a couple times a year and can take a while. The updated ones we can do 6 barns in less than an hour and they may not need tightening at all after they finish stretching tight..

2 people can build them but 3 would be better so you got a guy to run the loader as well, mom and dad did the last 2 but depending how big it is you need 4 - 6 guys + to put the tarp on and a very still day. we get the Hutterites to come, we raise hogs for and give them beer at the end.
What you got to remember is the curve, if you got a big combine or air seeder to go in you got to get that away from the sides to get straight height. smaller lower stuff goes to the outside walls, taller towards the middle if needed, then you might still not have the head height/width in the curve for a big air seeder. Ours are on 4ft pony walls meaning out of ground usable height, but are mined out lower with taking muck out so are nearer 7ft. the door would start off at 14ft high to the cross beam and is about 13ft wide the way ours are done, then sheeted with ply to close the 7 ft each side thats left in. There is a 3ft tall curve ontop of the door beam we use for our ventilation flaps. for what they cost and what we do they are a cheap building.
You need the pony wall or straighter side ones before the curve starts really. i got a steel behlen curvett mounted right on the ground for a shop the problem with that is the 8ft you loose for big equipment storage buy having the curve at the sides. I got 8ft out of junk down one wall to use the space the combine won't fit in close to the wall, and benches and stuff down the other wall to use that space efficiently to. That should give an idea on what a curve does for space in a 50x 50 building.
Regards Robert

neighbor has a green and white one, must have been put up 5 years ago. he is very particular--It looks like it was just put up.

How much do they run? Been thinking about doing something myself for hay/machinery. Was thinking a 3 sided building.

40x96x17 was approx. $20,000

Got very close to pulling the trigger. Silver stream where the best price and reputation we came across. The deal breaker was the foundation. By the time you move up to the truss type to get a useful width here in snow load central, and correctly do the base, a pole barn or very basic steel building is on par for price or actually cheaper. The hoop barn goes up faster but not every square foot of the thing is useful so you need a bigger building.

The cover life in our area is about 15 years with a few living to 20-25 years with careful patching. Price a replacement cover before you get a quote on the building though and consider what happens if you run the cover to failure. I don't want it to have 30,000$ of hay inside when it tears during a winter storm that get get rain at the end. A lot of the single hoop ones have come down and damaged things inside the last few years here, I'm told you can't get them insured locally due to the losses.

Yep, everything you say is a concern to me too. I just don't think the hoop building is the way to go for a building here in MN. The ones I looked at had a 15 year warranty on the cover. Well, I'd like to think I'll be here on the farm for another 40-50 years. If I have to replace a cover more than once, it will be more expensive than a pole shed. Unless I'm overlooking something obvious, I think a traditional building is better for me in the long run.

Here in NY quite a few collapsed from snow and some of the companies went bankrupt due to so many claims so no funds available for those claims. SIL had a good one but they got 7 feet of heavy snow in a few days and could not keep up with shoveling rooves, plowing ect. Fabric building collapsed and one end their sons mobile home collapsed. They found out afterward that insurance would not pay for damage to anything that could be insured another way. For example; bulldozer, backhoe, boat, truck, tractor, you get the idea, whether those items were insured or not. It was a quonset hut style and the snow slid down to the bottom but built up and pushed in from the sides. I would still own one but would be sure I had room to push all the snow away from it.

40x96x17 was approx. $20,000


Was that just materials or the installed price?

Have any of you heated your building and how did it work out??

Just materials.

A farm where I hung out as a kid in northern NH has a bunch of them. They milk around 1100. the first one went up around 35 years ago and they have added one every few years. They are mostly around 75x200.

Look up a Company called Farm-Tec. Just what your looking for !..Jim in N.M.

Wow I guess I did all right. I got one at auction NIB for aLOT less.. Looked up the web site listed on crate and no longer there. Glad to hear they hold up well in most cases. Just a 30x65 but should cover all my hay every year. :b