Metal carport for tractor storage

I need to get some place to store more tractor stuff since my polebarn must have shrunk in size over the last few years. I have been considering adding one of the metal roof /side carports that you see just about everywhere now. A good friend of mine let me look over his building that is the typical pitched roof type with the steel panel ribs running the depth of the building. He doesn't have a door on his (although he could easily add one) just the sides and back. I want to go with the heavier 12 ga square tubing for snow load here in western PA and was considering the 24' x 26' model with roof and sides with 7' uprights for additional head room. I plan on sliding the building up against the back of my existing pole barn as I'm not worried about a tight seal between the carport and the polebarn. I'm leary of how the rain and snow will drain off the roof with the ribs running the depth of the building and know that I will need to pitch the building to the front to get the water to run. They also have typical pitched roof models with the roof panel ribs running with the pitch of the roof like a conventional building - but they are more expensive. I'm just going to sit the building on a gravel base and leave the front open. Any experiences with these types of carport buildings that I should be looking for? Thanks!

ill be watching this post close myself cause ive been thinking the same thing my sheds must be on a diet or something . they sure have been shrinking a lot in the last couple of yrs.

no experience with the snow here in south texas. my 20 X 20 throw together shed ( for lack of a better name ) was put up in 1999 and i have not experienced any bad things with it. it is just as sturdy now as the day i put it up, got a good deal on doing it myself.
larry cook

I have a 24 x 36 as you describe, open sides all around, that I use to cover tractors, mowers, etc.
Even though the ribs run the depth of the building, I've never had any kind of run-off issue and frankly never really seen any leaks. The roof pitch works just fine despite the ribs.
While we don't get anywhere near as much snow as you do, I've not seen one fail in snow- although I've seen several that weren't properly secured destroyed in high winds. Closed sides probably also help prevent this- these things are pretty light and act like kites in the wind if not secured well.
At my other place I used the 10x20s as run-in sheds for the horses- at $599 each I could barely buy roof material for that price. They worked just fine. Sold em when I left for $300 each!

You kinda get what you pay for in most cases. I get to repair alot of them, and never for snow problems. Wind tears them up, but what the heck do you expect when they use a 24" rebar shoved in the ground. We take a tractor post hole digger and dig in 3-4 ft deep post holes and fill with concrete and anchor to them. If you buy one and have wind damage, a banding tool will straighten them out as good as anything we have found. Pretty much most of them had big hay bales in them to keep them from blowing into the next county.

Our local dealer has his hands tied. He gets the order and down payment---our auction house needed two in the later part of March. Last week she told them to keep the deposit because she doesn't need them come Sept first when the Mopar cars will be auctioned off. There has been more excuses than you can imagine. Floods blocking the HWYS they needed to travel. Other trafic made it just fine. Language problems are at the top of the list also trying to talk to anyone. Perhaps the CEO doesn't speak a Englisha so wella.

I can't help but wonder if the steel prices, and her locked in price may be a problem also. I will say compared to the hoop buildings, it is a step up for sure.

Like you have heard before--- trailer houses do the same job as a brick built house, for alot less money. It is not the trailer house maker that sends the high winds to trailer parks, and not the brick homes. But as you no doubt heard in Iowa brick homes do not float either, and tornadoes level them at the same speed as the trailer houses.

I see those things off the sides of roads along the Indiana/Michigan border, in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. They're open on the sides, and still standing and we get plenty of snow. I've seen a few that have been enclosed for vegetation...plants, flowers, things like that and they're still standing. How long they'll be standing...a decade, 2 decades, 100 years? I don't know. You can afford what you can afford. They may be the greatest things in the world, I don't know. I suppose that they can be modified, bolstered when they're put up so that you have a good supporting or anchoring foundation so that when you do enclose them that a high or strong wind won't affect the larger target as much after being enclosed. When you say that you're just going to let it sit on a gravel base, I hope that what you mean is that you're going to have a gravel base or floor inside of it, and not really just let it set freestanding withought being anchored into the ground. Don't laugh. There are folks that buy metal sheds, put them together and let them set freestanding until the first high wind sends them tumbling across the countryside. Equipment setting outside is never a good thing, even with coffee cans over the stacks, so one does what one has to do and hopes for the best for what one can afford. I'm sure that if you get one that you can strengthen or tie the framing as you're enclosing it. Yep, that will increase the cost, but not as much as putting up another barn. As someone else said, the bottom line is that you get what you pay for, but you also pay for what you can afford and do your best to work with what you have to work with.

Much good luck.

Mark

Partially closed sides would be worse in wind than open sides, completly closed would be better in wind.

Got 5 of them. First one 10 years ago. Don't get much snow, but do get a lot of heavy rain and high winds. All of them have the partially opened sides with totally open ends. They do a pretty good job if keeping all the junk stored under them dry. Haven't had any problems with any of them at all.

Much obliged to everybody for the advice. I plan on enclosing the sides completely and anchoring it sitting on the gravel bed. Maybe next year I'll add the front panel and a nifty roll up door. They also have a spiral anchor (mobile home anchor??) that I think I'll go the extra $ for wind resistance. I watch what I spend - but I'll do without if I can't do it right. Sounds like I should be OK with the heavier gage tubing and the perpendicular ridges in the roof panels. Like I mentioned I'll slope the building to the front maybe 1/2" - 3/4" or so from back to front to help it drain off. I appreciate the feedback.

Got one in the back yard. I think it would be better to just make one up with poles and the run the metal the proper way or use shingle roof.
The metal running crossways lets water in especially in winter as snow thaws.

A fellow upstate NY'er , Jdemaris, posted some pictures early this year of one of the carports you describe. The wind had grabbed it and carried it away from the equipment it sheltered. You might try looking up his post. Based on that , I would say - be sure it is VERY WELL anchored to the ground if it is going to be open ended/sided . My neighbor has one which has 3 closed in sides and a very light roll up door. It is sheltered by woods and a larger building and has held up fine so far.

I've had one since '01 butted up to but not attached a block building.It's anchored by 3'rebar into the ground.During hurricane Ivan I watched it squat and lift,expecting it to leave at any minuet but it didn't.Had to drive the rebar back down 3 or 4 inches to tighten it back up.Snow isn't often an issue here,ice storms can be,it's held up well so far,my only complaint is that moisture condenses on the metal and drips on what's under it.I needed a cheap and quick cover to last a couple of years till some other work got done around here,seven years later the other work still isn't done.

I've got a 24x40 with open sides. One of the engineers at work told me to either leave it open or completely enclose it. If you partially enclose it, the wind will lift it up.