I've mentioned my quonset garage here often,but the only photos I had of it were in my signature and avatar,until I finally got a scanner and was able to put the snapshots of its build up here now..(it was erected in 1992!)..
The quonset has proved to be a decent investment...it cost me 4,050 bucks delivered to my door,from VA,from the Steelmaster Building company--but the actual bill of lading showed the building was made in Brampton Ontario Canada,by the "Future Steel Buildings" company,and that was where it was shipped from..so evidently,Steelmaster wasn't the actual manufacturer,they sub-contracted it to another company...
The building is 20 x 40 feet,and I erected it mostly all by myself,a few friends did help me get the first couple arches up and bolted down,which was more than just scary,those arches are like wet noodles when you try lifting them,they will buckle easily if your not real careful..after a few are up though,it was a lot easier to do them in sections rather than a whole arch at a time...as you can see,I built a scaffold on the truck's bed and used that to gain access to the bolts when assembling the arches..I'm not fond of heights,so it took me a good 3 weeks by myself to assemble the building..on a good day I could get one or two complete arches up alone..
The building has held up well,it still looks like new other than the bolts are now rusty...the endwalls have not fared as well,they rotted near the bottom in the rear of the building and I patched them up by screwing sheet metal over the punky spots "for now"..the front endwall,I now wish I had just left bare plywood,paint or stain peels off it in no time,and it now looks ugly,I may just pressure wash it all off and use linseed oil on the bare wood..the overhead door is now about ready for the burn pile,it was old when I got it,and is now patched together with sheet metal,1/4" plywood and some perforated angle irons..
Though the building is only 22 gauge steel,it has managed to survive several blizzards with over 3 feet of snow,and a few hurricanes..there was a day after I had just finished the arches and endwalls that we had 88 mph sustained winds,and it withstood that without damage!..
I have scraped deep wet snow off the arches a few times out of fears it would collapse,after seeing some similar buildings on TV news that didn't survive the extreme snow loads,but I am pretty sure if I hadn't removed the snow,it would have stayed up OK,but I wasn't willing to risk it..(my house insurance may not cover the building,I don't know if it was added to the policy or not)...
It did raise the value of the property another 20K,despite me having spent less than 8K to get it,build it,and extend the driveway,etc...
I would buy another quonset,but I'm leery of any that are larger than this one as far as snow load,I've seen several flattened by deep snow in this area...one thing I'd change is the base plate connector,they have a re-designed one that the arches bolt too,that has a different design and wont trap water in the channel and encourage leaks between the concrete foundation and the metal channel..
I'd also have had a steel "truss" made in the center of the building to support a chain hoist,and that will also prevent any snow load from caving in the arches...
I'd also use concrete blocks or bricks as the endwalls,or at least a few feet up,so the plywood wont be exposed to water and rot out the framing,like it is starting to do--after 23 years though,I guess its not that unexpected..
One thing I wish I had done differently also,was to not have had the arches straight section cut down to 43-5/8",originally they would be 6 feet tall at the straight section,which made the peak of the arches reach 20'--I could have had an "upstairs" loft area for a lot of storage or recreation ,but that would have made the building look too tall in comparison with the house,so that was nixed..looking back I think it wouldn't have looked that bad,and made it much more worthwhile,having that much more room...
I ran out of cash by the time I got the building "done",so it has yet to be wired up properly for electrical service ,and my dreams of getting a lift for it have so far not been possible...by the time I got the thing built,years of working outside had taken a large toll on my back,and it wasn't long after I got the thing done,that I didn't feel good enough to work on things like I used too--so mostly it was used as a storage bin and "man cave" more so than a garage or repair shop,but it sure is nice to have a place TO do such things when it is nasty outside...just wish I'd had built it 20 years sooner..
The quonset has proved to be a decent investment...it cost me 4,050 bucks delivered to my door,from VA,from the Steelmaster Building company--but the actual bill of lading showed the building was made in Brampton Ontario Canada,by the "Future Steel Buildings" company,and that was where it was shipped from..so evidently,Steelmaster wasn't the actual manufacturer,they sub-contracted it to another company...
The building is 20 x 40 feet,and I erected it mostly all by myself,a few friends did help me get the first couple arches up and bolted down,which was more than just scary,those arches are like wet noodles when you try lifting them,they will buckle easily if your not real careful..after a few are up though,it was a lot easier to do them in sections rather than a whole arch at a time...as you can see,I built a scaffold on the truck's bed and used that to gain access to the bolts when assembling the arches..I'm not fond of heights,so it took me a good 3 weeks by myself to assemble the building..on a good day I could get one or two complete arches up alone..
The building has held up well,it still looks like new other than the bolts are now rusty...the endwalls have not fared as well,they rotted near the bottom in the rear of the building and I patched them up by screwing sheet metal over the punky spots "for now"..the front endwall,I now wish I had just left bare plywood,paint or stain peels off it in no time,and it now looks ugly,I may just pressure wash it all off and use linseed oil on the bare wood..the overhead door is now about ready for the burn pile,it was old when I got it,and is now patched together with sheet metal,1/4" plywood and some perforated angle irons..
Though the building is only 22 gauge steel,it has managed to survive several blizzards with over 3 feet of snow,and a few hurricanes..there was a day after I had just finished the arches and endwalls that we had 88 mph sustained winds,and it withstood that without damage!..
I have scraped deep wet snow off the arches a few times out of fears it would collapse,after seeing some similar buildings on TV news that didn't survive the extreme snow loads,but I am pretty sure if I hadn't removed the snow,it would have stayed up OK,but I wasn't willing to risk it..(my house insurance may not cover the building,I don't know if it was added to the policy or not)...
It did raise the value of the property another 20K,despite me having spent less than 8K to get it,build it,and extend the driveway,etc...
I would buy another quonset,but I'm leery of any that are larger than this one as far as snow load,I've seen several flattened by deep snow in this area...one thing I'd change is the base plate connector,they have a re-designed one that the arches bolt too,that has a different design and wont trap water in the channel and encourage leaks between the concrete foundation and the metal channel..
I'd also have had a steel "truss" made in the center of the building to support a chain hoist,and that will also prevent any snow load from caving in the arches...
I'd also use concrete blocks or bricks as the endwalls,or at least a few feet up,so the plywood wont be exposed to water and rot out the framing,like it is starting to do--after 23 years though,I guess its not that unexpected..
One thing I wish I had done differently also,was to not have had the arches straight section cut down to 43-5/8",originally they would be 6 feet tall at the straight section,which made the peak of the arches reach 20'--I could have had an "upstairs" loft area for a lot of storage or recreation ,but that would have made the building look too tall in comparison with the house,so that was nixed..looking back I think it wouldn't have looked that bad,and made it much more worthwhile,having that much more room...
I ran out of cash by the time I got the building "done",so it has yet to be wired up properly for electrical service ,and my dreams of getting a lift for it have so far not been possible...by the time I got the thing built,years of working outside had taken a large toll on my back,and it wasn't long after I got the thing done,that I didn't feel good enough to work on things like I used too--so mostly it was used as a storage bin and "man cave" more so than a garage or repair shop,but it sure is nice to have a place TO do such things when it is nasty outside...just wish I'd had built it 20 years sooner..
Future mods will be a enclosed lean-two on one or both sides.
