I haven't built one yet, and the money to do so is still a ways off. But I did find some interesting plans a while back and bookmarked it.
Agricultural Building and Equipment Plan List
From the University of Tennessee, "The Agricultural Building and Equipment Plan List."

 

I have four of them, same place you got yours for quick and cheap, Farmtek. In my county hoop buildings are tax exempt. Took me less than 5 days total on my last building which is a 42x96 to set grade, set the 2'x2'x6' cement blocks and erect the building. Had less than 15K in it including the cement blocks, stainless steel anchors and the custom 5 foot roll up sides.

 

All I'm going to say is to make sure you have enough pitch on the roof so that snow and ice don't build up. When I bought my farm in 96 we got hit with a pretty bad ice storm, ended up having to rebuild part of a barn that the rafters cracked on.

Last year was the last year that I used that barn, I'm going to put up a steel building on its slab next spring. Also going to put up a 34x60 hoop building on a pad that has been empty for a few years.

 

All I'm going to say is to make sure you have enough pitch on the roof so that snow and ice don't build up. When I bought my farm in 96 we got hit with a pretty bad ice storm, ended up having to rebuild part of a barn that the rafters cracked on.

Last year was the last year that I used that barn, I'm going to put up a steel building on its slab next spring. Also going to put up a 34x60 hoop building on a pad that has been empty for a few years.

Just put up machine shed.Went with a building with 55 lb snow load.Code here is 28 lb.Alot of buildings caved in here a couple of yrs ago that were just built to code.

60 ft wide pole shed with poles 6' apart.

Insurance man that came and took pictures and said it was built well.I asked if I got a cheaper rate then?Nope!

 

Hay talk needs to section where people can talk about buildings, barns and hay storage.

There you go buddy, a new forum for buildings. Thanks for the input, it helps us make things better. We really appreciate it.

 

Also going to put up a 34x60 hoop building on a pad that has been empty for a few years.[/QUOTE]

Code calls for 70 lb. Snow load here. The hoop roof I got from farmtek used 4 inch pipe and I went with a spacing of 4 foot on center. The guys at FSA & NRCS told me several hoop barns had come down in the area and did not recommend me putting one up. The first year mine moved a little too, snow tends to set on the peak where it's almost flat. I ended up building a plywood box beam under the peak using just one post in the middle of the barn. It has not moved one inch since I put that in.

I think anybody can go with the truss type hoops they sell and pay more for the building or go with a cheaper pipe style and use a beam and save a chunk of money. If I put up another one I will go with a pipe spacing of 6 feet on center and use a beam.

 

Yeah I think that's a great idea, most of us put up a building sooner or later. So what is the life of a hoop building anyway ? Who makes the better one ?
The biggest question is how will the light getting through affect the hay?

 

Timely discussion, I've also been looking at hoop buildings from FarmTek. They seem like a very cost effective way to put lots of square footage under "roof" but... What about the fabric that covers the hoops. How durable is this stuff? How long does it last? What about high winds? If a tree branch falls on it, will that tear it up? If it needs to be replaced, how expensive it that?

 

Hay talk needs to section where people can talk about buildings, barns and hay storage.

What I have in mind for the back and side walls is using 6x6 posts every 8 feet with 2x6's running horizontally between the posts. Then have an open front facing southeast made up of posts and headers.

For the roof I was thinking of building fink or "W" type truss's out of full dimension 2x6 and putting them 4 foot on center using 2 by's for strapping then covering the whole thing with painted steel. With heavy trusses 4 feet on center I will only need 16 trusses to go 60 feet and 21 to go 80 feet. The walls should go up pretty quick too.

If anybody has built a building that went up quick and was cheap to build I would love to hear about it.

For a 70lbs snow load a 2x6 isn't going to work, not even on only a 24' span. What you would need for low & high side headers would depend on what your roof pitch is. "Here" we have a 30lb ground snow load and we use 2 2x10's for a 4/12 pitch roof for most spans, but you may be able to cheat a little for a smaller span.

 

What about the fabric that covers the hoops. How durable is this stuff? How long does it last? What about high winds? If a tree branch falls on it, will that tear it up? If it needs to be replaced, how expensive it that?

I got the basic silver fabric cover, they also have a white cover they sell for more money. Mine has been up for 2 1/2 years so far so good. The fabric is just basic good quality tarp. Mine had a way to stretch it length ways on the gable ends and downward on the eves. I think if they were not tight and cavitated in the wind they would be gone in one season but if they stay tight no problem. They say the cover is guaranteed for 15 years but when I got to opening up boxes when I got the site work done I found a little folder. Inside it said in order for the warranty to be in effect the structure has to be up within 60 days and you also have to take a bunch of pictures and send them in. I did not get mine up in 60 days from the date I purchased it. As far as wind goes I get a fair amount and it does not seam to bother. If a branch fell on the cover it would most likely need to be replaced so clean out around the barn. As far as cost of a replacement tarp they said up to about 40% of the cost of the building.

To get the hoops on top of my 6 foot high walls I rented a cherry picker rested the center of the hoop on the basket and held it while I lifted it up. I had one guy on each of the ends that guided it into place and then lag screwed it into a 2x6 double top plate. It took a little longer than I thought it would to put it all together, still 38 x 60 is a big building.

 

From Farmtek/Clearspan the covers have a 15 year pro-rated guarantee. Our first two buildings have the translucent covers and have been up for almost ten years and show very little signs of degrading. They don't offer the translucent covers anymore as they feel they don't last long enough.

Definitely top out any nearby trees before erecting, or if possible place structure away from any trees.

We used a boom we clamp to our loader bucket to place the hoops. The boom has a large slip hook on the end of it, we use a V belt as a sling, once the hoop is in place and fastened by simply lowering the bucket the belt is stiff enough it comes out of the slip hook on its own and falls to the ground. Last one we put up we had a guy on each end of teh hoop to guide it and father was in the boomlift installing purlins.

 

Yeah I think that's a great idea, most of us put up a building sooner or later. So what is the life of a hoop building anyway ? Who makes the better one ?
The biggest question is how will the light getting through affect the hay?

At the worst just the outside of the bales get bleached a little, no deeper than a 1/8 of a inch. We've had hay bleach as well when we stored small squares in old bank barns, if theirs a window any where it's gonna bleach some hay. Most folks that know hay won't even think twice about a little bleaching of one side of a bale. If they do they are either VERY picky or know nothing about hay, in the long run usually best if they just leave and don't buy any as they usually turn into a big pain in the butt.

 

Our hay always bleaches in the hay barn even with the doors completely closed. It's called oxidation. In our area really nothing will stop it. Maybe if I tarped the hay within the building, but that would just be silly just to impress the extra picky hay buyers. I leave the doors open for nearly all of summer just to have some air flow over the stacks of hay in case there are some bales that might be slightly damp. I've wondered about these farmtek hoop buildings and how well they stand up to hail. Denver International airport has similar, but I'm sure much much higher quality stuff on it and this summer it got ripped due to hail. We get a fair amount of hail in my area every year. A neighbor put one up and it seems to have weathered this last summer ok.

 

Last winter I put 60 round bales under a white hay tarp from Missouri Hay Tarps. I used another tarp under the hay and the whole thing was set on a gravel pad that helped the water to run off. On each end I stuck a 16 foot 2x4 under the tarp on the peak then left the top open. I must say when I unwrapped the bunk the hay looked better then the hay in the barn. No complaints from any hay customers either and horse people will complain. I have 2 bunks set up that way this year.

They tax my farmtek barn here but they don't tax tarps..... yet.

 

Thank you Richardin52 and mlappin for answering all of my questions!

 

The Farmtek building I put up a 1 1/2 years ago was 42x60 with 4" pipes on 4' centers. Built it on a 5' pony wall using 4x6" every 4' feet interspersed with 6x6's at the corners, every 4th post and the back wall. The building cost about $12,000 from Farmtek. Total costs ran about $18,000 including dirt work, rock, posts, siding, hired labor and beer.

I have also used ADM Hay tarps (I have some that I would be interested in getting rid of now) and they work great when you put them on correctly. Bales come out looking just like they did when put away. Trick is to allow them to sweat a week or so before stacking and to leave the ends of the tarps kinda open so they can breathe. I must admit they are a hassle when covered with 1' of snow.

Ralph

 

I have also used ADM Hay tarps (I have some that I would be interested in getting rid of now) and they work great when you put them on correctly. Bales come out looking just like they did when put away. Trick is to allow them to sweat a week or so before stacking and to leave the ends of the tarps kinda open so they can breathe. I must admit they are a hassle when covered with 1' of snow.

Ralph

Been there done that, or windy as well they can be a hassle to manage.

It never fails when I cover hay with a tarp that day it's either:

(A) 107 degrees out with the humidity and zero breeze

(

windier than h*ll and we end up putting the same tarp on at least twice

(C) hearing thunder in the distance. The wife and I once stood in a downpour holding the edge down that wasn't fastened yet. Think we got 3/4" in like 6 minutes. She wasn't happy.

(D) any of the above but dealing with it by myself.

 

It all sounds great using rocks for a floor but coming in with muddy tires doesnt the rock get picked up and spread all over the place? Mine will be on the edge of a hay field. Yes I know something is needed for the floor but dont want rocks all over the pasture either.

 

We use railroad ballast from the section of tracks we bought. Has enough fines, cinders and a little clay in once you drive it down it ain't moving.

 

The first year mine moved a little too, snow tends to set on the peak where it's almost flat. I ended up building a plywood box beam under the peak using just one post in the middle of the barn. It has not moved one inch since I put that in.
.

Query, what direction does your hoop building run?

Here we installed them all running east and west and any wind scours the snow off the buildings. My stacks of hay run north and south and the snow just piles up on the tarps and stays there.

 

I set my 38x60 Farmtek barn so the gable end that has a large roll way door in it faces southeast. I also set it in a spot that is partly protected by trees. The rest of the farm gets a lot of wind.

We have three large (30x100) greenhouses up higher that run so the long side faces southeast. They hold up pretty well so long as we run two layers of plastic and keep them inflated between the layers.

 

Could be the trees block the wind just enough so the snow piles up and sits there. I've sold a lot of buildings for Clearspan the last 5 or 10 years and the guys that can install then east-west usually have no problems with snow buildup, the ones that run north-south is a different story, not sure if I've had anybody install them northwest-southeast.

 

Could be the trees block the wind just enough so the snow piles up and sits there. I've sold a lot of buildings for Clearspan the last 5 or 10 years and the guys that can install then east-west usually have no problems with snow buildup, the ones that run north-south is a different story, not sure if I've had anybody install them northwest-southeast.

Didn't have a problem with snow so much on my north/south 34x72, but the wind took her down in early June this year

 

Didn't have a problem with snow so much on my north/south 34x72, but the wind took her down in early June this year

Was this the older building with the 2 3/8" pipes? Our older two 38x72's use the small pipe, one thing we did do though was goto TSC and buy some 4" x 36" ground anchors for the ends. The reasoning being that if the ends stayed put, so would the rest.

 

It was the 2.375 pipe and they still use that according to Farmtex's website.

I had it sitting on 6' tall 6x6 end poles and 4x6 pole every 4'. Wind storm collapsed the whole west side inward buckling it at the connections of the pipes. Also broke the first five pole off at ground level. I had siding on the outside running horizontal, a 2x4 nailed to the face of every post for the siding. A 2x6 laying on top of the poles with 4 lags screwed through the 2x6 and into the poles. That held the feet of each hoop. Then a 2x8 along the face at the top nailed to the to the 2x6 and poles. And to top it all off I had a 3 rib guardrail running full length lagged to every pole with the bottom starting about 30" off the ground.

That wind also uprooted a 3' dia oak 1/8mile straight west and sheared two 20" round white pines just above the roof of my house which is straight east of the hoop barn 1/8 mile away

Mine was open on both ends. If it would have had hay stacked in it the stake would have held it up.

I could send you some pics if you wish