Fabric Covered Ring in Gulf Coast? And Prefab Stalls and Barns?

[Portia]

Anyone have any experience and advice on fabric covered, steel truss arenas, especially in the Gulf Coast region? A friend is looking into building a covered ring, and these look interesting, but can they stand up to an area that has hurricanes? What are the pros and cons?

I know there are at least a couple of companies that make them, Clearspan and Barns2Go, but that is about the extent of my knowledge.

Also, while I’m asking, any recommendations or Do Not Use warnings for prefab barns and stalls?

TIA

[trailpal]

Not the Gulf Coast but my friend/trainer had one set up in Western Nebraska. It was huge - he could do team penning in there (lots of cattle and horses). He got one that was rated for our part of the country. The area is extremely windy most of the time (if the wind is less than 20 mph, we consider it not windy). We get rain, ice, snow, wind and hail. No problems with the fabric at all. See if you can find some standing in the area where you are and talk to the owners about the ups and downs. My friend’s arena had sides that could be rolled up to let more air in when it was warm. Also it’s nice and bright while the sun is up.

[js]

I’d be more inclined to be concerned with the fabric eventually rotting in the heat and humidity. I’m sure it is mold/rot resistant but living in the deep South, I’ve found it doesn’t matter, it eventually gets mold and rots. I would be concerned with hurricanes but then that would apply to other structures as well. For what the fabric covers arenas cost I would look at other structures, shop around and see what kind of prices you get. I’m guessing you can probably get a nice covered arena for the price of an enclosed Clearspan. In the South you might be better off when just a covered arena for good ventilation.

[clanter]

Only if the erecting company had a huge insurance policy that was tied to the performance of the structure would I go that way.

One locally fell completely down in Irving when what was determined to be a thunderstorm’s microburst of about 80MHP… it was designed incorrectly

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/02/cowboys.practice.field.collapse/

I was in New Orleans after Katrina and remember the Superdome’s roof was compermissed and it is metal.

[Portia]

Thanks all. We are looking at covering two rings, either the full steel or the “fabric” covered, but not fully enclosed in any event. (Waaaaaay too hot around here to want fully enclosed!) Because we have to do two large arenas, cost is a big issue, so the possibly lower cost is attractive. There is a fully enclosed clear span fabric building close by (Montgomery County, about 100 miles inland), recently built for oilfield steel storage. It looks pretty solid, really, and the “fabric” does not look like any normal fabric. We’ll keep checking into both options.

The wind and climate are the big issues, though I suppose in lots of areas that don’t have hurricanes you would still have to be worried about tornadoes (like Nebraska). But Clanter is right about the strange winds we can get in Texas, and I remember the Cowboys Training Camp collapse. Thanks for the link. Following up on that story, it looks like the builder had a habit of screwing up the engineering (14 collapses in 10 years) and went defunct after the Cowboys collapse. (The Texans indoor practice field is a “bubble” supported by air, which would slowly deflate if it got a big enough hole in it.) We certainly would want to make sure the engineering is correct, regardless of which type we choose.

[clanter]

if you have some time you may want to look through some the military surplus as recently they have sold some of the fabric hangers/support buildings such as the below link.

Often the kits are complete and never been uncrated. Two of the assembly buildings that were made of fabric from the New Orleans shuttle booster tank facility were auctioned off, those had been in the area before Katrina and survived unharmed

http://www.sprung.com/structures/government-buildings/military-facilities

http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/gsaauctions/

http://www.govliquidation.com/

[cherham]

We had an F1 Tornado hit us hard here in Ontario 2 months ago. We had a 72 x 140 foot Cover-All riding arena. Fabric roof, steel trusses. Our arena has withstood enormous snow loads, heavy rain and severe winds. Unfortunately a tornado is a bit more then most structures could handle and although our arena put up a strong battle it eventually buckled down. Sadly two riding arenas on either side of our farm built with traditional pole and steel sided construction were completely blown away…I mean just the dirt standing where they once stood. A horse and rider would have survived in my Cover-All even folded down as it was as it remained solid to its foundation blocks. If someone or a horse had been in the neighbouring arenas they would have surely died when the tornado hit. Something to think about.

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=cherham;7719946]
We had an F1 Tornado hit us hard here in Ontario 2 months ago. We had a 72 x 140 foot Cover-All riding arena. Fabric roof, steel trusses. Our arena has withstood enormous snow loads, heavy rain and severe winds. Unfortunately a tornado is a bit more then most structures could handle and although our arena put up a strong battle it eventually buckled down. Sadly two riding arenas on either side of our farm built with traditional pole and steel sided construction were completely blown away…I mean just the dirt standing where they once stood. A horse and rider would have survived in my Cover-All even folded down as it was as it remained solid to its foundation blocks. If someone or a horse had been in the neighbouring arenas they would have surely died when the tornado hit. Something to think about.[/QUOTE]

I think you were lucky, that’s all.
Tornadoes tend to do that, hit one structure and blow it completely away and one ten feet away is not touched.

We had a tornado hit here and it took the cap off the chimney in the house and completely demolished two different cattle sheds and took just the middle 30’ off another, not touching any other part of it.

When those fabric structures first came to be, in some ag forums the comment was, if you drove around Iowa, you could see the skeletons of those all over, they just didn’t last long.

Today?
I am sure they have better fabrics and engineering, but even the best fabric is guaranteed for 25 years of use and you then have to replace it.

We have all metal barns built in 1947 still standing like new and expect they will be there for much longer.

When we were going to build our barn, we checked on fabric covered ones.
One company even offered to make us their regional dealer and we could buy one at dealer’s discount.
Even with that, it was as expensive as an all metal one and we didn’t see it was worth it, figuring resale value would be much less on the fabric covered arena.

Now, when you compare your figures, be sure they are apples to apples, because some metal and many fabric structures are quoted without any ground work or foundation.
Be sure that is included on the bid, or check who locally will do the dirt and concrete work and for how much.

A fabric structure may just be right for what you want, just be sure you have considered all when comparing them, to be sure what is best for you.

[Jumper_girl221]

I’m in the Outer Banks (Currituck NC) and we get hit by hurricanes all the time. There’s a county owned equestrian facility with a fabric ring, its been there for 20 years or so now…starting to need replacement since there’s a few tears here and there in the roof that have been patched, but its survived multiple hurricanes (and the facility is on the sound…aka water).

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/10341582_742373646595_638685753669827937_n.jpg?oh=d2223fec319f2af7a438be10e52e077d&oe=545F0647&gda=1415357612_fc2315c29f94a051a2fabe8b72bdcb39

Indoor in the background

https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1888676_718128918225_400735451_n.jpg?oh=b0547937e3cdae56f3d208f40cb1a016&oe=54695847

Inside.

https://scontent-b-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/1888676_718128918225_400735451_n.jpg?oh=b0547937e3cdae56f3d208f40cb1a016&oe=54695847

It seems cooler in the summer (we get pretty warm and quite humid here) and warmer in teh winter compared to the steel indoors in the area.

ETA adding, the light is also really nice, I can’t remember if there are lights on the ceiling but I’ve never had to use them (we haul in frequently during the winter when the weather is iffy or its been raining quite a bit to save my ring).

[Portia]

Thanks all for the good advice (and keep it coming if you have more). Good to know an arena of any kind can survive in hurricane country for many years. Tornadoes are worse than hurricanes, I think. In addition to being much less predictable and much less warning to get to safety, they can also do much worse damage, even if much more localized. We get some tornadoes, but thankfully not nearly so many as further into the plains.

They’re only looking at the fabric option for (possibly) the covered rings. The barns and stalls will be prefab/modular, mostly steel.

The note about the light in the arenas is interesting. The steel covered rings we have here all tend to be quite dark, even with skylights and open ends and sides. From the photos of the fabric ones, they seem much brighter inside. And it would be nice to have something that is cooler in the summer (lots of heat and humidity here too). Turns out there is a large covered ring at a farm near Austin and an industrial building very close by in Tomball, both of which Clearspan built last year. So at least we can check with folks in the area about their experiences.

[csaper58]

Have you checked to see if your insurance will cover a Fabric building? None around here will. Unless you have such a high wind/hail deductible that it is pointless to have insurance.