Result of excessive snow

This winter in Iowa we received the more snow this winter then the last 50 years. Well last week my dad gave me a call and said one of his machine sheds collapsed. He just sent me some of the pictures so I though I would share for anyone complaining about whatever snow they had.

That orange object is the remains of a grain wagon.


Some of the carnage.


Some of the roof dug out.


Some of the damage to the truck.


Fortunately the other shed has stayed up so far as that houses the much more expensive equipment like the combine and tractors.

Wow! Hope there was some insurance.

Howzit Jon,

I never saw show in my life...... now I don't know if I want to after that!! I'll send some sunshine down your way.

Aloha,

-Tim

Ouch! Good job no-one was in there!

Guess there's going to have to be some redesigning going on, to support or shed snow loads, as we get more unpredictable weather in our mucked up environment.

OOPS!

Tim, thanks for sending some sun, however when your moist pacific air got here it ended up producing a couple more inches of snow.

I don't know if to much redesigning will be needed, maybe just doubling up the beams that the trusses rest on. If we tried to support it from the interior we wouldn't be able to move the machinery around.

The amount of snow we received this winter was one of those "act of god" type situations, as we had 3-4 years worth of snow all fall within a month with no melt time. Hopefully it will be a long time before we get snow build-ups of 3-4 feet again.

I am glad no one got hurt in the episode. Wrt redesigning I think it needs more than just a bit. Is this a timber frame constructed building? It doesn't appear as one yet the spans appear excessive. The roof pitch seems a 4/12 maybe a 6/12 pitch at the most. The 4/12 will definitely not handle or shed heavy snow. From the debris it seems the lumber used barely met minimum. Could you provide us with more detail wrt the size and construction? I would sure not like to see this occur again, especially if someone was inside.

Rick Moquin wrote:I am glad no one got hurt in the episode. Wrt redesigning I think it needs more than just a bit. Is this a timber frame constructed building? It doesn't appear as one yet the spans appear excessive. The roof pitch seems a 4/12 maybe a 6/12 pitch at the most. The 4/12 will definitely not handle or shed heavy snow. From the debris it seems the lumber used barely met minimum. Could you provide us with more detail wrt the size and construction? I would sure not like to see this occur again, especially if someone was inside.

It would take me 2.5 hours to drive home so I will try to remember the dimensions as best I can.

I would say this building is around 150' long by 50' wide, with timber frame construction. The roof was all pre-fab wood trusses supported by the large upright poles you can still see standing. Most of the horizontal wood members you can see still attaches are there only to attach the tin siding to the building. I can not give an accurate detail of the member sizes but if i had to i would probably say 2x6's or 2x8s are used on the horizontal members supporting the tin. Thats based mostly on the small horse barn we build this summer.

This building had lasted fine for 30 some years and with normal snow we get maybe a couple of inches at a time which can melt and slide off before the next storm happens, this year was just crazy though with very cold temps and lots of snow.

Thanks Jon! I figured the bldg out to be about 48' wide.

They make heated wire elements that you can install on the roof to melt the snow. It might solve the problems in the future. I don't know much about them as a product ( how reliable etc.) worth a shot though. Glad no one got hurt.

jon hultgren wrote:Tim, thanks for sending some sun, however when your moist pacific air got here it ended up producing a couple more inches of snow.

I don't know if to much redesigning will be needed, maybe just doubling up the beams that the trusses rest on. If we tried to support it from the interior we wouldn't be able to move the machinery around.

The amount of snow we received this winter was one of those "act of god" type situations, as we had 3-4 years worth of snow all fall within a month with no melt time. Hopefully it will be a long time before we get snow build-ups of 3-4 feet again.

Howzit Jon,
They call that the "Pineapple Express". When we have a weather system go though the islands like a cold front it would hit the states in about a week or so. My sister who lives in California always gives me grief about the rain they been having because it came from Hawaii!

-Tim