# Repaired Farmtek Hoop Building Back Wall



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Spent 3 days last week repairing the back wall of my hoop building.

Simply put, part of the problem was mine (don't you just hate that?)

When I built the original back wall, I wanted to be able to dump bale wagon loads from a NH 1037 against the back wall and not have to worry about the top tiers going through the tarp. So I used 14' 8x8's to build a brace so that if a load got to close, I wouldn't have a problem.

The 8x8's were sunk 48" and I thought that would be enough. With the height of the wall and the wind pressure, the 8x8's where rocking back and forth and I think this put too much strain on the top straps of the tarp.

So we dug out about 1' wide and 2' deep and poured concrete around the post. Each post had 6 lag bolts set about 4" from the top and bottom to lock the concrete onto the posts.

We then hung a new tarp.

90+ temps and 70% humidity make for hot days.

I then put down 2 loads of 2" rock over 4" of CA6 to get the hay off the ground and allow it to "breathe" under the bales--kinda like putting it on pallets. Note: I intentionally left the edges uncovered with 2" thinking that it will allow "air circulation" around the outsides.

Let's see how plan B works!





















Ralph


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## Northcountryboy (May 5, 2015)

How is your hoop building holding up?
I am thinking of putting one up for hay storage and would appreciate any info you could pass along.
Thanks


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## Thorim (Jan 19, 2015)

It sure looks mighty purity...... nothing worse then them self inflicted wounds


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

From looking at your hoops and the spacing I'm guessing you have the 42' wide one?

The 3 1/2" hoops are so much stiffer than anything they had before.

To Northcountryboy, we now have five hoop buildings on the farm, one for the combines, planters and a few tractors, 3 for hay and another we added last year for the Semi and hopper bottom and another tandem grain truck then 3 four wheel drive tractors and a 4 box seed tender on the other side. Have only had to replace one cover so far, we bought the first two at the same time but only got one up that summer, the cover that failed was the one that stayed folded up for a year, it failed right at the fold lines during an extremely windy day one fall, kinda like folding a piece of paper several times to get a clean tear, the one that was up fro a year longer has shown no signs of failing yet.

First four were from Farmtek/Clearspan, not sure where father bought the last one, not near as heavy as even the lighter ones from Farmtek, thinking on it if we have a real winter again we might want to get some 4x4 posts and place one under every other hoop for props to help with snow load. I consistently have more maintenance wit the pole barns every year than I do with the hoop buildings, of course all the pole barns had nails instead of screws in the tin so always a loose sheet or two somewhere that needs refastened.

When I was a dealer for Clearspan I always recommended that they be installed east to west, as the prevailing winds here are from the west and this allows the snow to be scoured off the top by the wind, place em north to south and the snow tends to build up on the down wind side which places an uneven load on the hoops.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I hate to talk good about anything because that usually jinx it.

My building will be 5 years old come August. I used 6x6's on the corners and every 4th post under the arches and 4x6's on the other arches, thinking I would save some money. Ended up, I had to put dead men on the posts to keep the wind from rocking them too much.

If I was to do it over, I would used 3 PT 2x6's (maybe 2x8s) screwed together, put 4 lag bolts about 4" from the bottom of the post, then put 2 bags of Sakcrete around the bottom.

I'm finding PT posts for fencing have a life expectancy of about 8-10 years because the modern PT SUCKS! I have taken to painting the part that is underground with an oil based paint to prevent rotting.

Ralph


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

The last two buildings we put up are sitting on the 2'x2'x6' concrete blocks, they are SOLID, don't rock or shift like the ones sitting on treated lumber with ground anchors. In our county though if I had used posts then it would be considered a permanent structure and would be on the property tax rolls then.


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## JMT (Aug 10, 2013)

mlappin said:


> The last two buildings we put up are sitting on the 2'x2'x6' concrete blocks, they are SOLID, don't rock or shift like the ones sitting on treated lumber with ground anchors. In our county though if I had used posts then it would be considered a permanent structure and would be on the property tax rolls then.


Did the blocks settle very much? Was thinking of using some but was told by the supplier that they should have a footer poured under them because they would settle a lot without one. Seems like if I need to pour a footer I should just pour a wall instead of the blocks. (Tax issues aside).


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Ours hasn't settled that I've noticed. Could be totally different soils though between your place and ours. Took about a foot of topsoil off to get rid of the organic matter and replaced with some nice sticky yellow clay we had stockpiled from when we dug the hole to install a drive over grain pit. Spread that out and drove it down with the heaviest thing we had, sat the blocks and they haven't budged since, the second building we used the blocks on had cows in that area all winter and spring so it was packed into the consistency of concrete.


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> I hate to talk good about anything because that usually jinx it.
> 
> My building will be 5 years old come August. I used 6x6's on the corners and every 4th post under the arches and 4x6's on the other arches, thinking I would save some money. Ended up, I had to put dead men on the posts to keep the wind from rocking them too much.
> 
> ...


PT?


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## FCF (Apr 23, 2010)

*P*ressure *T*reated

Ralph, Ask around at different lumber yards, if you haven't, there are varying rates of retention for the treatment. When building a manure bin back east we had to end up going to a lumber yard that supplied marine grade posts, for docks, to get the needed retention. Was something like a .8 IIRC.


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## ARD Farm (Jul 12, 2012)

My Clearspan has been up over 15 years now with no issues (the tarp looks like new actually). I deviated from their installation instructions by running overhead door stringers in 2 x 6 PT posts but used .40 retention marine grade and I dipped the in the earth portion in creosote prior to setting in concrete.

I think mine is 42 wide by 90 long by 16 high at the ridge, I can back a semi van trailer inside 13'6" with no issue as to door height.

My wife and I put it up (with some choice words from me....lol

A very worthwhile investment and mine faces east to west as well.

I put mine on an engineered sand floor (I had to laser level to compensate for a slope) and installed barrier posts and retainer walls on the low side.


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