Canadian winters can be brutal, but even the United States can experience severe snow in a lot of places. When it comes to prefab steel building or other areas with harsh weather, you need to make sure that yours is properly protected against heavy snows. Metal storage buildings will always be better suited for extreme weather than their wooden counterparts, but you need to make sure you’re optimizing the snow protection as much as possible.
Whether you’re trying to protect your Quonset buildings or any other kind of metal building, there are a few actions you need to consider. Learn about everything you can do to enhance snow protection for your Quonset Hut, and discover how Metal Pro™ Buildings can help you design a metal building of your very own.
Location of the Quonset Hut Building
An essential aspect of snow protection for any building is its location. Pre-engineered buildings in Ontario compared to southern California will always put you at greater risk for snow damage, but protection is more about how your structure is oriented. Dangerous snowdrifts are caused by heavy winds, so you need to determine where the wind in your area usually comes from. Once you know the source, orient your metal building so its ridgeline is facing that direction.
When the ridgeline is facing the wind, snow is more likely to be distributed evenly on and around your building. If it’s possible, try to orient your building so that there is a line of evergreen trees between it and the direction of the wind. Of course, you can always plant the trees yourself if need be.
Fortify Your Metal Arch Building’s Roof Design
While numerous architectural features integrated into your roof may make it stand out, they’re not exactly useful when it comes to snow protection. In fact, the best roof for snow is one with a single ridgeline. While it may seem plain, that kind of minimalist simplicity works out well for commercial buildings. Keep that in mind when designing prefab steel buildings or anywhere else that can get heavy snow.
In addition to the ridgeline, you want to make sure that your roof isn’t too steep or too shallow, as those issues can cause quick and dangerous snow slides or massive snow accumulation, respectively. You also want to make sure that you don’t have any overhangs over doorways and other entrance points. Icicles and ice dams can be very dangerous for people who have to walk underneath them.
Snow Protection For Quonset Hut Buildings
Even if you’ve designed your metal building to excel at defending against heavy snow, there are a few add-ons you can implement to make it even safer. Insulation is a must if you’re looking to keep out the winter cold, and metal buildings are much easier to insulate than you might think. It’s also helpful to use snow guards and deicers around entrances to ensure all occupants of your building are safe and don’t slip.
While there are plenty of features you can add to your Quonset building, there’s one feature you need to avoid in order to maximize snow protection. Skylights can be visually stunning, but they will always be less resistant to snow than a solid roof. Should the worst happen and a skylight break, not only do you have snow coming in the building, but a shattered skylight alone is incredibly dangerous.
If you’re looking to design prefab steel buildings that you can count on to keep the snow at bay, Metal Pro™ Buildings is happy to help. While we have plenty of prefab metal storage buildings to choose from, we invite you to work with our team to design a building unique to your needs. Contact us today to start the process.
