# Anybody ever built a Quonset hut?



## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Manual framing or steel? Looking like the only way I could ever afford a place of my own. About 20 by 30 or so, arches could be made of laminated plywood on a masonry base foundation. Two staggered layers of 3/8 ply can be molded for the outside skin, shingles up to two widths of mineral surfaced rolled goods at the top.

Priced it out around $6,000.00 recently; w/ a center fireplace, bath to the left rear and kitchen to the right. Back porch would have a closed area for washer and dryer.

Front room would also be the bedroom, who needs privacy at this age? Resale value does not matter to me.


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## Yankee1 (Dec 17, 2003)

Check these http://www.pioneersteel.com/econospan.php out I got a 30 x 40 delivered for 5,000. was a real PITA to assemble but I have been living in it for 6 years. I just stick framed inside. You can spray on insulation and use the hole space. I did not but was just planing on living in it for a year.


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## Rickstir (Jun 28, 2006)

Lots of folks up here just build a simple pole building and put up walls and framing on the inside. Lots of freedom for design and easy to insulate.


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## brewswain (Dec 31, 2006)

You may find that Ferro-cement is an excellent cheap way to build


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

A zillion years ago I lived in a quonset hut barracks at Ft. McClellan (sp)- was funny, a female barrack with 20 wall hung urinals LOL we planted flowers in them! I have always wanted to investigate living in a quonset hut partially burried in the hill side. sis


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## Blu3duk (Jun 2, 2002)

Yankee1 said:


> Check these http://www.pioneersteel.com/econospan.php out I got a 30 x 40 delivered for 5,000. was a real PITA to assemble but I have been living in it for 6 years. I just stick framed inside. You can spray on insulation and use the hole space. I did not but was just planing on living in it for a year.


Ive put up a few of those type. best done with 2 people, and air equipment on one side and a wrench holder on the other.... hundreds of bolts and they use square heads for some reason..... ya put the ribs together, drag them to the floor, hoist them up [another reason for 2 persons of fair strength] get a bolt in each side and then line it up in the track.... for a 20x30 it takes about 2-3 days to get together of just getting after it with a 2 person crew, 3 may or may not make it go any faster and one person can put the ribs together, but putting them n place is better done with help for several reasons. once up you concrete the bottom, and if you want insulation you can spray it on using a foam substance or a few other products too.

One friend and his wife lived in a half a 30x50 and used the front half as his workshop for car repair, we even put up a lift in it and could work on a pick up truck though it was tight walking around with the door closed. they framed in a 24x24 sqaure inside or about and sheet rocked it and it was cozy, his wood sove was about the size of a sheep herder stove for camping, and he used all of 3 cord of wood to heat in a year, while the big barrel stove in the shop would suck a cord of wood in a week given the chance it seemed, but it was very cool in the summer, as he insulated it good too.

If it was just me I was building something for to live in and the building code did not specify a design, I would build a shed roof chicken coop looking building, and use 4x4 with spacing of 4 feet OC, insulate with foam sheets that are 4x8 and you cut then to fit with a good butcher knife, use metal on the roof [though in the right spot there is nothing wrong with rolled asphalt]. Windows can be put in where you want them with framing studs, and doors in both ends or on the high side of the roof for fire exit. A friend built one similar to that back in 1975 and he passed away last year but his wife still lives in it, and it has a very limited slop on the roof, it is 16x40 give or take both dimensions, and he used 1x12 pine on the interior walls, used a circular sander on the rough cut pine and the put on floor wax to keep the dust down, it made an awesome looking pattern on the walls, for lighting he put in several shop lights and about 10 years ago hedging against Y2k he wired it and put in brake lights/ tail lights out of some junk cars and used 12 volt which was brighter than the shop lighting.... and he ran them off a car battery that was hooked to a charger [cause he still had grid power] dang I miss that old fella, he was a Korean vet that was 15 when he was there...... he was something else and full of stories of what all he had done and then some of what we did together too.... but that is another age and for another thread... he plumbed it for water, but they used an outhouse just outside the back door, the shower/bathtub was part of the living room kinda and a bookcase made the wall to separate their bed from the living room [2 sofas and a desk for doing their law paperwork, it was they who taught me how to do my own many years ago] he eve put on a car port sort of thing to keep his odds and ends under, including the copper still [the sheriff deputies never said anything about that old still, prolly never figured it worked or did not know what it was but it was always in plain sight] they also did wash in an old wringer washer.... truly a homesteader type personality if ever there was one, they used and recycled as much as possible, he welded things together that no one ever thought of repairing, and his lathe set in a small shed [old van body] of its own off the end of the carport [tool port].

Another fella took a roof that was over his mobile home, and pulled the mobile home out and put up t1-11 siding and then framed the inside to rooms, it was sitting by the highway and people just thought he sided the mobile and not built a nice looking house on the inside.... not that it looks bad on the outside though.

Right now the price of lumber is WAY down, and the rail cars that one local mill owns are sitting on a track that is no longer in use about 5 miles in length.... I seen that the price of 2x6 studs by the car load are cheaper than the stumpage most mills have paid over the past few years, and i suspect it is not gonna get any better for several months or a couple years even in this housing market, so watch where you buy your lumber at, contact a small sawmill that sells direct even, you might be able to shave a few dollars off the framing material, and put those dollars to use in another feature.....like wiring!

William
Central Idaho


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

You are a long way from Nebraska where Behlen MFG makes buildings.

Some Behlen buildings are of the Quonset style but do not need a framework. The corrugations a large and provide a self support.

http://www.behlencountrybuildings.com/highcountry.htm


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## tiogacounty (Oct 27, 2005)

I don't know about plywood arches but I have seen this done with laminated pine boards. The owner built a glueing jig on the floor, then laminated 1x4 strips to make curved rafters. The building was then sheathed with 2x6 tongue and groove boards. Your plan of doubled up 3/8" ply seems solid, but where would you insulate? Would you have another curved ceiling below? A lot of these guys are right. You cannot beat a small shed roofed structure made with treated posts. Unless your material and labor are both free, anything else will cost more. good luck.


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## TedH71 (Jan 19, 2003)

Sounds interesting. I'm doing research on it. Talk about bringing an old thread to life!


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

plans
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/aben-plans/5653.pdf


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## deaconjim (Oct 31, 2005)

It's good to see Moopups is still with us.


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