Mother Nature Bats Last

Despite our diligent effort to remove snow and support the trusses from within, our Hoop House failed in the recent storm event in North Carolina the weekend of January 29-30, 2010 (snow/ice of 8-10")

My preliminary investigation (from inside) revealed that it looks likes metal fatigue was the culprit. I used a conservative bay spacing of 4' with the sides concreted in the ground. Quite a setback for us.

I plan to remove and fold back the two-ply plastic from the wiggle-wire on all but the near long-side in the photo. I will try to jack and weld the 22 tubes and add additional metal trussing at each end and at mid-span - then re-attach the plastic. If I can do this, the interior length-wise tubing, electrical and fans can be left in place. We'll see . . .

Have to wait for a warmer, dry week of weather - whenever that gets here.

Oh, by the way, I've gotta run - Cow #107 is calving in the snow.