One thing about an active, rural life is that it often comes with a lot of outdoor stuff that needs protection from the elements. A tractor, wood splitter, snow-removal equipment, fishing boat, perhaps a hay mower and baler—the list can be long. This is why covered storage space is often at a premium for country people. But how best to get the shelter you need? I’ve weighed the options and found that something generically called a “fabric structure” makes a lot of sense. Let me show you why, how I went about choosing a supplier, designing a structure and preparing a foundation for the 42-foot-by-80-foot unit I’ll be putting up this season.
Fabric Structures 101
A steel frame covered in a tough synthetic tarp—this is what fabric structures are all about. I first saw them popping up in my part of rural Canada in the early 1990s, mostly for hay storage back then. And to be honest, I wasn’t impressed. How could something like this possibly be strong enough to resist heavy winds? Can a tarp really support a heavy snow load? And how many years could
