Structure Styles & Snow Loads

Review by Tom Elmore, Thatchmore Farm, Leicester, North Carolina:

Our experience with heavy snow load in winter of 2009-2010: the gothic arch-style house made it but the quonsett style houses did not. They say we should expect more and more extreme weather events. Here are 5 ideas for surviving heavy snows:

  1. Goth rocks!


  2. I was taught that a 2x4 pillar every few hoops down the length of a house will counter any likely snow load in this area. 2x4s splintered. 2x8s worked for this storm anyway.


  3. When it gets nine inches deep and you are falling behind, get out the knife and slice through that $500 poly to save the frame. We may lose the contents as well.


  4. Put a solid foundation under the 2x8 pillars. A heavy snow load will drive the posts into the ground.


  5. Work from outside the house when the snow starts accumulating. It's more excitement than I need to be inside one when it collapses.

Additional note: structure suppliers have structural engineers, most of whom have tested their designs by loading them to the point of failure. They would be much better than I would at telling greenhouse shoppers about what to look for in a house and what the tradeoffs are likely to be between cost and strength.