Hoophouse Raising

[oxbowfarm]

Hello there,
I am a new member.
What is currently going on for us among many things is we are putting up another hoophouse. About 50% finished with the frame, have a bunch of friends coming by to help next week, hope get the plastic on and roll it onto the tomatoes I intended it to cover for the last two months. We rarely get the stuff done on time around here.
s413.photobucket.com/albums/pp217/Oxbowfamily/New%20Hoophouse%202011/
We made the frame ourselves using the 12 foot bender from lost creek greenhouse. Had to fiddle around to figure a way to make a gothic style arch with it. These hoophouses we are building are a work in progress. If anyone is a structural engineer, I would love to get some info on calculating how much frame is actually necessary.

[mnjrutherford]

Interesting! Is there reasoning for the gothic arch beyond decorative?

[oxbowfarm]

Supposedly they are stronger but the main reason is snow shedding. with the quonset style the snow sits on house rather than sliding off once the slope flattens out so you get this big icecap unless you go out and sweep it off. Less light to the plants and more danger of the thing collapsing from the weight of the snow if you let it build up. Probably not an issue where you live. Lost Creek Greenhouse is out of Texas so I doubt they worry about snow either, so they like the quonsets.

[bunkie]

welcome oxbow! when we got our greenhouse kit, we also got the gothis style. shedding snow is a biggy up here in the winter! the gothic works great!