"The purpose of those kinds of buildings is. Most of this work I have done myself, with occasional help when needed. That water is channeled through pipes into a 1,000-gallon concrete cistern buried underground. Required fields are marked *. It sounds like you have already sprayed your 1 of foam insulation, is that correct? Before we could build the wood walls however, we needed to have the SteelMaster end wall put together. The building I purchased included three sides. Shop, garage and storage in the other. The large windows provide passive solar warmth in the interior space and heat the concrete slab. Were calling our solution the plywood arch method because, as the name suggests, it employs an arch we built out of plywood to support the ceiling framing. https://www.clevermoderns.com/quonset-loft-house-end-wall-attachment/. I strongly recommend sealing it up more vigorously than the manufacturers seem to think is necessary. In a way, we hated to build the end wall and block the views of our property. You'll find tips for slashing heating bills, growing fresh, natural produce at home, and more. Become a GBA Prime member and get full access to GBA articles, enyclopedia, videos, CAD library, and more. Or want to see some latest Quonset hut interior designs and ideas? The trend died away without leaving any really successful examples. Since MOTHER EARTH NEWS was first published back in 1970, weve dreamed of improving the quality of our lives and being self-sufficient. Looking at the small load, I couldnt believe it was all there: Not counting the end walls, the arched structure involved bolting together 160 panels, each approximately 2-feet-by-8-feet in size. Pros and Cons of Eating Duck Eggs vs Chicken Eggs. From laying the concrete foundation of your steel building to installing and erecting each individual arch. The corrugated arch-style building that we used is based on the Quonset hut. The help I receive from my brother Duane has been a big bonus. We are in the process of framing the living room and kitchen. A Medium to large-scale Quonset house may cost somewhere between $5,000 to $35,000. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. When we live here full time, well sustain a flock of chickens year-round. It was great to have a real roof over our tent in time for monsoon season! We determined that our arch thickness would be 4 layers of 3/4 plywood, and that we would build them up in halves, two layers at a time, with a section overlapping at the top where the two halves could be glued and screwed together. Drop your info below and Ill start you off on my email tutorial series. The dedicated workforce was the critical component in my decision to hire a contractor. Emulate the ribbed design of Gothic architecture when finishing your Quonset hut. Its fully insulated and includes a small, electric baseboard heater. What would you say is the minimum total length in feet, of threaded rod one would need?? Measure the area, calculate the ceiling arc and make a rib pattern of brown Kraft paper. Get FREE metal Quonset building quotes from several metal building suppliersand compare them! More than 3,000 nuts and bolts were required. Information on pool zoning, natural filtration, and algae control. What does it take to live in a tiny home? Do you have any pics or vids or know where I might find some? It was like a Baroque painting come to life. Spray foam insulation left natural, covering up conduit runs to suspended pendant lights. This thermal bridging as its called, is an issue in any conventional wood-framed building, and is not an issue that is specific to Quonset hut homes. (2) Are there moisture risks that could lead to problems? Dining below, adjacent to the kitchen etc. You cant see the archives? His skills and knowledge of construction techniques have been invaluable. Over the past several weeks weve made great progress on interior framing in the Headquarters Hut! 21.0 Finishing the Quonset Steel - YouTube 0:00 / 1:21 21.0 Finishing the Quonset Steel Home in the Earth 17.7K subscribers Subscribe 15K views 6 years ago This is a short video showing. Others created hut designs in response to special needs, such as the wooden Pacific Hut (built in Seattle), and the Emkay Hut (built in Boise), which were created to save metal resources. Thats 240 labor hours. Even then, erecting the shell took a three-man crew two weeks to complete. I am concerned about how to insulate the building. Partitioning off too many spaces and dropping a finished ceiling just builds a building within a building. I wanted a 3 car garage for practical purposes and decided to use a Quonset hut to form the wider span. Steel doors were custom-built in-house. There's also the fact that you'd still need to deal with one or more of the ends that are often open or have a garage door type thing and that this place would have no windows on the long sides unless you cut them yourself, possibly compromising the structure and substantially complicating the detailing. Here again we had trouble with the factory parts provided by SteelMaster. Learn how your comment data is processed. The other construction requirements included a scaffolding system and a cordless, rechargeable, electric impact drill. I should have known better because this is a pretty typical fluid dynamics problem that I had to do several times at school. Say bye-bye to thermal bridging! Learn how to catch guinea fowl and all about how to raise guinea fowl. See my disclosure for more info. Steel Quonset Hut type buildings How to finish inside? Here you can see the gap more easily, where the closed cell spray foam will fill in and engage the wood while leaving a continuous layer of insulation against the metal. In the near future, we expect to invest in a solar panel to power the toilet, which the company offers. Avoid over-decorating your Quonset hut's interior or you might add too many stimulating elements to your nest to allow you to relax at the end of the day. About Us - Contact Us - Privacy Policy, Can you Have a Dropped Kerb without a Driveway, 15 Different Types of Houses Around The World, Building a Pole Barn Home Kits, Cost, Floor Plans, Designs, What to Know before Installing Metal Building Insulation, Wick Buildings; the Best Company for Superior Structures with Fair Cost, Lester Buildings: a One- Stop Solution Post-Frame Building System, Resin Crafts Basics That Every Beginner Should Know, 20 Inspiring DIY Candle Holders Ideas to Enhance Your Place, 20 DIY Platform Bed Ideas: Simple and Strong Constructions, 20 DIY Hat Rack Ideas for Beautiful Headgear Display, 19 Creative and Easy Ideas to Build DIY TV Stand. By the time the full four-layer arch was in place, it was really strong! You must be a magazine subscriber to access this feature. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook. This is called a floating slab, as it sits on a foot of gravel. Eventually we will add wood framing like this to the underside of the whole metal shell, as support for a plywood ceiling. The most common way to finish a Quonset hut house's interior is to attach some wood framing (usually 24s) to the metal so that you can install spray foam insulation, and then use the 24s to attach drywall, plywood, or whatever else you want for your interior ceiling/wall finish. Once it's through the pin, push the cap onto the pin and press it down to secure the insulation. Ours is 30x40. We are very, very excited to have the side windows in this building, but we wont likely be putting side windows in any more of the buildings at the Quompound. I quickly realized this project would take a more concentrated effort. We marked the edges, and then drew the arcs. Insulating on the outside makes more sense as Dana is suggesting, but I don't see how you're going to attach and cover the rock wool or cellulose on the inside.If you have to cover both sides of the metal, it seems like the cost and hassle of the project would exceed what the homeowner is trying to do, i.e., build a cheap house. Now when we have the foam insulation sprayed in, there will be a continuous layer of insulation that is uninterrupted by the wood. We live in Tn. Not only did they remind veterans too much of service life, but the Quonset 20, with just 960 sq.ft. That would give a "conventional" appearance inside with straight flat walls too. Inside the perimeter beam, the concrete is the standard 6 inches thick. Would be glad to hear more about the window boxes. Apart from that, it went together relatively easily. Traditional decorating techniques rarely work with a uniquely shaped building like a Quonset hut, so always follow the building's lines to achieve interior harmony. I am in the process of building my Q Model 30x32x15 open ended. I hope that makes sense. How did you boot off your wet vents ( roof vents ) do they make a special boot or did you have to modify a lead boot ? Compare Quonset Hut Prices and save up to 30%! We chose to install a full slab featuring an 8-inch-by-12-inch perimeter concrete beam. Additionally a few of the companies continued to make and sell versions of the Quonset Hut. By eliminating the bolts, coupling nuts, etc., and hanging the ceiling joists off of the arch(es) and end walls, we could put the joists a few inches away from the metal instead of touching it. To improve the look, I sprayed a diluted drywall compound onto all visible joist surfaces, and finished by spraying white paint over the joint compound. We were also rewarded with possibly the most dramatic sunset we had ever seen. Once our metal building was up, I was amazed at how much rainwater could be captured! Paint the entire arc white and then use blue painter's tape to mask off the striped sections. Strong enough to support my 170 lbs. They are 5/16 threaded rods but the length varies by what you are doing with them. Reportedly a team of ten could build a typical twenty-foot Quonset hut in one day. Where you located? Keep things ultra simple. Dining below, adjacent to the kitchen etc. With 13 people working in parallel to bolt the sections together, I didnt want to interrupt that flow and make everyone stand around while I drilled and bolted the steel sections down. Build a conventional core with (Downstairs) dining in the center, utility and bath on the left and kitchen on the right. This may increase to as much as $10,000 to $50,000 or more, depending on various factors mentioned above including labor costs. Applying a closed-cell foam directly to the interior of the structure seems like a plausible option that would be like creating an invented roof assembly. No obligation. (its fairly large) And if I get really snarky, Ill put a fireplace in there, with a leather wing-back chair and dead animal heads on the walls. The building was designed in 1941 by a team of engineers at Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island, hence the name. ThankYa, The BioLet 20 Deluxe, designed in Sweden, uses a nominal amount of electricity to power a fan and heater that aid the decomposition process. 130 Planning and Building Your Tiny House. If your client lives in the desert, it's probably safe to omit the spray foam from this assembly entirely, provided the drywall is done with an eye towards airtightness. Turn the arc of your Quonset hut into a dramatic focal point just as long as you have no plans to load up the space with lots of furniture, colors and art. The most common way to finish the interior of a Quonset hut house is to bolt some wood framing (usually 24's) to the metal, so that you can have some spray foam insulation put in, and then use the 24's to attach drywall or plywood or whatever you want for your interior ceiling/wall finish. My build also required a workshop to build the other components, and the Quonset hut is something that could be erected quickly, early in the construction, and provide that place. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Another thought. Canadian Subscribers International Subscribers, Canadian subscriptions: 1 year (includes postage & GST). My build also required a workshop to build the other components, and the Quonset hut is something that could be . Want to learn more? Inside the perimeter beam, the concrete is the standard 6 inches thick. by Earl | Oct 8, 2019 | Building the Quompound, Headquarters Hut | 6 comments. The Stran-Steel Company set up dealers all across the country to promote a variety of uses for the huts including use as a single family home or as an agricultural outbuilding. Learn how your comment data is processed. However, I am concerned about the following: (1) might there be a negative chemical interaction between the foam and metal that could cause corrosion? We just glued and clamped and screwed it all together as we went. We also have a private Facebook group called DIY Quonset Dwellers, where we share discussion, design, and construction tips with others who are interested in building their own Quonset hut house. Slipcover your Quonset hut's interior if the idea of fabric walls intrigues you and you love the colors, patterns and textures found on today's textiles. Below: We set a few 24s in place as temporary supports, using the bolt-on method described earlier. Every project is different and unique, and what worked for us shouldnt be taken as a recommendation as to what will automatically work for you. The T-Rib Quonset hut was very closely modeled after the Nissen Quonset hut, but there are a few design differences such as the fact that the exterior has corrugated metal and the interior has masonite. Goofy ideas are goofy ideas. Then you decide. I estimate that using the cistern saved us about $1,500 versus drilling a deep well. All contents copyright Clever Moderns, LLC 2015-2023. Hello Earl, Weve also added a food room to the house for the freezer and for storing canned food and other items that may be damaged by freezing. Steel Home Are you considering building a steel home? MOTHER EARTH NEWS BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO LIVING ON LESS, MOTHER EARTH NEWS PREMIUM LIVING ON LESS, 10TH EDITION, THE HALF-ACRE HOMESTEAD: 40 YEARS OF BUILDING AND GARDENS, How to Raise Guinea Fowl: A Low-Maintenance Flock. of floor space (a good part of it was unusable due to the slopping sides) was too small to serve as a family home, or commercial application. Step 1 Add the illusion of more room and reflect light emanating from windows and glass doors by choosing white or another light color as your paint choice and then use it throughout the interior of your Quonset hut so it optically expands the space. I asked the operator and he said that he could lift them up and pull them out of the building if I finished it. It lists the months and when you click on one, it shows you all the posts for that month. It has 1 of spray foam insulation as a moisture barrier, but we need to be able to add more batt insulation. One co-worker even volunteered his whole family of very capable teens. (affiliate link) Blocks bolted into place in the Quonset hut arches. A window on the south wall addition provides plenty of light and passive solar heat to the living room. On the sewage side of the equation, we installed a BioLet composting toilet, reducing water usage substantially. Recent Quonset Hut Pricing. The local approach to wastewater handling is a sand mound. You may also want to apply tape over the cut tip of the pin to avoid someone getting cut. Or are you just tired of the same old same old and want something unique and beautiful? See below. With American preparing for the possibility of war . Spray foam insulation left natural, covering up conduit runs to suspended pendant lights. Vents The best places I know for inspiration are Pinterest or my Facebook group. Some, like the Butler and Cowin Companies, developed Quonset-type structures to sell to the Army or anyone else who wanted to buy them. How do you finish inside a Quonset hut? This is a pay-as-you-go project, and weve kept costs to a minimum. ThankYa, They just didnt fit. Kevin, Hey Kevin! The depth of the arch was about 9 1/2. By paying with a credit card, you save an additional $5 and get 6 issues of MOTHER EARTH NEWS for only $17.95 (USA only). Repeat this process on the other side of your structure, starting with the floors and working horizontally. If my above assumptions are correct then the best suggestion I have is to just frame joists that span from the end wall on one end, to the storage area wall on the other end. This is an encouraging note(!) Ive always dug their style40s/50s utility/war surplus type stuff especially when used as auto repair shops and garages. If you follow me on Instagram or are a member of my DIY Quonset Dwellers group on Facebook (both of which I highly recommend, btw) you have probably seen some sneak preview images of whats to come in this post. Bedroom loft or mezzanine would overlook the living or Great room end. bczygan from the www.garagejournal.com. The building was designed in 1941 by a team of engineers at Quonset Point Naval Air Station in Rhode Island, hence the name. And from what I hear, the water quality is about the same. In late summer, its common in the afternoon and evening for monsoon rains to blow up from Mexico and cause intermittent downpours. The purpose of those kinds of buildings is cheap clear span space. One storm was particularly intense and I captured about a minute of video with my phone. Trapezoid block, drilled and countersunk. Many Quonset huts round shoulders are hidden behind false fronts. I will probably write a longer post on just this topic, so if youre interested in more detail on the window boxes, you might leave an encouraging remark for me in the comments asking me to elaborate. The question is this: Does anyone know how do the interiors get finished if you were going to put walls/ceilings in them? DIY Home Biodiesel Production: Make Your Own Fuel. He also. Our skylights are designed with a flat, bottom v-shaped corrugation that matches our panels' design. I hate to sound like Im promoting Facebook here, I am soon going to create my own private community here as part of my website and not rely on FB any more for my online community. You could even put a deck on each side. However, despite the low cost, some as little as $1.50 a sq. However, by the next time I went out there, I found that the wind had lifted the front third of the Quonset out of the groove. End wall utilized a combination of traditional stick framing with autoclaved aerated concrete with a stucco finish. The windows were fabricated too wide to fit the openings in the arches. Uses included housing at Universities, hay barns for farmers, smaller models for milking sheds and storage, repair shops, and other small businesses, as well as use as temporary churches and Sunday school space. eHow may earn compensation through affiliate links in this story. I have used it to weld steel arches, store materials, and most importantly, to form my large concrete ribs. Hi Donna, your new home sounds awesome! Simple to manufacture and easy to assemble, the Quonset Hut is an easily recognizable architectural form. Get DIY high chair plans that are easy to make with simple tools at home. The complete source for building, designing, and remodeling green homes. Cool Quonset Hut Home in Louisiana; 5 Questions You Must Ask Before Building a Steel Home; 5 Critical Questions Before Ordering a Steel Garage Kit; I did a little bit of night sky photography on this trip. The views out to the trees are really lovely in that spot. Better too long than too short, but there was a certain amount of frustration that something that should have taken about an hour or less took much longer. Your email address will not be published. Im in the process of building one as well but looking for solutions for the roof caps. Add the illusion of more room and reflect light emanating from windows and glass doors by choosing white or another light color as your paint choice and then use it throughout the interior of your Quonset hut so it optically expands the space. Let's take a look, 1. Your email address will not be published. A complete and fully installed Quonset hut home can cost around $30,000 to $40,000. Wood framed metal roof Quonset Hut roof sheathing/insulation. We see them a lot on the property. 86K views 5 years ago DIY Quonset House Series In today's Q&A, Earl talks about Quonset hut end walls, explaining how he put together the end walls that came with his huts. The ends of the space could be living (With big glass panels in those doors), on one end. The side boxes were provided by SteelMaster as part of the basic building kit. We found everything pretty much as we had left it. Andy, After that, you could build framed walls inside the quonset hut, perhaps with a cathedral ceiling, drywall it, and then fill the cavity between the drywall and the spray-foamed metal exterior with cellulose. Butwe wouldalso need to use a crane to move them to where they needed to go. Similar to the way we framed our Headquarters Hut. Closed-cell spray foam is used to insulate the exterior side of giant stainless-steel wine tanks (huge outdoor tanks), and it seems to work for that application. Would you Happen to know the length of the threaded rod for framing using 24 or do I have to buy longer and cut down? I figured I would come back and take care of the anchor bolts next time. SteelMaster provides approved engineering drawings customized to your needs, and they research and ensure compliance with all applicable codes. 's advise is the one to go with. Images may not be used without permission. Since it is a self build, I kept most of my spans shorter than 15 ft. Im thinking a pair of doors like a hangar has, that open the entire end of the building. For Less Than K, We Built a Quonset Hut Home. Curious about Quonsets? The Seattle based Pacific Hut Inc. had an initial one million dollar contact with the U.S. Army to deliver 1,000 units. Others can be found on our States military bases, but these are quickly disappearing. Quonset Hut Village, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, c.1944. Your email address will not be published. It had been almost a year since the first 2/3rds were erected. One of my favorite Duane tips before starting a new project is: Dont be scared. Thats a good motto for anyone attempting a project theyve never done before! A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part. Im planning on using ridged foam board insulation and than covering that with metal siding/roofing. Im a little fuzzy on how you used a tape measure to find the radius you needed, which you then drew on a sheet of plywood. I plan on putting 1/2 OSB on the outside then cover it with Hardy Lap Siding or just Hardy Board 48 sheets. Thank you. I would leave it an open floor plan for flexibility with a small fixed utility core at one low side for heat, water, electric, gas, etc., and bundle my bath, utility and kitchen there. Drop your info below and Ill start you off on my email tutorial series. Even though we get about 40 inches of rain each year, lots of folks around here have water problems during dry spells, and supplement their water needs with tanks carried in the backs of their pickup trucks, or with water deliveries from companies such as Culligan. With over 6,000 members and counting, the Facebook group has grown into an amazing resource all of its own! Our expert outlines processing used cooking oil in a small DIY plant. I have a client interested in building a home inside a metal Quonset hut. In the fall, the greenhouse will extend the growing season into the colder months. With the end wall up, we started the wood framing. Howd you design the side boxes? The most common way to finish the interior of a Quonset hut house is to bolt some wood framing (usually 24s) to the metal, so that you can have some spray foam insulation put in, and then use the 24s to attach drywall or plywood or whatever you want for your interior ceiling/wall finish. Fax (360) 586-3067, 1110 S. Capitol Way, Suite 30 Think nature mural: one colorful element that will dominate the hut. However, the Quonset hut quickly fell out of favor. Theres no way these photos can do justice to the sight. Required fields are marked *. I wish you had reached out before you sprayed your foam! This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to make a purchase through my links. Id like to watch it again! Eventually we will add wood framing like this to the underside of the whole metal shell, as support for a plywood ceiling. Is a wood frame house cheaper than steel? Jason. The floating slab sits on a foot of gravel. Thank you for all the great ideas and information. Your email address will not be published. This project is a work-in-progress and everything depicted in this photo essay of a not-yet-complete structure may not meet code. I do not sell the buildings. Anyway, it was windy and we didnt want to try erecting Quonset sections with just the three of us. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. How do you finish the inside of a Quonset hut? In order for him to finish, the wood wall framing needed to be in place. However, that is a good number for assembling the steel arches, so we spent most of the afternoon doing that. To address our meat (and egg!) No worries, we had other work to do (not captured on film). Wanting to get a jump on spring planting, we recently installed a movable greenhouse/cold frame. Pointless for this form. They are timid but super charming, and they are starting to seem less afraid of the construction than they were at first. Olympia, WA 98504-8343, Law Enforcement, Medical Examiners, and Coroners, Inadvertent Human Remains Discovery Language, Researching Washington's Historic Cemeteries, Governor's Executive Order 21-02 (Formerly 05-05), Standards for Cultural Resource Reporting, Mid-Century Modern Architecture in Washington State: Quonset Hut - Michael Houser - June 2014, "Mass Production + Light Steel" Progressive Architecture, Sept. 1947, "Men Fed Up with Peace Time Jobs are making history at Pacific Huts", Polar Inertia: Journal of Nomadic and Popular Culture, "Driverless Auto Plunges 25 Feet Off Bank Into Quonset-Hut Home". The 20 measured twenty feet by forty-eight feet, while the 40 (also called the Elephant Hut) stood forty feet wide by one-hundred feet long. Row of ceiling fans at the apex. How do you finish inside a Quonset hut? It rests a little "above" the crease in the Quonset hut arch panel. The upstairs would be a loft-style bedroom, and a bathroom, separated by a milkhouse glass wall. Cheap and easy to build and very changeable in use. Some of the plywood was a little warped and twisty, so we got everything heavy we could find and weighted them all down overnight. I know of two insulated quonsets in my area. Good luck with your build! The basic Quonset Hut came with multiple pieces of curved steel ribs for the frame; a one-inch tongue-and-groove plywood floor; wood fiber insulation between an outer shell of corrugated metal and an inner lining of Masonite; plus doors, windows and a chimney. The drawback with bolting the wood directly to the metal shell is that the wood typically acts as a thermal bridge and conducts some amount of the heat to the exterior.