Quonset type roof

[Shanty]

1 March.  Thanks for the replies.  I'm familiar with the WWII vintage huts.  The sheets of metal I'm asking about were maybe 26 inches wide and 16 foot long.  They came flat and were bent (like an archery bow) and placed.  The 2 by 4 on top of the 2 by 8 kept the sheets "bowed".  NO OTHER supports were used.  The corragated metal roofing available at Lowes and Home Depot just will not bow.  By the way, these mink ranch structures survived the heavy Lake Erie snows .. never saw one destoyed.  


28 Feb.  When I was a youngster in the 1950's growing up in Western Pennsylvania my father was in the mink ranch business.  I need my memory refreshed.

The shelters constructed by all the mink ranchers in the area were about 10 feet wide.  The sides were recycled railroad ties, cut in half and placed vertical in a shallow hole about every 6 feet . The tops of the railroad ties were tied togeter by a flat 2 by 8 in board.  On top of the 2 by 8 was a 2 by 4 kept flush to the outside of the 2 by 8.

Here is where I'm lost.  The roof of the shelter were some type of corragated metal sheets.  The sheets were maybe 16 feet long and BENT in a semicircle, and placed on top of the 2 by 8 and HELD into place by the 2 by 4.  

NO other supports.  These shelters went on and on for hundreds of feet by overlapping the next metal sheet.  

Can anyone tell me what the metal sheets were and where I can find them today?

[conohawk]

These steel arched (quonset) structures were very common right after WW II.  Many thousands were produced during the war.  They were probably purchased as surplus for a song.

That stock is no longer available, of course.  And what with steel prices much higher, you can expect to pay a goodly amount.

A google turned up this supplier:

http://www.americanarchsteel.com/sseries.html

[Amanda_931]

Run a search.  They're still in use, still available.  Our state DOT uses them for road salt in the counties, Kelly Hart in Crestone has made houses with them as a base for the roof.

You should turn up, in addition to the quonset museum, half a dozen steel building manufacturers that do produce those half-round panels.  Maybe even some not too far away.

e.g.

http://www.banyansteelarchsystems.com/

Ebay too, although there you are likely to run into models.

[Shanty]

1 March.  Thanks for the replies.  I'm familiar with the WWII vintage huts.  The sheets of metal I'm asking about were maybe 26 inches wide and 16 foot long.  They came flat and were bent (like an archery bow) and placed.  The 2 by 4 on top of the 2 by 8 kept the sheets "bowed".  NO OTHER supports were used.  The corragated metal roofing available at Lowes and Home Depot just will not bow.  By the way, these mink ranch structures survived the heavy Lake Erie snows .. never saw one destoyed.  

[glenn kangiser]

In that case- if the metal is flat, you may be able to special order flat sheets from a local area roof sheeting roller or building component manufacturer who uses coils of sheeting then cuts to length.  Steel suppliers should be able to tell you who uses coil stock.  You would have to figure out how heavy you need -  without support ribs I would assume it's pretty heavy - maybe 16 gauge or more.