Post by farmwench on Oct 7, 2006 13:49:16 GMT -5
If you're putting up a hoop shed made from wire livestock panels, here are a few extra tips that have worked for me:
-Bend your wire panels so that the 16' long wires (what would be the line or horizontal wires if the panel were set up in it's normal position) are uppermost. This will keep all those wire ends from the spacer wires from rubbing and puncturing/tearing your tarp cover.
-Be sure to stretch your tarp tight and tie it on tight. Any looseness will give the wind a chance to rip out your grommets and destroy your cover. (This of course will likely happen in the middle of a hurricane/monsoon/blizzard and the middle of the night to boot, leaving your critters pretty miserable.)
-If you use T-posts to anchor/support your wire panels, set them deep enough so that the tops fall below where the panels start to bend. If you can manage it (and this is hard to do when setting all the posts before putting up any of the panels), it's good to set the posts so that they are right in line with one of the long wire hoops, as this will offer some protection to your tarp cover from the post top.
-Before attaching the panel hoops, cover the tops of your T-posts to blunt the sharp metal and save your tarp from tearing. I used soft, flexible vinyl T-post toppers designed to protect stock from getting cut (shaped just like the top of the post). Mine are white, available at Tractor Supply, and I paid about $6 for a bag of them a year and a half ago. Just saw them at Southern States, 25/bag, $6 for some about 2" long or $8 for some about 3- 3 1/2" long. These have done a good job of keeping my T-posts from going right through my tarps.
-If you only need access through one end of the hoop house, and you decide you want to cover the other end with a tarp, you can get an oversized tarp for a cover and use the extra footage to close in that end. You can use a 16' x 20' tarp to cover a 3 (livestock) panel hoop house. The panels available here are 54" tall, so 3 of them set up form a hoop 13 1/2' long. Covered with a 12' x 16' tarp, you get 1 1/2' left uncovered. Covered with a 16' x 20' tarp, you can cover the full length and have enough to give you double coverage of your closed end. Just be sure to cover/pad anything that could tear your tarp, and tie it taut. I covered an end like this that I had closed with a section of wire panel. To protect the tarp where it came around the corners and rubbed against the top of the end panel (lots of sharp wire ends at these places) I used foam pipe insulation (the kind that come in 6' sections with a slit along one side that just pop onto your pipe). I attached the insulation with zip ties so they'd be sure to stay in place (bailing twine would be much cheaper, but I was worried about the twine rubbing against the tarp). This worked very well for the purpose, and I highly recommend them.
-Bend your wire panels so that the 16' long wires (what would be the line or horizontal wires if the panel were set up in it's normal position) are uppermost. This will keep all those wire ends from the spacer wires from rubbing and puncturing/tearing your tarp cover.
-Be sure to stretch your tarp tight and tie it on tight. Any looseness will give the wind a chance to rip out your grommets and destroy your cover. (This of course will likely happen in the middle of a hurricane/monsoon/blizzard and the middle of the night to boot, leaving your critters pretty miserable.)
-If you use T-posts to anchor/support your wire panels, set them deep enough so that the tops fall below where the panels start to bend. If you can manage it (and this is hard to do when setting all the posts before putting up any of the panels), it's good to set the posts so that they are right in line with one of the long wire hoops, as this will offer some protection to your tarp cover from the post top.
-Before attaching the panel hoops, cover the tops of your T-posts to blunt the sharp metal and save your tarp from tearing. I used soft, flexible vinyl T-post toppers designed to protect stock from getting cut (shaped just like the top of the post). Mine are white, available at Tractor Supply, and I paid about $6 for a bag of them a year and a half ago. Just saw them at Southern States, 25/bag, $6 for some about 2" long or $8 for some about 3- 3 1/2" long. These have done a good job of keeping my T-posts from going right through my tarps.
-If you only need access through one end of the hoop house, and you decide you want to cover the other end with a tarp, you can get an oversized tarp for a cover and use the extra footage to close in that end. You can use a 16' x 20' tarp to cover a 3 (livestock) panel hoop house. The panels available here are 54" tall, so 3 of them set up form a hoop 13 1/2' long. Covered with a 12' x 16' tarp, you get 1 1/2' left uncovered. Covered with a 16' x 20' tarp, you can cover the full length and have enough to give you double coverage of your closed end. Just be sure to cover/pad anything that could tear your tarp, and tie it taut. I covered an end like this that I had closed with a section of wire panel. To protect the tarp where it came around the corners and rubbed against the top of the end panel (lots of sharp wire ends at these places) I used foam pipe insulation (the kind that come in 6' sections with a slit along one side that just pop onto your pipe). I attached the insulation with zip ties so they'd be sure to stay in place (bailing twine would be much cheaper, but I was worried about the twine rubbing against the tarp). This worked very well for the purpose, and I highly recommend them.