New field shelter destroyed by wind - advice?

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poghag

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My lovely, almost brand new, 20' field shelter was picked up and hurled upside down in Friday's winds. Luckily no horses or humans were hurt.

So far, after an initial conversation with the company who built and erected it (no mentions ever made of pinning it down, although the first thing that was said to me was had I not pinned it down? I am a very diligent owner and was there when it was erected, had any mention been made, I would have been on it like a shot), the company's phone has since been turned off and so-far friendly texts about salvaging what is left and rebuilding as necessary have remained unanswered.

I will phone the BHS for advice, as I am a gold member, and am hoping that maybe some kind of public liability insurance may cover the fences, gateposts and gates that were also destroyed in the incident.

Has anyone had similar experiences? Is pegging down effective enough, or should I be looking at mesh windbreaks in front of the entrances? Is the original builder/erector at all liable for a product that frankly, less than 3 months in, is destroyed, for want of erector's/builder's advice?
 
Was it extra ordinarily windy? If not and the company that supplied it installed it you should have some type of claim against them ie is it fit for purpose?

Is this at ur home? If so you may be able to claim on ur home insurance as storm damage? Worth a try?
 
My field shelter blew away last winter in strong winds, we had erected it ourselves so had no-one to blame but we had used the reccommended angle irons sunk into the ground on each corner and attached the to shelter but the shelter had actually been ripped off the angle irons which were still in the ground! It was really scary to come out of my gate and see a 24ft field shelter on it's roof blocking the lane, it had flipped backwards over the fence that it was next to without damaging the fence at all.

We have repaired and re-erected it this spring as my horses love it and use it all the time but we made some holes in the back almost like high windows hoping that this would stop it happening again. I'm totally paranoid that it will though the first windy night we had I hardly slept worrying about it and now when it's windy I park my lorry in front of it as a windbreak!

I think that before winter we will probably concrete in some long wooden fence posts at each corner as if the field gets boggy I won't be able to get the lorry into the field to shelter it.
 
I'm not sure public liability will help you much as no member of the public was involved. I'd have thought your home insurance was your only realistic hope, that or find a nice local DIY expert who can help you patch it back together.

They guy that built ours suggested ground anchers but then said if you get ones big enough you'll never get them out again, and as the poster above it'll just rip off the metal skids if it's that bad and as we move it around we've never bothered - just put it in a sheltered spot and keep fingers crossed.
 
Ours blew down last winter and our house insurance paid out as it was at home. Wasn't pinned down. Insurer checked wind speeds recorded that night and decided in our favour - was very surprised actually! No mention of needing to be pinned down eg sheds aren't!

Check if you have insurance that might cover it.
 
I'm a surveyor and have a mate who is an architect. He keeps me right on building stuff, so anything erected here (Scottish Highlands) had better remain upright or we would both have very red faces!

Yes, open sided field shelters would need to be securely lashed down, preferably with the retaining wires/ropes/ratchet straps over the top (not just on the runners), then ground anchors, if a mobile. Frankly, I would not trust angle iron stakes up here. I saw that tried on caravans in the Western Isles. The caravans disappeared without trace (probably heading towards the USA as I type this!).

Also, it helps if wind entering the shelter has a means of escape, i.e. an opening along the top of the back wall. I've seen one with the front walled but two entrances, one at each end of the front and that seemed to work. My timber stables have the gap between the wall and the roof left open for this purpose.

Obviously, you want to site them facing away from the prevailing wind. Mine faces south into a big bank with trees on it about 100 yards away, so well sheltered, but then it is permanent shelter with the posts sunk four feet into the ground. Even so, my architect was most insistent that the structure was cross braced to stop it folding sideways.

I'm afraid the OP has little chance of getting anything back from the erectors as they sound like cowboys -- of which there is sadly no shortage.

Some details of my field shelter can be seen here: Just scroll down.

http://www.morrichhighlandponies.co.uk/newprojects.htm
 
I think people are being a bit unfair, it is purely common sense that a field shelter shaped building will act as a balloon for wind due to its shape, and should be secured in some way. No manufacturer of mobile field shelters will offer cover against storm or gales damage, however reputable they are. That would be for the owner to insure against. In addition standard shelter construction standards may not be up to the changing weather conditions we are all likely to face in the future, so paying for upgraded structure might be worthwhile (eg thicker framing, full internal boarding etc)

Even our new 5k plus super deluxe shelter which has a line of hit and miss boarding at the top of the back of the shelter as it is made by a scottish firm who know about the winds is not coming with any guarantees against gales and storm damage.

However the shelter people should advise those buying shelters to secure them well, so they have been poor in that respect.
OP do you have a link to your firms website?
 
So sorry to hear about your shelter - we have just put one up it is 24x12 and we used sleepers as a base (this is what was recommended years ago when a company put up our first shelter)- these are very very heavy and bolted together with brackets to form a base, the panels are then bolted into the sleepers. We got the sleepers from mole valley but you can buy them most places - we went for the really old heavy reclaimed ones that are really soaked in creosote and tar !

Hope you manage to get it sorted - I have also heard people say that it is a good idea to leave a gap at the back of the shelter for wind to pass through so it doesnt act as a wind trap !
 
We had this happen to our field shelter many many years ago, I think it probably was pinned down as is a fixed one on concrete. However, the wind was strong and ripped it apart so it was strewn across the field. The horses were obviously terrified seeing as it had a load of nice muddy hoof prints all the way across it after! :)
It was re-built as none of the panels were actually broken andi think was pinned down better. However, my dad also cut/or had cut some vents in the back so, should we get strong winds again, the wind could actually just go straight through. We've never had a problem since (it's now a hay store and horses don't use it).

If yours is facing strong winds then it may be worthwhile getting vents/slats put in to the back (high up) so that the wind doesn't put as much pressure on the panels.
 
I live in a very exposed part of the moorlands and learnt the hard way that everything has to very well secured. We now put steel ropes across wooden structures which are exposed to worst of wind. For our stables we have metal braces burried into groundwork concrete and then secured to stable sides and touch wood they have not moved 25 years later.
Hope you can reconstruct your shelter without too much difficulty.
 
One of ours blew down and the home insurance paid out to cover it. Although we were lucky as they made a mistake and it should never have been covered by our insurance as the field it's in is not at home, but they stood by the cover we 'thought' we had and paid out. We now have the field insured with farmers and mercantile which covers the shelters. Our shelter was written off but some months later we paid a builder to rebuild it and although its not as strong now it works fine and we had it built in a more sheltered part of the field so it shouldn't happen again.
 
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