Road Salt Storage Building: What to Look for Before Winter

A road salt storage building has to keep a salt pile dry and ready to load when the first storm hits, and Covermore Buildings makes tension fabric buildings that can do that job. Choosing a salt storage building is harder than it looks, because salt is rough on almost everything around it.

How does road salt damage a storage building?

Road salt damages a building when the salt gets wet: wet salt turns to brine, and brine eats bare steel, fasteners and concrete edges. A PVC-coated fabric cover does not corrode the way sheet metal can. Dry salt sits quietly, but wind carries fine salt dust, so even the parts of a structure you never touch stay coated.

Because of that, the materials matter more than the shape of the building. Look at two things:

• The covering. The cover should not rot, rust or soak up moisture.
• The floor and walls. Salt pushes outward as it piles. The walls or push barrier have to be built for that weight, and they are usually concrete or heavy block, not the building skin.

What is a fabric salt storage cover made of, and how long does it last?

Covermore's 40x80 dual truss building uses a 21 oz. PVC cover. Covermore's tension fabric buildings in general are estimated to last 9 to 12 years. Covermore fabric is water resistant, and it is a pretty solid fabric rather than a typical tarp.

How does a fabric building handle snow?

Snow sheds off a Covermore fabric building reasonably well, because Covermore fabric buildings have a good pitch. If you see snow building up on a Covermore cover, tap the cover with a broomstick, and the vibration will push the buildup off.

How does the drive-in door on a Covermore fabric building work?

The drive-in door on a Covermore fabric building is a winch door that rides rollers in a track, like a garage door. The door has horizontal pockets about every 18 to 24 inches on the inside, with a pipe in each pocket and a roller on the end of each pipe that rides in the track. Cranking the winch gathers the door up one section at a time as the rollers move in the track. The drive-in door also has Velcro on the outside to seal it.

How big should a salt storage building be?

Size a salt storage building for the pile you will want after a hard winter, plus the turning room a loader needs, not just the pile you have this year. Work out these numbers first:

1. How much salt you take delivery of at a time.
2. How tall the pile gets, since the pile shape sets the height you need at the walls and at the peak.
3. How wide the loader bucket swings and how big a turn the loader needs.
4. Whether trucks will back inside to be loaded, or you load them at the door.

A building that is a few feet too narrow will slow you down every storm. A door that is too low for a dump truck with its bed raised a little is worse. If the same space might hold sand, gravel or equipment in summer, pick the size and door height with that in mind too.

A cover for a large salt and sand pad, for example about 55 feet by 48 feet with 22 feet or more of height on top of concrete blocks, is a custom job. Covermore can work up a custom quote once you send the width, length and height.

Should you store salt in a fabric building or a permanent one?

A fabric building is usually a good fit for salt storage, because the cover shrugs off moisture instead of corroding and the frame goes up faster than a poured or block building. A permanent building can still be the right call, for example if your site already has a slab and walls.

How do you prepare a site for salt storage?

A site for salt storage needs drainage that sends runoff away from creeks and wells, a hard level base, proper anchoring and truck access that works in bad weather:

• For drainage, runoff from a salt pile should not head toward a creek, a well or a neighbor, so grade the ground so water leaves the pad away from the door.
• For the base, plan for a hard, level surface, because a loader working a heavy salt pile will chew up gravel.
• For anchoring, the salt storage building needs to be tied down to the wall or slab per the plans you are given.
• For access, a truck has to reach the door in bad weather without getting stuck.

How do you cut wear on the building and the loader?

Load from the face of the pile, sweep spilled salt back inside, and rinse and grease the loader after each storm. Loading from the face keeps the pile from building up into a steep, unstable slope. Spilled salt left at the door gets wet and runs off. Brine finds every pivot and pin on equipment that works in the pile, so a few minutes of cleanup after each storm saves wear on the machines and the structure.