Reverse Engineering Fabric Building

[cjowett]

I am looking for someone that could reverse engineer some structural drawings for me.
I bought a fabric shelter from a person off Facebook Market place but it didn't come with engineering diagrams or specs. In order to get a building permit the township is asking for drawings with an engineer's stamp so that they know it meets Ontario building code. Is there an engineer here that could reverse engineer the drawings for me, for a fee obviously and with a lot of support from me getting all the dimensions and details? The original manufacturer seems to have gone out of business so I am unable to get anything from them. Attached is a page from the assembly manual with as much detail as they provide.

TMG Industrial sell a similar building. Theirs uses 2" round 15 gauge tubing and they claim 60 lbs/sq. ft snow load. This one that I have uses 2 5/8" x 1 5/8" oval tubing and is 13 gauge so I am confident it will meet the code. I just need to prove it to the building department.

 

[Ron247]

Tube thickness could be a nightmare. Mass produced structures might have 16 gauge in one place, 12 gauge in another; their fab drawings and part numbers keep them separated. You will have no idea what they are.

 

[LittleInch]

I think what everyone is trying to tell you is that you've bought a pup.

Whether it really needs a "building permit" is questionable, but this is a product designed to a very low price and intended for locations and usage where it doesn't really matter if it falls down in high winds, heavy rain or snow.

When you can buy a brand new one from a known supplier, delivered with full instruction manual for $9000, it seems to make trying ( and paying more money - what did you buy this thing for??) to get this second ( or third) hand bunch of parts to meet any sort of known code or standard or even just a "looks ok to me" form of comfort from an engineer, very poor value to me.

And then it is clearly NOT able to actually withstand any decent snow load, you do wonder if anyone else puts these up and relies on them during the winter??

I looked up what 60lbs/sqft was in terms of snow and "settled snow" comes in at about 4 feet (!). The idea that a fabric covered flimsy tent like shed can handle 4 feet of settled snow is for the fairies quite frankly. But if the agricultural "code" angle says its up to you, try it and see if it survives a winter, then come back next year and tell us we were all wrong.