Rubb Fabric Building News

The powdercoated hot-dipped galvanized frame shows little sign of corrosion after 8 years of service

It is no secret that storing salt is one of the most challenging applications for a building. The corrosive properties of salt can wreak havoc on traditional structures, especially on untreated or minimally treated steel. So it was with great interest that Rubb revisited a salt storage building in Bath, Maine after eight years in the field.

Amazingly, little to no corrosion was evident on the powdercoated finish of the Rubb building. Recognizing the highly caustic aspects of salt, Rubb added a powdercoating to the hot-dipped-galvanized steel. While the HDG process is standard on all Rubb buildings, powdercoating is used when corrosion is expected to be high, giving another layer of protection. While it is challenging to get a good powdercoat on galvanized steel, the result is well worth the effort, with a steel frame that can stand the test of time even in the most caustic environments.

Properly storing salt is both responsible and economical — a properly designed salt shed will eliminate leaching of salt into the surrounding environment, which is both a hazard and a waste of an increasingly expensive resource. Rubb buildings, with incredibly resilient frames, ample indoor light and valuable relocatability, are an excellent choice for salt storage.

The type NV Rubb Hall pictured to the right was supplied by the now independent Rubb Hall AS in Norway to Minde Trelast AS. After 40 years of distributing structures through W. Giertsen AS, Rubb Hall now provides fabric buildings and shelters directly to the customer.

Minde Trelast AS is located near the city centre in Bergen, Norway and is a wholesaler for building products, mainly timber. Their site already has a THA Rubb Shelter; the new NV shelter is 12m wide x 33m long x 4m side wall and will be used for storage. The NV Rubb Hall has an electrically operated Crawford doors measuring 4m x 4m in each end.

Hosted by the Port of New Orleans, Rubb Buildings will be an exhibitor (booth 437) at the 19^th Annual Breakbulk Transportation Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans October 14-16, 2008. This conference is the oldest and largest gathering of breakbulk transportation executives. It brings together shippers, carriers, forwarders, logistic providers, ports, attorneys and government officials for three days of networking and discussions of the latest trends in the breakbulk industry.

A recent Yahoo! News article pointed out a dilemma looming over many municpalities this winter:  how to cope with a shortage of road salt and the associated rising prices.  Prices have spiked three or four times this year, driven by increased demand and rising fuel costs.

Hardest hit by this shortage are smaller municipalities, who receive lower priority in their bids for salt.  That, in turn, affects motorists:

Heavy snow last year heightened demand for salt, and now many towns can’t find enough of it. The shortage could force many cities to salt fewer roads, increasing the risk of accidents. Other communities are abandoning road salt for less expensive but also less effective sand or sand-salt blends.

Underlying this issue is the need to store salt securely in order to effectively protect the investment.  Salt stores left exposed to the elements will be damaged by wind, rain and erosion, while many traditional structures suffer tremendously due to the corrosive indoor environment.

Rubb bulk storage buildings provide a unique solution to salt storage problems.  Our salt sheds share the same properties that make other Rubb structures such valuable and practical working environments, such as abundant natural daylight and a large clear span that comfortably admits loading vehicles and personnel.  The hot-dipped galvanized steel frame provides uncompromising integrity in corrosive environments, resulting in a long-lasting functional space that can also be relocated should needs change in the future.

Municipalities throughout New England and other cold climates have realized the need to protect their investment in sand and gravel, and Rubb provides a solution that is also very flexible, as shown by the structure built for the Town of Derry, which needed to be integrated with existing concrete walls.

While reliable storage won’t curtail the rising costs of salt, a salt shed can reduce needless loss and provide a pleasant working environment, something that makes it more than worth it’s — ahem — salt.

A recent salt shed installation in Derry, New Hampshire showcases the effectiveness of Rubb buildings for covering salt in cold climates with heavy snow and wind loads.

The Town of Derry was looking for a salt shed that would support a storage capacity of 4,000 plus tons of salt. Rubb, designed, manufactured and installed a 70′(21.3m) x 116′(35.4m) BVE type building, with the important structural requirement for the facility to have adequate height clearance to lift a 40’ dump trailer inside the structure.

Other requests included the construction of the building without a front gable end, and of the different foundation options available, the Town of Derry felt that the traditional poured concrete design best fitted their needs. This helped to ensure that the building was able to withstand 65psf ground snow and 100mph wind with 3-second gust, Exp. C. To help secure the site, the Town installed a gated chain link fence at the entrance of the facility.

The high flexibility of Rubb buildings makes them a perfect match for salt storage applications, where adaptability to environmental regulations and long-term integrity is essential. Rubb structures are ideal for saline environments, as the PVC-coated polyester fabric cover does not rust and post-production hot-dipped galvanized steel frame ensures years of trouble-free service without rust and structural degradation.

Industrial storage is a familiar and common use of Rubb buildings, with flexibility and interior climate and working conditions being favored features by our clients. These reasons and more are why Nexans AS, a worldwide leader in the electrical cable industry, chose a Rubb building for an electrical cable storage site on an island on the west coast of Norway.

The building in use by Nexans AS is a Rubb NV-type (Norwegian version) that is 24m x 42m x 4m. The building is completely secure, while being easily accessible by loading/lift equipment and personnel as required.

The large working space, plentiful natural light and portability of Rubb buildings makes them a frequent favorite of major construction companies. In this application just outside of Bergen, Norway, Rubb NV buildings are used to store equipment at both ends of a tunnel under construction. These shelters protect equipment used to drill and blast through granite rock.

Four NV buildings are used on this site — one is 20m x 21m and has two large steel doors in one gable end. Another is specially designed so two attached 20ft ISO containers open up to the back of the building. This is used a ‘safe storage space’ and is ideal as workers can access it from the inside of the building. These NVs will be moved on to another major construction project when this road / tunnel is complete.

A recent article in The Powder and Bulk Channel weighed the environmental and economic considerations to take into consideration when choosing between the options of moving bulk materials. While trucking tonnage offers the most flexibility and a low cost of entry compared to barge or rail movement, its hidden costs are high, especially in regards to the environmental impact per ton of bulk material moved.

Whatever the decision regarding bulk materials handling, our bulk storage buildings can accommodate your needs. As a flexible alternative to vertical silos or traditionally dark industrial buildings, our structures provide an airy, translucent roof that supplies rich natural lighting. Our buildings are weathertight, rugged, and customizable to accommodate nearly any site imaginable.

When preparing your materials for transport, the customization options of Rubb structures are endless. Rubb buildings typically have a large front door to accommodate lifts and other trucks, and are a familiar site at ports worldwide. In the case of Amtrak, a building was even assembled over railways to allow trains to enter and exit the service facility.

Whether your company relies on road, barge, or rail, our buildings will fit your site and offer you unmatched value and performance in a storage building.

Not far from Rubbestadneset, birthplace of Rubb and home of Rubb’s Norwegian division, a Rubb structure sits at a site rich with World War 2 history.

The west coast of Norway was both the last stronghold and a perilous passage for the German submarine fleet at the tail end of WW2. After D-Day, Allied forces quickly took hold of France’s submarine bases, forcing German leadership to withdraw their submarine fleets to Norway. The town of Bergen, notched in the rugged landscape of Western Norway, was an important home base, with both excellent access to Eastern Norway via railway and waterways to Britain and Europe. The large, protected bunkers of Bergen provided sufficient refuge for the retreating German fleet, but not without a long and bitter trek across the North Atlantic.

Well aware of the “Festung Norwegen,” or Fortress of Norway, as the Germans called it, the Allied command sent squadrons of air power to take out submarines, navy vessels, and supply ships on their way to or from Norway. Countering the offensive (primarily among the British Royal Air Forces) were powerful escort vessels dubbed “Flakships” by British naval and air forces.

These menacing vessels were refurbished whaling vessels armed to the brim with weapons, ranging from machine guns of all sizes, depth charges, and a rocket-based weapon that sheared wings off from opposing aircraft. Countering these vicious guard units were the nimble “Mosquito” aircraft, lead by Allied troops from bases in Northern Scotland.

The German units held out for a while, hiding among the fjords of Western Norway or sailing at night when possible, but the Allied forces persisted and eventually assaulted Bergen itself. “Bunker Bruno,” the massive submarine shelter, was several damaged by Allied bombing, leaving only three of its many submarine pens intact.

Today, the Norwegian Navy still uses these pens to house submarines, and a Rubb NV type building sits alongside the historic location. The 10 x 21 x 3m structure uses a steel folding door and is used today for stoage by SFK/UVB-Bunker. While dwarfed by the massive structure that once housed the strength of Germany’s navy, this Rubb structure is ideally suited for the harsh environment of this location in the heart of Western Norway.

The versatility and portability of Rubb structures is often the key selling point of Rubb structures, as demonstrated recently by the engineering company ABB ordering three 32.8′ (10m) wide x 78.8′ (24m) long with 11′ (3.35m) side wall THAB shelters for a major communications project in Saudi Arabia. These shelters, like many Rubb structures, are used as general warehouses in a harsh and unforgiving environment. The modular structures were delivered to the site and constructed using local labor and Rubb’s detailed assembly instructions.