Flat Storage Solutions for DDGS, Fertilizer, and Potash
A free-span building is the most practical choice for storing dried distillers’ grains, […]
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Industries
Bulk Commodity
Fabric Building Structures
Fabric Buildings for Bulk Commodity Storage—It’s All About Your Operations
Getting dry bulk materials from point A to point B usually requires storing the materials at both points. Keeping material out of the weather is necessary, but a solution is often needed quickly. Logistically speaking, fabric structures are ideal for bulk storage, and we offer customized, durable, versatile fabric structures beyond just storage. Our building can help streamline your entire operation.
There are two primary storage methods for storing bulk materials: horizontal (covered or uncovered) and vertical (silo, bins)
Bulk Storage Commodity Options
Sand & Salt Storage
Bulk road salt and spreading equipment are significant investments. Wind and moisture can deteriorate the quality of stored salt and equipment – a danger that proper storage buildings can help prevent.
Salt storage buildings should not only protect your investment but also allow for greater operating efficiency.
Why a Legacy Fabric Building for Salt Storage
- Fabric is naturally non-corrosive. Unlike steel, fabric can come in direct contact with corrosive elements such as salt.
- Our steel treatment process extends the life of the building frame by providing a continuous protective barrier from corrosion and other damage. Unlike hot dipped galvanizing, which merely slows the corrosion process, EpoxxiShield™ provides a continuous protective barrier from corrosion and other damage.
- Because fabric buildings are completely customizable, you choose the length, width, and height of your building to maximize space and reduce cost. Your building will allow for ideal pile heights, and the sidewalls and peak will be high enough to maneuver tip trucks, conveyors, and other equipment.
- Fabric buildings are naturally well-lit. You may not need any artificial lighting during the day, and you'll use less lighting at night.
In addition, a custom-designed fabric building ensures adequate space for piles, equipment, operations, and pedestrians — without wasted square footage. Legacy will engineer a building around your business operations-specific tonnage requirements.
Frac Sand Storage
Fracking supplies energy to the world. And fracking requires at least one tool in large amounts: frac sand. Tension fabric structures are the optimal building for frac sand storage.
The building should be flexible enough to receive product via multiple modes of transportation, protect workers handling the sand, and create efficient means of load-out via truck, rail, or barge.
A custom fabric building does all this and more. Fabric structures bring these advantages to the fracking site:
- Freespan Area
- Conveyors
- Load-Out Systems
- Energy Efficiency
Fertilizer Storage
Dry fertilizer coats everything in fine dust – and will corrode exposed steel. Steel buildings used for fertilizer storage can succumb to the effects of corrosion in less than a few years. Even traditional wood buildings used for fertilizer storage are vulnerable to rust at the joists and fasteners.
Structural fabric, including Legacy's Exxotec™ PVC fabric, has non-corrosive properties. Legacy also offers the ultimate in rust protection, EpoxxiShield frame finishes. EpoxxiShield-coated frames create a protective barrier, extending the life of the building frame. In addition to epoxy-coated structures, an interior liner can be added, creating a seal from the inside out – keeping fertilizer away from the steel frame and stopping corrosion before it happens.
Large-scale fertilizer operations require an abundance of free-span or clear-span floor space – including:
- Separate bays to store various types of fertilizer before mixing,
- More heavy equipment operating room for receiving, load-out, material handling, and segregation.
Combining architectural fabric with the proven strength of a rigid steel frame allows building widths over 300 feet, along with any length.
Bulk Grain Storage
Fabric structures for flat grain storage are less expensive and easier to install than traditional steel buildings.
A fabric structure costs less than a steel structure but still provides strength and capacity to contain large amounts of grain. Legacy fabric structures are also highly customizable in their layout and shape, and fabric structure installation exceeds that of a steel building.
Steel building construction consists of screws, creating holes and places where moisture can leak, whereas a fabric structure is weather-tight. Using a fabric building for flat grain storage is a huge benefit, as moisture and mold can ruin a grain harvest.
Legacy's fabric buildings utilize passive ventilation, helping to keep the air fresh and moisture levels reduced to aid in decreasing an environment for mold to grow. Fabric is thermally non-conductive, which helps to keep temperatures in a fabric structure more moderated than in a steel structure. Fabric structures generally stay cooler in the summer and warmer during the winter months.
At Legacy Building Solutions, our knowledgeable staff will put special emphasis on comprehending your wants and the demands of your bulk commodity building project. To fine-tune the specifications and offer you creative solutions, we will collaborate directly with you and the rest of your project team. Our goal is to give customers the best value possible for their building applications.
Our Process
Design
01
Whether you have a complete building spec or just an idea in mind, our team will lead you through the design process with expertise and efficiency.
Engineer
02
Our in-house engineering team leads the charge on creative solutions that benefit all project stakeholders—namely you.
Manufacture
03
Legacy is an end-to-end manufacturer, meaning your project will be built right on site in our 87,000 sq ft facility in St. Cloud, MN.
Install
04
Now to the good stuff. Your installation benefits from our safe, effective process in one of two ways—your Legacy rep onsite with local crews or full install services.
Case Study
Agriland FS Woodbine Fertilizer Storage
19,404 sq ft Fertilizer Storage Building | Woodbine, IA
Agriland FS, Inc. is a farmer-owned cooperative that provides agricultural products directly to farmers. After several years working from a leased building, Agriland FS determined the need to add a permanent fertilizer storage building at their Woodbine, Iowa, location. The new building would be used for storing, mixing and distributing fertilizer. “We needed a building we could adapt,” said Curtis Hoakison, procurement manager. “Having everything contained in one facility was easier than trying to add another part to an existing building.”
View Case Study
Feed Products & Bulk Feed Storage
62,800 sq ft Bulk Feed Storage Building | Madison, IL
Feed Products and Service is a supplier of animal feed products with multiple locations across North America. When business growth led to the expansion of their Madison, Illinois, location, they added a fabric structure to store and distribute bulk feed.
View Case Study
Northern Farmers Co-op Fertilizer Storage
14,616 sq ft Fertilizer Storage Building | Williams, MN
Being able to customize a structure for the needs of a building owner is one thing; the ability to customize it to the future needs of a customer is another matter altogether. That’s what Legacy did for Northern Farmers Co-op. The cooperative had a need for more fertilizer storage, but they also wanted one that could be expanded and modified based on future needs.
View Case Study
Gunther Salt Company Salt Storage Building
28,080 sq ft Commercial Salt Storage Building | St. Louis, MO
Gunther Salt Company is a distributor of various salt products throughout the Midwest. Due to business growth, they needed a new storage and distribution facility at their St. Louis headquarters. “We were looking for something that would last and have multiple uses,” said Darrin Chapman, plant manager. The building stores a specialized agricultural salt mix, which arrives at the facility via barges and is loaded onto trucks by conveyor belt.
View Case Study
IEI Barge Services Storage Building
63,010 sq ft Tension Fabric Building for Fertilizer Storage and Blending | East Dubuque, IL
IEI Barge Services is a bulk fertilizer storage, mixing and transloading facility along the banks of the Mississippi River. In 2015, they began shopping for a bulk storage building to accommodate business growth. Poor soil conditions, along with the requirements of loading and storing bulk product and withstanding constant exposure to corrosive fertilizer, made steel buildings impractical and prohibitively expensive. “Because of our soil issues, we simply couldn’t afford to construct a more traditional building,” said Joe Bitter, general manager of Alliant Energy/IEI Barge Services. “The lightweight design of our Legacy building allowed us to reach a compromise between soil conditions and cost.”
View Case Study
Tronson Grain Fertilizer Storage
37,200 sq ft Fertilizer Storage
Legacy designed, manufactured and constructed a fertilizer storage building for Tronson Grain up in Crary, North Dakota, features multiple storage bins and a 150-ton capacity automated loading and mixing machine.
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Shelburne Transload
101,520 sq ft Salt Storage + Distribution at a Railroad Transload Facility
Vermont Railways, Inc. was looking to develop a new state-of-the-art rail-to-truck transload facility to efficiently handle bulk commodities.
View Case Study
Smithfield Bulk Feed Storage Structure
60,000 sq ft Flat Feed Storage
The largest hog producer and processor increased their feed manufacturing system with a tension fabric building.
View Case Study
Hull Coop
18,900 sq ft Fertilizer Storage Facility | Hull, IA
Hull Coop has continued to expand over the years, and due to business growth and capacity, they needed a new bulk fertilizer storage facility. Learn more about Hull Coop here.
View Case Study
Montgomery County Salt
18,400 sq ft Municipal Salt Storage
Legacy designed, engineered, manufactured and installed a municipal salt storage facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland for Montgomery County. The structure features a 21-ft poured wall foundation to keep the salt contained, as well as Legacy's exclusive EpoxxiShield™ COR Pro steel finishing, which helps to protect the building's frames from the corrosive salt.
View Case Study
Paul Meyer Chemicals
10,080 sq ft Fertilizer Storage Facility
Legacy designed, engineered, manufactured, and installed a fertilizer storage facility in Walcott, IA. The structure features two overhead coil doors and is engineered to support a conveyor. The rigid steel frame was coated with our proprietary EpoxxiShield™ COR Elite frame finish, and the building is clad with our exclusive ExxoTec™ Elite PVC fabric cladding.
View Case Study
The DeLong Company, Inc.
69,600 sq ft DDGS Storage Facility
The DeLong Company partnered with Legacy to construct a 69,600-ft DDGS martime export facility, which will allow Wisconsin access to new agricultural markets.
View Case Study
Testimonials
The new building will protect the salt supply.
It will be protected from being compromised by wind and precipitation. Once the general contractor completed the footings and floors, Legacy installed the fabric building very quickly, in about two weeks. It was a very positive process with professional communication between Legacy and Dewberry throughout the project.
Craig Swengle
Dewberry Engineers
Everything that Legacy said they were going to do, they did.
We obviously had contracts, but the overall feel was kind of like the olden days, where you felt you could just take somebody at their word. Price is a major factor in any purchase decision. But we didn't blink at having to pay a little more for the Legacy structure. Sometimes you have to spend more to get a higher quality building. The installation was very smooth. Legacy's in-house crew worked in cold winter conditions, and they erected the building within five days. They were a very professional group, and I'd highly recommend them. We like the sidewall columns going straight up instead of curving down like in our hoop buildings. First off, it lets us put more product in there. And our front-end loaders can get much closer to the walls and drive straight down the sides. It gives us more working room and increases our efficiency. In the long run I think this will be a building that requires less maintenance. Legacy was so outstanding to work with that I didn't even bother looking at pricing elsewhere.
Marty Shell
Five Rivers
Legacy was very easy to work with.
The old buildings used tubular steel, and no matter what you do, the salt gets inside the tubes and corrodes them. They came out here with their crew, rented all their equipment, and erected the buildings in three weeks flat – a week ahead of schedule. It's a stand-up company.
Theo Gatsonis
CM & Sons
