portable garages

A Quonset hut is a lightweight hut made up of prefabricated structure. The prefabricated material is made up of corrugated galvanized iron. Quonset huts are designed like the Nissen huts.

Nissen huts were developed by British during the First World War. First Quonset hut was manufactured at Quonset point therefore, these huts are named so. The site where the Quonset hut was first manufactured is located in a village in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The need of Quonset hut was felt when in 1941 United States Navy demanded a lightweight building which could be designed without any skilled labor or which can be shipped very easily. The contract was given to the George A. Fuller, a construction company. The first Quonset hut was manufactured after the 60 days of contract.

Quonset hut is a very simple building and the first Quonset hut was a 16 by 36 ft or 5 by 11 m structure. The original Quonset hut was manufactured with the steel members with an 8 ft or about 2.4 m radius. The sides of Quonset huts were made up of ridged steel sheets. The two ends of the Quonset huts were made up of plywood in which doors and windows were made. The interior of Quonset hut was kept isolated to stop rain. In addition, the interior of the house had pressed wood lining and a wood floor. The old Quonset hut could be placed on wooden flood, concrete or pilings floors.

With time Quonset huts became popular among the public as well. Most of the Quonset huts are designed with a standard size of 20 by 48 ft or 6 by 15 m with 10 ft or 3 m radius.

A floor space of about720 square feet or 67 m² is provided in each hut. For the protection of the house from the weather there are optional four foot overhands at each end of the entrances. This enhances the protection from extreme weather conditions. Because of the different requirements of the people, Quonset hut is also available with 20 by 40 ft or 6 by 12 m and 40 by 100 ft or 12 by 30 m.

Quonset hut is also in demand because it has flexible interior space. The interior space is open and it can be also used as barracks, latrines, housing, bakeries, medical or offices. The popularity of Quonset hut increased during the Second World War and near about 150,000 to 170,000 Quonset huts were manufactured during the war. After Second World War these houses were sold to the people for $1000 each. Many of those Quonset Huts is still used in United States for commercial purposes like offices. Therefore, Quonset hut is a simple hut and it is very useful for various purposes.