What is Building Depot?

Building Depot is Ontario's Authorized MegaDome Dealer for engineered fabric buildings. We supply, engineer, foundation-pour and install hot-dip galvanized fabric structures across Ontario for agricultural, industrial, mining, municipal, aviation, commercial and equestrian use.

Where is Building Depot located?

Building Depot is headquartered at 1053 McNicoll Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M1W 3W6, and serves customers across all of Ontario — from Windsor to Ottawa and from Niagara to Thunder Bay.

What areas does Building Depot serve?

Building Depot serves the entire province of Ontario, including the GTA, Ottawa, Hamilton, Niagara, London, Windsor, Kingston, Barrie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, North Bay and every city in between.

How do I contact Building Depot?

Call 1-800-398-5053 toll-free (or 705-333-9511 local), email support@buildingdepot.ca, or request a fixed 24-hour quote at buildingdepot.ca/contact.

Is Building Depot an authorized MegaDome dealer?

Yes. Building Depot is Ontario's Authorized MegaDome Dealer and sells the full MegaDome series (HP, HHP, XP, XL, DB and AR) with Ontario-stamped engineering and manufacturer warranty.

What warranty does Building Depot offer?

MegaDome fabric membranes carry a 15-year prorated warranty, and hot-dip galvanized steel frames are engineered for a 50+ year service life. Foundations and installation carry a 1-year workmanship warranty.

What's the difference between dry-cold cover and refrigerated storage?

Dry-cold (unheated) storage is a covered, protected space that stays close to outdoor ambient temperature but keeps product out of precipitation, direct sun and wind — used for material that just needs to be dry and out of the weather. Above-zero conditioned storage adds heat and insulation to hold a target temperature range without going below freezing. A refrigerated room adds mechanical cooling and a vapour-sealed insulated liner to hold a set temperature, including below freezing, year-round. Which one you need depends on the product, not the building type.

Can a MegaDome fabric building be insulated?

Yes. An insulated liner package can be installed inside the fabric structure to create a conditioned envelope. The insulation type, thickness and vapour control detailing are specified around your target temperature range, the humidity load inside the space and your mechanical design — they are engineered per project rather than applied as a standard default.

Do fabric cold storage buildings need a mechanical engineer or refrigeration contractor?

For above-zero conditioned space, a heating and ventilation design is usually enough. For refrigerated rooms, yes — you need a refrigeration contractor sizing compressors, evaporators and controls to the building envelope. Building Depot designs and builds the shell, liner and vapour detailing; we coordinate with your mechanical trade on the load calculation and equipment placement rather than supplying refrigeration equipment ourselves.

How do you stop condensation inside an insulated fabric building?

Condensation happens where warm, moist air meets a cold surface. The liner package, vapour barrier placement, and how the wall-to-floor and door junctions are detailed all matter more than the insulation thickness alone. We also plan ventilation and door usage patterns into the design, because how a door is worked in practice affects moisture load as much as the wall assembly does.

What floor and foundation does a cold storage building need?

Most projects use a poured concrete slab, often on a stem wall foundation that raises the building above grade and gives a clean dock or drive-in threshold. Slab thickness, vapour retarder placement under the slab, and drainage falls are set to your loading pattern, racking layout and whether the space will see wash-down. We design and pour the foundation in-house so it is built to match the liner and door details rather than guessed at separately.

What door options work for a cold or insulated fabric building?

Insulated roll-up doors, insulated sliding doors and dock-height doors with mechanical levelers are all used depending on whether you're loading a forklift, a straight truck or a highway trailer. Every door is also a heat-load event — door count, size and how often they cycle through the day are part of sizing the mechanical system, not an afterthought bolted on later.

What information do you need to price a cold storage building?

Site address, the product being stored and its target temperature range, the footprint or clear-span width you need, racking layout and forklift clearance, door count and type, and whether refrigeration is required or the space stays above zero. Send those details and we can put together a preliminary budget range and a scope for engineering — figures at that stage are for planning only, not a quotation.

Insulated fabric cold storage building on an Ontario industrial site

COLD STORAGE BUILDINGS ONTARIO

Dry-cold, conditioned, or refrigerated — built to hold it.

Engineered fabric buildings for Ontario food, agriculture, logistics and processing operators — sized to your product, insulated to your temperature target and installed turnkey by one Ontario team.

Request a Cold Storage Quote 1-800-398-5053

THREE DIFFERENT JOBS

"Cold storage" covers more than one building.

The right building depends on what the space actually has to do. Unheated dry-cold cover keeps product out of rain, sun and wind at close to outdoor ambient — a fabric shell alone often does the job. Above-zero conditioned storage adds insulation and heat to hold a temperature range without freezing. A refrigerated room adds an insulated, vapour-sealed liner and mechanical cooling to hold a set point, including below freezing, in every season. We start by identifying which of the three you're actually building, then design the envelope around it.

→Unheated dry-cold cover for product that just needs to stay dry
→Above-zero conditioned space with insulation and heat
→Refrigerated rooms with a sealed insulated liner and mechanical cooling
→Building envelope and liner designed together, not layered on afterward

Insulated fabric cold storage interior with liner ceiling, LED lighting and racked produce pallets — Concept image of an insulated liner interior. Envelope type, insulation package and mechanical scope are set per project.

Three Levels of Cover

Unheated dry-cold, above-zero conditioned, or a fully insulated refrigerated room — matched to what's actually stored.

Insulated Liner Packages

Liner, vapour control and insulation specified together as one assembly rather than added on after the shell is up.

Doors Sized to Traffic

Roll-up, sliding or dock-height doors selected around forklift, straight-truck or trailer traffic and how often they cycle.

Clear-Span Racking Room

No interior columns competing with your racking layout, aisle widths or forklift turning clearance.

INSULATION & TEMPERATURE PLANNING

Where insulation actually pays off.

Insulation is not a single upgrade you add to every building — it's a package matched to a temperature target and a moisture load. These are the inputs that shape the liner, vapour control and mechanical scope before anything is priced:

→Where the temperature target sits — dry-cold cover, above-zero conditioned, or below-freezing refrigerated
→How much of the year the space needs to hold that target versus ride with outdoor conditions
→Product sensitivity — some goods only need to be dry and out of the sun, others need a tight temperature band
→Door count and cycling frequency, since every door opening is a heat-load event
→Whether wash-down, dust or high humidity inside the space drives the vapour barrier detail
→Available power and whether mechanical cooling is supplied by others or scoped with the building

Send those details and we will come back with an envelope approach, a foundation plan and a preliminary budget range. Figures at that stage are for planning purposes only — final pricing follows engineering, site conditions and the mechanical scope you select.

Get a preliminary project budget

Door & traffic heat load

Every time a door opens, conditioned air leaves and outside air comes in. Door count, door size, how often forklifts or trucks cycle through, and whether a vestibule or dock seal is worth the cost are all part of sizing the mechanical system correctly — not details finalized after the building is built.

Vapour & condensation control

Where warm, moist air can reach a cold surface, it will condense. Liner continuity, sealed penetrations and door threshold details matter as much as insulation thickness in keeping a conditioned space dry inside its own walls.

FOUNDATION, FLOOR & DRAINAGE

The slab sets up everything above it.

A cold storage floor has to carry racking loads, hold up to forklift traffic and manage moisture from below as well as above. Most projects use a poured concrete slab on a stem wall foundation, which raises the building above grade and gives a clean threshold for dock or drive-in doors. We design the slab, vapour retarder placement and drainage falls together with the liner and door details, then build the foundation with our own crews.

→Stem wall or slab-on-grade, matched to dock height and grading
→Sub-slab vapour retarder detailed against the wall liner system
→Drainage falls planned for wash-down and thaw, where applicable
→One contract from excavation through liner and door installation

See our foundation work

Insulated fabric cold storage building on a poured concrete stem wall with an insulated sectional door — Concept image. Slab thickness, stem-wall height and drainage detailing are engineered per site.

SITE & LAYOUT PLANNING

What we walk through before drawings start.

Vapour & condensation control

Liner placement, sealed penetrations and door thresholds detailed so warm moist air isn't meeting a cold surface inside the wall or ceiling assembly.

Floor, slab & drainage

Slab thickness, sub-slab vapour retarder and drainage falls set to racking loads, forklift traffic and any wash-down in the space.

Racking & clearance

Aisle widths, rack bay layout and mast lift height planned against clear-span width and eave height before the building is sized.

Door & dock coordination

Door type, dock leveler needs and truck approach worked out with your traffic pattern, not fitted in after the shell is built.

WHO WE BUILD FOR

Different products, different envelopes.

Finished goods & distribution

Palletized product held at a controlled temperature ahead of shipping, with racking and forklift aisles planned into the clear span.

Root crops & produce

Dry-cold or above-zero storage for crops that need protection from freezing and from direct sun and wind, without the cost of full refrigeration.

Food-processing overflow

Additional cooled or dry-cold capacity beside an existing plant when the permanent building is out of room.

Transload & cross-dock

Covered, temperature-managed space for product moving between transport modes without long dwell time.

Salt and de-icer cover for municipal and fleet yards is a related but distinct application — see our salt storage buildings page for that use case.

PROJECT PLANNING RESOURCES

Where to go next.

Commercial Warehouses

Uninsulated and conditioned warehousing across Ontario.

Explore

Agriculture Buildings

Ag storage and processing, from bulk crop to livestock.

Explore

Foundations & Stem Walls

Slabs and stem walls designed and poured in-house.

Explore

Membrane Replacement

Re-cover or upgrade an existing fabric structure.

Explore

Tender Centre

Send an RFP, ITT or drawing set for review and pricing.

Explore

Cost Guide — Ontario

What actually moves the budget on a cold storage project.

Explore

HAVE A LAYOUT OR TEMPERATURE SPEC?

Send your project to Building Depot.

Upload architectural or engineering drawings, site plans, specifications, tender documents or photos. Our Ontario engineering team reviews every submission and responds with scope, pricing and schedule.

Architectural & engineering drawings
Site plans and grading information
Specifications and tender documents
Building dimensions and photos

Submit Your Cold Storage Project Get a Preliminary Project Budget

Tenders, RFPs and early-stage budgets all welcome

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Ontario cold storage — answered.

Ontario Service Area

Ontario cold storage buildings installed Toronto · Ottawa · London · Barrie

Toronto GTA Mississauga Brampton Vaughan Markham Richmond Hill Newmarket Oakville Burlington Milton Pickering Ajax Whitby Oshawa Hamilton Niagara Region Guelph Kitchener Waterloo Cambridge Orangeville Barrie Muskoka Owen Sound Peterborough Belleville Kingston Ottawa London Sarnia Chatham-Kent Windsor Sudbury North Bay Timmins Sault Ste. Marie Thunder Bay Northern Ontario

TELL US WHAT'S BEING STORED

Product, temperature target, and traffic pattern.

We'll spec the envelope, design and pour the foundation and coordinate the mechanical scope — one Ontario crew, one contract.

Get a Project Quote 1-800-398-5053

Ontario engineers on the line · quote returned within 24 business hours

Authorized
MegaDome® Dealer for Ontario
500+
Ontario projects delivered
Turnkey
Engineering · foundation · install
OBC
P.Eng-stamped to Ontario Building Code
25-yr
Membrane warranty · 50-yr frame life