Ontario's salt-resistant storage building.
Engineered fabric salt sheds for municipalities, contractors and aggregate producers — sized to your tonnage, built on a push-wall foundation and installed turnkey by one Ontario team.
Built to outlive the salt inside it.
Road salt is the most aggressive material a building can hold. A fabric salt shed pairs a galvanized steel frame with an inert membrane — no rusting roof deck dripping brine, no rotting wood walls, no exposed structural steel standing in the chloride zone. The clear span means the loader works the full face of the pile without designing around columns.
- →Push-wall and slab system designed and built in-house
- →Openings and doors sized to your loader and plow fleet
- →Stamped engineering for any Ontario snow and wind zone
- →Membrane warranty terms confirmed in the issued documents
Corrosion-Resistant Envelope
Galvanized frame and inert membrane — no rusting roof deck dripping brine back onto the stockpile.
Engineered for Ontario Snow
Stamped to the snow, wind and seismic loads of your site — Toronto to Sudbury to Thunder Bay.
Loader-Friendly Clear-Span
No internal columns. Push walls, wide openings and turning room planned around your machine.
Naturally Lit Interior
Daylight through the membrane lets operators see the pile without an overhead lighting array.
Tonnage first. Dimensions second.
A salt shed is sized by what it has to hold and how it gets worked — not by picking a width off a price list. These are the inputs we use before any dimension is quoted:
- →Annual tonnage and the peak volume you want covered at one time
- →Angle of repose — salt and treated sand stack differently
- →Push-wall height, which sets how much of the footprint actually holds material
- →Loader model, bucket width and maximum lift height
- →Whether the building also stores sand, treated sand or a brine tank
- →Room to work the face of the pile without backing into the wall
Send those numbers and we will come back with a building size, a foundation approach and a preliminary budget range. Preliminary figures are for budgeting only — final pricing follows engineering, site conditions and the configuration you select.
Get a preliminary project budget
The wall does as much work as the roof.
Everything a salt shed has to survive happens at the base: pile pressure against the wall, loader bucket contact, meltwater at the slab edge and chloride at every connection. We design the slab, the push wall — cast-in-place or large precast concrete blocks — and the arch bearing detail as one system, then pour it and build on it with our own crews.
- →Wall height set by the volume you need contained
- →Slab and apron graded so runoff is controlled, not chased
- →Base plates and anchors selected for the salt environment
- →One contract from excavation through membrane tensioning
What we walk through before drawings start.
Drainage and runoff
Where meltwater and wash-down go, how the apron is graded, and whether runoff is directed away from wells, ditches and watercourses.
Apron and approach
Truck queuing, turning radius, plow-wing clearance at the opening and snow storage that does not block the door in January.
Foundation type
Cast-in-place push wall or large precast blocks, slab thickness and the bearing detail where each arch lands.
Approvals
Permit drawings for your municipality and, where applicable, the storage details referenced in your salt management plan.
Covering the pile is the headline requirement in most Ontario salt management plans, but the apron, drainage and loading routine are what inspectors and neighbours notice. We plan them with the building rather than after it.
Different yards, different priorities.
Municipal works yards
Regional, county and city public works — winter material covered, loader access maintained, procurement documentation supported through the Tender Centre.
MTO and highway contractors
Patrol yards and contract maintenance depots where covered storage and quick loading during an event matter more than anything else.
Snow and ice contractors
Private operators protecting bulk purchases from washout and keeping material free-flowing through a long season.
Aggregate and sand producers
Treated sand, winter sand and fines kept at predictable moisture instead of freezing into an unusable stockpile.
From the GTA to James Bay.
Building Depot installs and services salt storage buildings for Ontario municipalities, patrol yards, regional works departments and private snow-and-ice contractors. One crew handles foundation, steel, membrane and doors — and the same team comes back for inspections, repairs and eventual membrane replacement.
Where to go next.
Sand & Treated Sand Storage
Winter sand sheds that keep stockpile moisture predictable.
ExploreMunicipal Buildings
Salt, fleet, works and transit buildings for Ontario municipalities.
ExploreFoundations & Push Walls
Slabs, stem walls and block push walls designed and poured in-house.
ExploreMembrane Replacement
Re-cover an existing salt dome from any manufacturer.
ExploreTender Centre
Send an RFP, ITT or drawing set for review and pricing.
ExploreCost Guide — Ontario
What actually moves the budget on a salt storage project.
ExploreThe complete guide to salt storage domes.
Building Depot is the Authorized MegaDome Dealer for Ontario and salt storage domes are one of the most-specified MegaDome configurations across the province. Engineered salt storage domes combine a hot-dip galvanized steel arch frame with a high-tenacity PVC membrane to deliver a clear-span, naturally lit, corrosion-resistant envelope that lasts decades with a fraction of the operating cost of conventional steel or wood construction.
Ontario municipalities, MTO contractors and private snow-and-ice operators specify MegaDome salt domes because the chloride-laden environment inside a working salt shed destroys conventional painted steel within a decade. The MegaDome PVC membrane is chemically inert to chloride brine and the hot-dip galvanized frame carries a zinc coating that outlasts any field-painted steel building exposed to the same conditions. Clear-span widths to 200 feet eliminate columns from loader paths so payloaders, plows and tandem trucks move through the dome without manoeuvring constraints.
Translucent membrane delivers free daylight across the entire stockpile, so operators can load at 3 a.m. during a storm event without firing up overhead high-bay lighting. That single feature pays back the building over its service life in hydro savings alone — meaningful in a 100' × 200' dome that would otherwise require 20+ kilowatts of HPS or LED fixtures.
This page is the complete Ontario reference for salt storage domes — covering benefits, applications, construction process, engineering, foundation options, installation, warranty and ongoing maintenance. Every Building Depot project is delivered turnkey under one accountable contract: in-house engineering, stamped Ontario drawings, municipal permit management, foundation construction, fabric installation and full commissioning. One contract, one project manager, one phone number from kickoff to keys.
Headline benefits.
Where MegaDome fits.
Municipal Salt Sheds
Township, regional and city public-works salt domes. Engineered to OPSS specifications for environmental containment and stockpile capacity.
MTO Patrol Yards
Provincial patrol yard salt and sand storage. Clear-span layouts accommodate MTO tandem and triaxial fleets.
Private Snow & Ice
Commercial snow-and-ice contractor stockpile domes. Sized to seasonal contract tonnage with room for treated salt and pickled sand.
Sand & Aggregate Storage
Combined salt-and-sand storage with engineered L-block dividers. One dome, multiple commodities, full loader access.
Operators we build for across Ontario.
From contract to keys.
Every Building Depot salt storage domes project follows the same disciplined sequence. It starts with a site visit and a needs interview so we understand the operation, the equipment moving through the building, the access routes and any local zoning or conservation constraints. From there our in-house designer produces a stamped engineering package — building dimensions, foundation, ventilation, door layouts and any internal partitions — sized to the application and engineered to the site's snow, wind and exposure category under the Ontario Building Code.
The stamped package goes straight into the municipal permit submission. Building Depot manages the back-and-forth with the local building department and coordinates any conservation authority, site plan or zoning approvals required for the site. While the permit is in review, the foundation crew is mobilized and the steel order goes into production so the project moves the day the permit is issued.
On site, the foundation runs first — pier, slab, L-block or curb wall, depending on the configuration. Steel arches are raised next using a mobile crane and the Building Depot install crew, the fabric membrane is tensioned over the engineered ratchet system, end walls are framed and clad, and any door, lighting or ventilation systems are commissioned. The owner gets one accountable contract, one project manager and one weekly status update from contract signing through to keys.
Stamped Ontario engineering on every project.
Every MegaDome salt storage domes Building Depot delivers in Ontario ships with third-party engineering sealed by an Ontario P.Eng. and certified to CSA A660 — the Canadian standard for pre-engineered steel building systems. Engineering accounts for site-specific snow loads (1.6–3.5 kPa across the province), hourly wind pressures per the Ontario Building Code, unbalanced snow drift conditions and any seismic factors. Drawings include the full structural design, foundation reactions, anchor bolt schedules and ventilation specifications, and are submitted directly into the municipal permit package.
Engineering is included in every Building Depot quote — never billed separately, never outsourced to a third party the owner has to chase. The same engineering team that designs the building stands behind it through the permit process, the foundation inspection and any post-construction follow-up. That single accountable contract is why GTA developers, Northern Ontario mining operators and Eastern Ontario municipalities specify MegaDome through Building Depot as their default fabric building solution.
Engineered to your site, your budget and your soil.
Concrete L-Block
Pre-cast concrete L-blocks retain a working pile or commodity (salt, sand, aggregate, grain) inside a clear-span dome. Standard for bulk storage.
Concrete Pier
Drilled or augered reinforced concrete piers. Lowest-cost option, ideal for sites without a slab requirement and for sloped or rural builds.
Reinforced Slab
Engineered reinforced concrete slab with thickened edge under the perimeter base channel. Standard for shop, warehouse, dairy and wash-down applications.
Turnkey installation by Building Depot crews.
Building Depot maintains its own installation crews across Ontario — based in the GTA, Eastern Ontario and Northern Ontario — so we never sub-contract the install to a crew unfamiliar with MegaDome's tensioning system. A typical salt storage domes install runs 2–4 weeks for the steel frame and membrane portion, on top of 1–2 weeks for the foundation and 1 week for end-wall and door commissioning. Larger or column-free wide-span buildings (140'+) add an additional week for staged arch erection.
Steel arches are raised in sequence using a mobile crane sized to the arch weight. The PVC membrane is tensioned over the steel using engineered ratchet tensioners, with a 24-hour set period followed by a final tension check before sign-off. End walls are framed in galvanized steel and clad in matching membrane, insulated metal panel or owner-supplied finishes. Through the entire install, the client works with a single Building Depot project manager — no calling around for status updates, no finger-pointing between trades.
Backed for the long haul.
MegaDome salt storage domes carry a 25-year limited warranty on the structural steel frame and a 15-year limited warranty on the PVC membrane. Both warranties cover materials and workmanship and are honoured directly by Building Depot — Ontario's Authorized MegaDome Dealer — so warranty claims are resolved by the same team that installed the building, not bounced between a dealer, a manufacturer and a sub-contracted installer.
Hardware components — ratchet tensioners, anchor brackets, ventilation louvers and door systems — are covered under the membrane warranty. Building Depot maintains a full inventory of replacement membrane panels, brackets and hardware in Ontario, which means warranty service is typically scheduled within days, not the weeks it takes a U.S.-based supplier to ship parts across the border.
Simple, predictable upkeep.
Maintenance on a MegaDome salt storage domes is intentionally minimal — that's a core part of the value proposition versus conventional steel. Annual maintenance comprises a visual inspection of the membrane surface and ratchet tensioning system, a check of ridge vents and gable louvers, a tightening of anchor bolts where exposed and a wash-down of any accumulated debris. The hot-dip galvanized steel frame requires no painting, no rust treatment and no panel replacement over the building's design life, which is a meaningful operating-cost advantage over painted metal buildings that demand recoating every 10–15 years.
Building Depot offers an Ontario-wide annual inspection and re-tensioning service for operators who want a turnkey maintenance contract. A typical building requires a half-day visit once a year to remain in warranty-compliant condition. At the 5–7 year mark, our crews perform a full re-tension of the membrane to compensate for the natural relaxation that occurs in any PVC fabric structure. With that simple maintenance cycle, MegaDome buildings routinely deliver 25–30+ years of service before any fabric replacement is required.
Explore the rest of our authority hub.
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
Tenders, RFPs and early-stage budgets all welcome
Ontario salt storage — answered.
Ontario salt sheds installed Toronto · Ottawa · Sudbury · Thunder Bay
Tell us your tonnage and loader.
We'll spec the building, design and pour the foundation and tension the membrane — one Ontario crew, one contract.
Ontario engineers on the line · quote returned within 24 business hours
- AuthorizedMegaDome® Dealer for Ontario
- 500+Ontario projects delivered
- TurnkeyEngineering · foundation · install
- OBCP.Eng-stamped to Ontario Building Code
- 25-yrMembrane warranty · 50-yr frame life