How Our Buildings Are Anchored
Every method we use across Canada — what each one suits, what it takes, and how to choose. Whether we install your building or you raise it yourself, this page tells you how it holds.
The short version
These buildings do not need a concrete foundation. Roughly graded ground and the galvanized stakes that ship in the box anchor most buildings the day they are raised. Five more proven methods cover concrete, gravel, sand, bare rock and ground with no grip at all, and the concrete methods install year-round. The rest of this page shows each method and how to choose.
What Anchoring Actually Fights
Most people picture the danger as a building lifting straight off the ground — Dorothy’s house, up and away. That is not the main fight. The main fight is lateral: wind leaning on the side of your building like a hand on a sail, trying to slide it off its footprint. Anchoring exists to win that fight, and the numbers show how it wins.
A worked example: 40'×60'×23' in a 100 km/h wind
| Broadside area facing the wind | 1,380 sq ft |
| Total sideways push on the building | ≈ 8,000 kg |
| That’s the weight of | two full-size pickups |
| Galvanized stakes holding it | 72 |
| Load carried per stake | ≈ 110 kg |
| That’s about | one adult leaning on it |
A 15 mm × 1 m galvanized stake driven into firm ground resists several times that load before it gives. And this math is deliberately stacked against the building: it treats the whole side as one flat wall, and counts nothing for the structure’s own weight, the angled drive of the stakes, or the roof shedding wind over the peak.
Simplified physics for illustration — not a site-specific engineering assessment. Where a permit needs stamped, site-specific engineering against your snow and wind loads, we coordinate that with a Canadian engineer, quoted separately.
The wind leans; the stakes hold. Sideways force, not lift-off, is the fight.
Galvanized Steel Stakes
For normal ground conditions, this is the method — and for most buildings it is the only one you need. Heavy galvanized steel stakes, 15 mm thick and a full metre long, driven through the footplates and into the earth at four per plate. Drive them and the building is anchored the same day it is raised.
Where the count comes from
4 stakes per footplate × 2 footplates per truss = 8 per truss, plus at least 8 more at each end wall. A 40'×60' carries 7 trusses: 7 × 8 = 56, plus 16 at the ends — 72 stakes holding one building. On the 70' and 80' wide series, an extra hold-down plate sits between each pair of trusses to pin the cover, and each of those plates takes two stakes of its own, so the widest buildings carry more. Your building’s exact count ships on its packing list.
Every stake ships in the box. Not an anchor kit on a separate invoice, not a trip to the farm store on build day — the full count arrives with the building, so a self-build crew can raise it and anchor it in the same stretch of work.
Staking season runs until the ground freezes. On the prairies that is typically the end of October. Building later than that? Wedge anchoring below carries on through winter.
What it takes: a sledge or post driver, and the stakes from the box.
Four 15 mm × 1 m galvanized stakes through every footplate.
Wedge Anchors into Concrete Blocks
The precast interlocking blocks you see stacked at every gravel yard — each one roughly two tons of concrete, a doubled row roughly four tons per section. Set the building on a course of them and wedge-anchor the baseplates down. That buys you two things.
Height. Every course of blocks raises the whole building, adding clearance without changing the structure.
A wear wall. The blocks put a hard concrete perimeter between whatever lives or works inside and the cover. Cattle rub concrete. Bucket edges scrape concrete. The cover never takes the contact. That is why calving barns and machinery sheds with equipment moving all day are so often built exactly this way.
The hardware is simple: drill into the concrete, drop the anchor through the baseplate, torque it down. The sleeve expands inside the hole and locks. It holds in any sound concrete and installs in January as easily as July. The blocks themselves are inexpensive to buy; trucking and placing them is the real cost, so blocks pencil out best when a yard is nearby.
What it takes: a loader or telehandler to place the blocks, a hammer drill with a masonry bit, and a wrench.
Blocks lift the building and take the abuse — livestock and loaders rub concrete, not fabric.
Concrete Pads, Footings & Sonotubes
The same wedge hardware goes just as happily into flat concrete. A new pad poured for the building, or an existing one. If you are replacing an old structure on a surviving slab, the slab you already own becomes the anchor, and the building bolts straight down to it.
Poured strip footings and sonotube piers hold the same way with less concrete: a footing under each baseplate line, or a tube-formed pier under each footplate, each one wedge-anchored. Most customers picture blocks or footings first when they think of concrete. A slab holds every bit as well.
Like the blocks, concrete anchoring is a winter-proof path: once the concrete exists, the anchoring itself is a drill and a wrench in any month of the year.
What it takes: a hammer drill with a masonry bit and a wrench.
Slab, strip footing, or sonotube pier — the same drill-drop-tighten anchor holds in all three.
Screw Piles
Loose gravel and sand will not hold a driven stake the way packed earth does. The fix is mechanical: a screw pile, a steel shaft with a helix plate that winds down past the loose layer and locks into the load-bearing soil beneath.
We use them two ways. Between the trusses: a pile sunk between each pair of trusses, with cables rising from the pile head to each truss in a V and drawn tight. Under the footplates: piles sunk at each footplate position, with the truss footings landing directly on the pile heads. The pile becomes the footing.
Either way, the loose stuff on top stops mattering, because the building is gripping what lies beneath it.
What it takes: a machine with a pile drive head; cables and tensioners for the between-truss configuration.
Two configurations: trusses landing on pile heads, or one pile between two trusses with cables rising in a V.
Ballast Blocks on Problem Ground
When a site takes neither stake nor pile and has no concrete in sight, hold the building with weight instead of grip: dead weight, sized to the building.
Concrete blocks, the same roughly two-ton precast units, placed between the truss plates, a single cable run through the lifting ring at the centre of each block and rising to the trusses either side in a V, drawn tight. Nothing is driven, nothing is drilled into the ground, and the building is held by tons of concrete that are not going anywhere. Sized to the building, that is the downward and lateral holding force you need on land that offers none of its own.
What it takes: a loader or telehandler to place the blocks; cables and tensioners.
One cable through the block’s lifting ring, drawn tight to the trusses either side.
Straight into Solid Rock
Rock looks like the hardest site on the list. It is the simplest. Bedrock is an anchor that is already placed and already cured. Wedge-anchor the baseplates directly to it with the same drill-drop-tighten hardware as concrete, and shim under the plates where the surface needs levelling.
Between stakes for earth, piles for gravel, ballast for loose ground and wedges for rock: there is no ground in this country we have not found a way to hold onto.
What it takes: a hammer drill with a masonry bit, a wrench, and shims.
Rock is an anchor that was always there — drill, drop, tighten, shim, done.
Six Main Methods — Not the Only Ones
These six are the mains — tried and proven on sites across Canada. They are not the whole list. Clients have set buildings on grade beams of steel or timber and anchored the beams their own way. Others combine methods on one building — blocks along the wear side, stakes everywhere else. People who buy these buildings, farmers especially, tend to be particular about how things get done on their own land, and they are right to be.
So here is our position: there is no single right way, and there is no overboard way. What decides it is what you prefer, what your ground gives you, and what the building will do. If you want it done a certain way, it can be done — by our crew or by yours.
Choosing at a Glance
| Method | Ground it suits | Wear wall for livestock | Winter install | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galvanized stakes | Normal packed earth | — | Until freeze-up (≈ end of October) | All 72 stakes on a 40'×60' ship in the box — anchored the day it’s raised |
| Concrete blocks | Any firm surface | ✓ Yes | ✓ Year-round | Adds height; blocks are cheap to buy — trucking & placing is the real cost |
| Pad / footings / sonotubes | Wherever concrete goes | — | ✓ Year-round | An existing slab you already own counts — bolt straight to it |
| Screw piles | Gravel, sand | — | Season-dependent | Two configurations: under the footplates, or between trusses with cables |
| Ballast blocks | Ground with no grip at all | — | ✓ Year-round | ~2 tons per block; nothing driven or drilled into the ground |
| Solid rock | Exposed bedrock | — | ✓ Year-round | Wedge-anchor straight in; shim to level |
Methods combine freely on one building. Ground conditions, your preference, and the building’s job decide — not us.
Anchoring It Yourself? Good.
These buildings are bolt-together, and anchoring is within reach of anyone who can run a drill and swing a sledge. Three able-bodied people can raise one; four is comfortable. Every stake is already in the box, and we will tell you exactly how to do whichever method you choose — step for step, for your ground, at no charge, whether or not we ever set foot on your site.
We install buildings too, and we’re good at it. But we would rather you anchor it right than anchor it with us. If you get stuck on a Saturday with the trusses up and a question about stake angles, we are a text, a call, or an email away: 587-800-4629.
Not Sure Which Method Fits Your Site?
Describe your ground — we’ll tell you straight which anchoring makes sense, and which doesn’t.
Text Us About Your Site Get Your PriceAnchoring Questions, Answered
Do fabric buildings need a concrete foundation?
No. Roughly graded ground is all a MAX fabric building needs to start, and ground anchors are included with every building. Concrete — blocks, footings, sonotubes, or a slab — is one anchoring option among several, not a requirement.
How are the buildings anchored as standard?
With galvanized steel stakes, 15 mm thick and one metre long, driven through the footplates: four per footplate, two footplates per truss — eight stakes per truss — plus at least eight more at each end wall. A 40'×60' takes 72 stakes. On the 70' and 80' wide series, additional cover hold-down plates between the trusses take two stakes each. Every stake ships in the box with the building.
Can I put a fabric building on concrete blocks?
Yes — setting the building on precast interlocking blocks and wedge-anchoring the baseplates to them is a common choice. Each block is roughly two tons, a doubled row roughly four tons per section. The blocks raise the building and form a hard perimeter wear wall, so livestock and machinery rub concrete instead of the cover — which is why calving barns are so often built this way.
What if my site is gravel, sand, or solid rock?
Gravel or sandy ground takes screw piles — sunk between the trusses with the building cabled down, or sunk under each footplate with the trusses landing on the pile heads. Solid rock takes wedge anchors drilled straight in, with shimming to level. Ground with no grip at all takes ballast: roughly two-ton blocks between the truss plates, cabled down.
Can anchoring be done in winter?
Stake anchoring runs until the ground freezes. On the prairies that is typically the end of October. Wedge-anchoring into concrete blocks, footings, or a slab carries on through the winter, which is one reason buyers on a winter timeline choose concrete.
What site preparation do I need before anchoring?
Roughly graded ground. Grading and any groundwork are yours, and we will tell you plainly what your site needs before anything ships. No excavation, no concrete, and no foundation are required for standard stake anchoring.
Can I combine anchoring methods on one building?
Yes, and it is common: concrete blocks along a livestock wear side with stakes everywhere else, or a pad at the doors and piles down the sides. Clients have also set buildings on steel or timber grade beams and anchored the beams their own way. Ground conditions, your preference, and the building’s job decide.
Do I need an engineer’s stamp or a permit?
That depends on your municipality and how the building is used. Drawings ship with every building. When a permit requires a stamp, it must be a site-specific stamp from a Canadian engineer certifying against your site’s snow and wind loads — nothing can be pre-stamped. We can coordinate that stamping and the permit paperwork, quoted separately.
See the Buildings These Methods Hold
Every size we sell, from the 20'×40' to the 80'×200', anchors by the methods on this page, and every published price includes the stakes. Whether you call it a fabric building, a fabric shelter, a hoop shelter, or a tension fabric building, the anchoring works the same. Full specifications for each building are on its product page, held to The MAX Standard.