Size of Quonset Huts
Posted 04/30/09
Quonset huts are lightweight prefabricated structures made of corrugated galvanized iron and semcircular arched ribs. The design of quonset huts is based on the Nissen hut developed by the Navy in 1941. The name of quonset huts comes from the name of the city where they were first manufactured, Quonset Point. Quonset huts can be shipped anywhere and assembled without skilled labor. Quonset huts were made for the military but were sold to the public after the war ended to be used as commercial buildings.The Nissen hut was developed by the Navy. The Nissen hut was changed to use corrugated iron and arched ribs to become the quonset hut. In later years, the two ends of the quonset huts were covered with plywood having doors and windows.Another improvement on the quonset huts was the addition of interior pressed wood lining, insulation, and a one inch tongue in groove plywood floor on a raised metal framework.
The first quonset hut measured sixteen feet by thirty feet and could be assembled by a team of eight men in one day. Quonset huts were later modified to the standard size of twenty feet by forty eight feet with a ten foot radius resulting in seven hundred twenty square feet of floor space inside. Four foot overhangs at each end to protect the entrances against the weather were sometimes added to quonset huts. Other sizes included a forty feet by one hundred feet warehouse model of the quonset hut. The interior space of quonset huts is open and flexible.
Manufacturing of quonset huts stopped in 1959. But because the quonset huts are so portable and adaptable, they are still in use in some places today. Many quonset huts served as homes and businesses after production stopped. Large universities and colleges that had an influx of students resulting from the GI bill used quonset huts on campus. They are not used often today, but they are still around.