eastern red cedar posts for pole barn/shed?

[kossetx]

Guys, I've never done this before but I have a lot of building experience and I'm a wood shop teacher in my real life. I want to build a 3 sided, flat roofed pole barn to house my tractors. They've been sitting around outside for too long. I'm thinking 20X30 or 20X40 with a 10' sloping to 8' roof would keep most of the equipment I own.

It's going to be housed in the woods for 3 reasons. 1. I don't really want to see it. It is going to be tin covered posts with maybe a crushed limestone or dirt floor. Not the most aesthetic of structures. 2. for security, out of site, out of mind. 3. the surounding oaks will deflect a lot of wind shear.

Around here folks use a lot of ERC to build fences and gates and such, but I don't know if anyone has used it for a building. I have a multitude of 6-8" perfectly strait, not very many knots(they grew close together) ERC trees that will yield at least 20' posts. These particular trees also are fairly uniform in diameter from top to bottom due to their close growth habit but without measuring i'd say there would be some variance, maybe 1" in 10'.

My questions are has anybody ever used ERC for pole barn posts? I have a fence that is 20 years old made from untreated ERC, but it's not a barn and I understand that. If I treat the bottom 2 feet of each post I think I'd get 15-20 years out of them, but is the troubles I forsee will come from the diameter differences in the logs be worth the 400-500.00 treated lumber would probably cost me. The money figure is a guess. Anyone ever do anything like this?

TIA for any replies. Mark

[MotorSeven]

We use the heck out of them here for building, matter of fact my entire house will be built out of ERC logs. I would say 15-20 years if you stick them in the ground is about right, but you could always dig some mini footers and set the poles on top of concrete. Then they would last hundred or more years. I did pier mini footers for my last log home. We just took a shovel & dug a 3' round hole that was bowl shaped & about 2' deep. Filled it with crete & sat the piers for the house on top.
If you are worried about wind, sink 'em in the ground....
RD

[Danno1]

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Would it be worth selling the ERC poles to offset the cost of the treated ones?

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[kossetx]

Wow, Thanks for the quick replies.

RD, how do you attach the posts to the footers. Angle?

Dan, I don't think they're worth the cost and effort to remove and transport vs. cost recieved. ERC is plentiful here and they're down in the deep woods.

[kossetx]

I guess some things I should add. The area recieves 37" ARF and the soil is thin sandy loam with a red clay subsoil.

[mikim]

I cut mine off the place in Smithville and built a 18 x 20 shed using them -- concreted 'em in post holes -- framed up around 'em -- used corrugated tin for the whole thing. I built it in 1984 ....it's still there and poles are fine. I picked the best ones I could - but they aren't dead on straight so -- I wrapped the poles with the 2 x 6's at ground level and at 8' ... then plumbed and squared off the 2 x 6's before setting the concrete, and let the poles end up however. Consequently the poles aren't plumb -- but the sides of the shed are.

[MotorSeven]

If you want to attach, i would do a wide post hole on the four corners(3-4' deep) then stick a 2-3' piece of galv strap in the crete leaving enough to attach it to the side of the pole. For the poles between the corners, i would just set them on top. A shed that size is going to be really heavy so it would take alot of wind comming from the open side to lift it, so i would think corner attachments would be sufficient.
You could also just treat then set them all in post holes, backfilling with gravel. It is the moisture that will get them over the years & gravel helps a ton.
You can really over build & spend more time/$, but if it is just a simple shed, i would keep it simple. Besides, i'll be lucky to be around in 20 years to replace those poles.....

RD

[radioman]

i agree with motorseven. when i was setting posts , i was told never to use concrete since concrete acts like a bag to hold water and cause problems. good drainage around post is the key and ERC could last longer then 10-25 yrs.

[flusher]

Originally Posted by kossetx

Guys, I've never done this before but I have a lot of building experience and I'm a wood shop teacher in my real life. I want to build a 3 sided, flat roofed pole barn to house my tractors. They've been sitting around outside for too long. I'm thinking 20X30 or 20X40 with a 10' sloping to 8' roof would keep most of the equipment I own.

It's going to be housed in the woods for 3 reasons. 1. I don't really want to see it. It is going to be tin covered posts with maybe a crushed limestone or dirt floor. Not the most aesthetic of structures. 2. for security, out of site, out of mind. 3. the surounding oaks will deflect a lot of wind shear.

Around here folks use a lot of ERC to build fences and gates and such, but I don't know if anyone has used it for a building. I have a multitude of 6-8" perfectly strait, not very many knots(they grew close together) ERC trees that will yield at least 20' posts. These particular trees also are fairly uniform in diameter from top to bottom due to their close growth habit but without measuring i'd say there would be some variance, maybe 1" in 10'.

My questions are has anybody ever used ERC for pole barn posts? I have a fence that is 20 years old made from untreated ERC, but it's not a barn and I understand that. If I treat the bottom 2 feet of each post I think I'd get 15-20 years out of them, but is the troubles I forsee will come from the diameter differences in the logs be worth the 400-500.00 treated lumber would probably cost me. The money figure is a guess. Anyone ever do anything like this?

TIA for any replies. Mark

I'm building a shed (29ga metal sides and roof) for my haying equipment now. It's pole frame, 20x28 ft (two 14x20 bays), 10 ft roof height sloping to 9 ft. Using eleven 4x6x10ft P.T. posts (3 rows in 3-3-5 post configuration, cost $10.43 ea from Home Depot).



Using a $12 Simpson post base and $15 worth of concrete redi-mix for each post, so each post cost about $37 for materials. No worries about posts rotting in the ground.

[weldingisfun]

All of the sheds for my livestock were built using ERC for the posts. They are squared up using PT 2x4 and covered with tin. Some were built nine years ago, no problems yet.
Lots of good tips given here. Go for it. Homegrown posts will always cost less than store bought.