Post and beam barn build

   / Post and beam barn build #1  
dieselcrawler

dieselcrawler

Elite Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2008
Messages
2,952
Location
Lucasville Ohio
Tractor
2013 JD 3005 2001 Kubota BX1800
Our farm has a nice big barn, likely about 100 years old or more, like the house. But it is right by the highway, at an intersection with the county road that goes between the house and barn, and traffic noise often spooks the horses. The horse stalls are at the end closest to the road, shown in this picture from last winter.



So with another horse joining the herd recently, a horse-only barn, in a better location is in order. One with enough individual stalls, center Isle, tack room, overhead hay storage loft... 24x30 or 40 long is the plan at this point, with 8x10 stalls. It will be constructed of locust posts and beams, cut from our farm.

So, I started cutting trees. Downed or standing dead, or live and straight/long... saw cuts them all!



A couple free maple logs from a lot that was cleared next to where I work was a nice find, sawed out to about 500 board feet of 1x6 lumber.





Some post were found in the field below the barn...



Some were found on the other side, below the house....



And we started skidding them up to any place we could.



Which turned into a mess, fast. Which included an unhappy wife, displeased with how we had logs piled everywhere. So last weekend the boys (15 & 8 y.o.) and I moved all of them to the field below the house where the new barn will go.



The new barn will go in the background above the trucks, in front of the tractor. I will need to leval out a spot to build.



With any luck, I hope to have it under roof by the end of summer. I still have alot more poles to cut, and some poplars to fell, for sheeting boards. Updates to follow!
 
   / Post and beam barn build #2  
Looking forward to the build!
 
   / Post and beam barn build #4  
This is going to be fun!!!! Please post more pics of your saw mill, I've never seen anything like it.

Why 8x10 stalls? I'm fairly new to horses, so when I built my very small horse barn, I read all I could on how big to make the stalls and it seems like 12x12 was the size recommended the most. Not too big so they wont hurt them selves, and not so small that they can get up easily if they lay down.
 
   / Post and beam barn build #5  
That looks like a LOT of site work to be done! I have a similar problem for my future barn site. I'll be very interested in how you go about it. Now get to work and take your camera. :thumbsup:
 
   / Post and beam barn build
  • Thread Starter
#6  
8x10 stalls due to material size, and overall size... 3x8=24, 3x10=30. Coming up with enough poles for floor joist and beams in the size needed, and longer than 8' or 10' long is hard. I think I have enough poles 16' (wall post) and 20' (inside poles), so now it's just a matter of getting 10' beams, and 8' joist. Rafters are another issue...

I will run water and electric down from the house, about 150' away.

Dirt floors for now, with mine conveyor belt down, and sawdust. Concrete as money alows, in time.

I might stretch the length to 40', to allow 2 extra stalls, and tack room.

The Peterson ASM swing blade saw mill belongs to a friend of mine, about 3 miles away. Mine to use any time I get the chance.

Still want to cut a few more trees, but need to get the long poles to the mill. Hope to square them to 8", take out the humps, and leave round if below 8" at the top. Once I know I have them accounted for, the rest can be cut down for 8's and 10's.
 
   / Post and beam barn build #7  
My ideal barn size is 12-18-12 across and however long in multiples of 12 deep.

The 18 wide center isle opens up a lot of possibilities and makes for a nice loft above.

No one had ever regretted going bigger... at least that's the story and I'm sticking to it.
 
   / Post and beam barn build #8  
Why 18 foot center? 16 makes.it easy to use standard lengths of lumber
 
   / Post and beam barn build #9  
Just for proportion the 18 being 1.5 times the 12' lean-to.

It also makes for a nice loft... had a chance to speak to the builder of the last one I saw and he said going 20 would have added a lot to the cost...

Plenty of older attached garages in Concord and Pleasant Hill 18 feet wide... 16 makes is a little tight for side by side.

The plywood decking was 9' long... don't know if was special order or not.
 
   / Post and beam barn build
  • Thread Starter
#10  
The hay loft above will be 10' above the ground floor, so at the eves there will be about 6' clearance to the roof, with 6/12 pitch, 10' at center post, 12' at the peak. The loft will be full width, not just over the center Isle.

3 of our 5 equines are ponies, and the 2 horses are not huge, nor are we likely to have Clydesdales. I hope 8x10 will work, I mentioned the size concerns to my wife earlier today... I may need to recalculate. I fully intend to keep the center Isle 8', so I can't get myself in trouble. If I can fit a truck in there... I'll end up sleeping on the couch. 8' will let me get in with the tractor to clean stalls, but nothing more.
 
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