setting the posts for the pole barn..

[NIXON]

mopwer . I apologize ! A Wind up " is a post that asks questions just to get a response from folks . IE blowing Smoke ,Etc . Again sorry for the comment .
The way you discribed and the suggestions of others is the way to go ( batter boards ) Low tech to be sure , but the best way to lay out a structure .
Now that you've dug the holes , set your strings on the batter boards so they are at the outside dimensions of the poles .
(building size minus three inches if your using 2x4 for girts .
Tedious but simple . All the best John

 

[Slamfire]

I'd use stakes, similar to the ones you used for the batter boards, and then put a length of 2x4 crosswise on them and spike the post to the 2x4. You'll have to do this in both directions for the corner posts. You can use your initial girts for lining up the remaining ones, that will cut the bracing in half. You'll want to use the girts closest to half way up the poles.

 

[cj7]

mopower440
I am wondering if you can post us some pics of your layout and holes that have been drilled. Many times a picture can really help. I am just trying to understand how your not able to get the poles lined up if you you strung a layout.

 

[mopower440]

Dont have a digital camera, we havnt tried to line them up yet, im asking because the holes are bigger than the posts are, we walerd them out to between a foot and 14" wide, therefore, the posts will have to be lined up in the holes.. i figured setting the strings back up would be the way, but i wanted to make sure..and no, these arent wind up posts..lol..i just like to verify my ideas with people that have hands on experience with this..lol..when you said 'wind up posts', i thought you meant some type of posts for the pole barn..lol..you had me wondering! anyways, i set the 4 corner posts, then string in the rest of them, ok, should i be filling in the holes as i go or just brace them all up until the entire frame is together so i can move the posts if need be? Just trying to figure out this stuff, its not covered in the book..

 

[SteveBenson]

Backfill the posts before framing and after getting them in the right place /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I don't have well draining soil, so I backfill with stonedust.

Also, it helps to make sure your posts are a little longer than you need. This keeps you from worrying about getting the depth of your post exact. It's hard enough getting the poles into the right postion without worrying about the depth too. Use a chain saw to top the posts after framing.

 

[mopower440]

Good deal! Going to put the posts up on sunday, now this will probably sound like a stupid question, but, what type and length nail should be used to nail the skirt boards and girts to the 4x6 posts? I was thinking 3 1/2 inch and maybe using a decking nail so they wont be prone to pull out, what do you guys recommend here?

 

[SteveBenson]

If all your girts, skirts, and purlins (depending on how the are set) are 2x? then you should use a 20D pole barn nails spaced 2" OC. The fastening system in a polebarn is very important, especially for larger buildings. If you only have 14 posts your building can't be to big though. Pole barn nails are ring shanked and case hardened to prevent pull out and add shear strength, respectively. It's best to drive them by hand. And once they go in don't count on them coming out without completely destroying the surrounding wood, so don't use them for temporary bracing.

For medium to large steel sided pole buildings I would also use strap bracing to add shear strength to the walls. In general metal siding, unlike plywood or OSB, adds no significant shear strength to a wall.

 

[ponygirl]

Hi, this conversation couldn't of happened at a more opportune time. I'm in the process of building a pole barn as well. I'm now putting on the roofing material but to answer your question, we used batter boards and string. We dug a hole and sunk a pole as we learned earlier that if you dig a whole and it isn't centered where it should be, well...that's a lot of extra digging. Anyway, we used 2x4s to hold up each and every post (which we later re-used for purlins). We put a concrete paver in the bottom of the hole and depending on where the post was located determined how we measured it. Mine is a shedrow style barn with 5 12x12 stalls, etc, etc. Anyway, we used sacrete- 3 80lb bags a post. We added 1 bag then 1 gallon of water, 2 bags and 1 1/2 gallons of water and let it cure.

 

[dirtbone]

we used the 6,8,10 principle to square it and ran a string line for the posts, then marked with stakes, same way you guys are talking about, just wondering if there was another way to actually set the posts, but the string and stakes is how we were planning..what do you mean by 'wind up' posts?

One more thought about squaring and such- I'm doing a similar project right now and do not have the luxury of having a nice level building site. Make sure that when laying out your lines that they are level, don't just follow the grade or your measurements will be off because the slope differences will be different from post to post and will cause an out of square layout.

 

[RxRatedZ71]

Be aware that despite the bottom of the posts being square, as they dry out, the tops can sometimes bend out of square. We had to use ratchet straps and the tractor bucket to square the tops of a few posts. As many know, its easier to make it true BEFORE you start putting your skin on it.