Well the pole barn is layed out ... set poles tomorrow

[grsthegreat]

Looks like a good project, a great learning experience for your grandson. I have built quite a few barns with my grandpa, I learned quite a bit in those few summers. I remember when we built an arena that was 140' x 80' with a 25' lean too off one side for stalls. we had to nail 3 trusses together to get good strength for the roof and rented 2 scissor lifts to get everything together. The trusses were so big and heavy we had to hire a crane to come out and put them up. That was one big barn. We have also done smaller barns, even wood sheds, and have done some house additions as well. This year my grandpa is retiring to work on his horse stables, it is pretty much a full time job, i am in charge right now for the next week since my grandparents are in Hawaii. All i can say about it is it is a lot of work taking care of a horse barn with 78 horses in over an acre of barns on a 4 acre piece of property.

78 horses....are you nutz :confused2:

i have 5, and im nuts

 

[blueriver]

When the day was done both sides ... 18 poles total have been set. Next we will build the trusses in the shop.

 

[Army grunt]

Looks good. I like the fact you have a grandson helping, as mine do, When I lay stuff out i have them help.
Here we are laying out the boxes for my saw mill.
Army Grunt

 

[blueriver]

Looks good. I like the fact you have a grandson helping, as mine do, When I lay stuff out i have them help.
Here we are laying out the boxes for my saw mill.
Army Grunt

I love the questions they ask ... "Is that the way its done?"

 

[jayste]

Blue, it looks like you and your crew made good use of that daylight!:thumbsup: 18 poles put in and plumb is a good day in my books as well! Looking forward to the progress. Did you get your poles from the Co-op? Looks like ol' "high pockets" got some good experience as well!:thumbsup:

 

[blueriver]

jayste ... I gathered up them poles when the power Company replaced them along the main road ... 1/2 mile from the house. They told me they was free for the taken ... if you remember I had posted I tried to split them with the chainsaw. Wrong answer, ended up taking them to the saw mill.

The cut side gives a pretty darn nice flat surface to work with ... got side tracked yesterday with fence's and today I need to put some vent doors in the chicken coop so the rafter construction is on hold.

 

[Johndeere3720]

78 horses....are you nutz :confused2:

i have 5, and im nuts

Yep. :laughing: It is a lot of work to keep up on the place. Stuff needs to be maintained daily, arenas have to be perfect for every user so it takes a lot to keep those up having some 50+ people going through 1 arena in a day. It wont be as bad in the summer when thew outdoor arena dries out, right now it is so muddy that you cant walk in it. So the borders and riders are limited to 2 arenas and a large indoor round pen. I have been taking care of the place for over a week now by myself, doing all the regular chores, feeding horses, keeping the grain bin full, keeping the barns swept out, keeping the arenas maintained, making repairs as needed, keeping the hay moved throughout the barns, and keeping the manure piled up. This is just a few chores, there are more when the weather is nice like maintaining the yard, keeping the parking lot clean, and keeping the pastures maintained. i have attached a few pictures so you can see what i mean.

 

[jdfire]

I ended up digging all my posts with my CK20 and backhoe. Could not drill in that course gravel.
rim

Rimshot - How well did that work using a backhoe? I'm thinking of doing the same thing building a barn this summer, but I am concerned that the poles may not be very stable due to the larger size hole. I put in a couple gate posts last summer with the backhoe and they shifted on me. -Thanks

 

[rimshot]

(Rimshot - How well did that work using a backhoe?) jdfire
================

It worked fine for me and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I did see to it that the hole got tamped using a 2 " X 4" stud and I tried to do that as I filled and not all at the end when the ditch was filled. In addition to that precaution, I hauled two five gallong buckets of water to the jobsite and poured it in as the hole was filled. Lastly I also used a rented compactor around each of the 6" X 6" posts.

Also, when I dug each hole with the backhoe I used a 12" bucket. I set the tractor so the backhoe completed the sweep as near the post location as I could get to try and minimize the excessive distubed soil. I should mention I used sand and the beautiful natural gravel as backfill and I think it compacted quite well.

I dropped one of those concrete cookies in the bottom of each hole and set the 6 X6's on top of pretty much undisturbed soil and poured my floor after the roof was on leaving a couple rows of purlins off the sidewalls so I would not have any trouble running the bullfloat over the concrete floor after it was screeded.

I would say given the extra precautions taken it is ok to dig pole holes so long as nobody uses clay to backfill. Personally I would dig the pole holes in clay but backfill with gravel. My poles had to go 4' in the ground and I think they'll make it 50 years

 

[tree grower]

Thats right!! How this for burning daylight? My Grandson and I drilled the holes, put the poles in the hole and the wife ran the tape measure.

Where are all the rocks ??? Did you photo shop them out?