Moving a 35x70x18 metal barn

[patrick_g]

2many rocks and Chillimau:

18 inch diameter piers because that is the size auger the winning bidder had and recommended (very experienced and highly recommended contractor) and I liked it.

12-15 feet deep to get to: 1. undisturbed soil (below the fill I used to make pad and 2. to get to the layer of sand rock (not sandstone) that forms a shelf below the area. Piers get a lot of support from friction between irregular walls and soil, not just support from the bottom area of the pier. So getting into undisturbed soil is a GOOD THING.

The building isn't really all that heavy. The steel used temporarily to brace and support it while moving probably weighs more than the bld.

It is moved now, positioned pretty good over the piers (pix to follow when the operational tempo subsides.)

Last night after the movers left I started making steel boxes to connect the not to accurately placed weld plates to the column bottoms. I am using HD 8 inch channel. It is 2 inches high. Two pieces will be welded together to make a box 8 inches wide and 4 inches tall. The process is:

Cut a square hole in the channel to fit the weld plate. Orient the hole to position the direction of the channel to be under a column. Weld in place. Add another piece of channel on top of the first to make the 4 sided steel box with two open 4x8 inch ends. Weld the two long seams.

Now you have an 8 inch wide flat metal surface on which to lower and set the 6 5/8 inch diameter columns (10 each and the sodes of the door frame (4 each). This raises the bld 4 inches above the weld plates and makes it about 4 inches taller than when on its slab. This accommodates the overhang of the sheet metal.

After it gets light (note the time of this post) I will take my transit and shoot the locations of where the columns were cut off at the slab. This will give me any elevation differences of where the columns used to sit. The weld plates of where it is about to be placed are all at the same height (rotary laser.) I can shim with sheet steel to accomodate the differences in elevation.

Move went well. Mover commented on how stable the bld was, much more that typical due to the serious bracing we welded inside.

Why move it? It was over a quarter of a mile (as crow flies) from the house through muddy pasture after rain or much further by our paved driveway and public roads in inclement weather (convenience issue.) It was next to a state highway (security issue.) Now it is close to our house and convenient. I will walk out of the house to the BIG RED BARN and drive out on the tractor with whatever implement and not need to drive a vehicle to get to the barn. I can store the tractor and all implements in it plus my trailers and "spare vehicles" like my dune buggy. I will be changing implements indoors out of the rain and snow, wind and cold, or sun and heat. everything will keep nicer stored indoors. 21x48 ft shed on the side of the garage/shop will not be used for tractor stuff and is being enclosed to become a metal shop (with some storage for drying lumber etc.)

I have 2 each 20ft shipping containers which I can move down near the barn or sell if I decide I don't need them. They make good little sheds.

With 18 ft + wall height I can put a mezzanine floor over part of the RED BARN if I want more storage room and my wife can access it easily not having to drive to get there.

Egon, I don't want to put a shed over the slab as that would destroy the ambiance of the skating rink (roller in summer and ice for a short while in winter, some winters when it freezes enough.) It would make a great model airplane aerodrome or mini-airport for an ultralight. Maybe draw circles and have a a marble tournament or smooth the surface and put in shuffle board or...

Pat

 

[Chillimau]

Gotcha, I didn't think about it being that far to GOOD DIRT. Glad the move went well. Looking forward to the pics.

 

[Egon]

Shipping containers, concrete slab, now there is a combination for some storage rental units or maybe a small three or four level condo complex!

All facing in-wards to the rink!

 

[patrick_g]

So here are some pix of the barn move.

1. Barn in tow coming through pasture

2. Made the turn to align with the piers (Big truck, huh)

3. Getting lined up over piers.

4. Checking to ensure cut off column bases are in alignment with the piers. Note excess steel I beams sticking out.

5. Pier is 18 inches in diameter with "mushroom" top. The 6x6 weld plates were not well located by cement guy's low dollar help so some were dead on and some were off by varying amounts. I devised a mating system that accommodated considerable imprecision in weld plate location. Pix to follow on that.

6. Here is the Mac after the steel was removed from the building and reloaded for transport. The longer beams were 80 feet and the shorter ones 50.

The longer ones were running longwise of the bld with the shorter ones transverse atop the long ones.

Lateral resistance to wind forces was supplied by the 3 ft of 6 5/8 inch pipe columns (5/16 wall thickness) buried below the slab surface into a large footer. As I attached the bottoms of the severed columns to the top of the piers (will act like a hinge) there is little wind resistance and the entire bld could be collapsed like a parallelogram by a decent wind. So... I welded braces between the columns and the roof trusses to form triangles to resist lateral loading. These are high enough up to not get in the way of most operations.

Another issue is the 2 ton pivoting jib crane with traveling car and electric chain hoist. Down forces on the crane when supporting a load (with crane at right angles to the supporting wall) are converted to a torque trying to pull the central column to which the vertical I beam supporting the crane is attached out of column. The torquing moment translates to a compressive force trying to force the roof truss to push the column over on the other side of the building. To stiffen the building to accept these forces non-destructively I will place even more and heavier triangular bracing between the central roof truss and the central column opposite the crane.

It will be relatively easy to test to see if the bracing is sufficient. I can just hoist successively heavier loads and take a succession of measurements to see how much deflection there is in the structure. So long as I do not approach the elastic limit of any of the structural components there will be no permanent deflection/deformation of the structure. Hopefully with my by guess and by gosh beefing up of the structure it will be stronger than needed to support the 2 ton rating of the crane. I don't want to have to add buttresses to the structure or dead men on chains or cables to handle the crane's loading. I'd limit my hoist weights before doing that. I really don't anticipate needing to go over 1000 lbs on a routine basis and 1 ton rarely, much less 2 tons.

Pat

 

[Egon]

Nice pictures Pat.

5. Pier is 18 inches in diameter with "mushroom" top. The 6x6 weld plates were not well located by cement guy's low dollar help so some were dead on and some were off by varying amounts. I devised a mating system that accommodated considerable imprecision in weld plate location. Pix to follow on that.

It would seem that many a year ago I went through through this same type of situation when pouring pad's for a batch asphalt plant. I had squared forms at the top and one reference point was moved unknowst to me by one of the fellows helping me.



Doing it again there would be grid for the square framed top cap with a template with the bolt hole pattern and bolts added after the concrete was poured.

It was more than a little embarrassing.

 

[patrick_g]

Here is some detail on how I "fixed" the mediocre weld plate placement. (and other stuff)

1. In this view you can see inside the box formed by two pieces of 2x8 inch HD channel iron. Inside the box the careful observer can see the 6 inch diameter hole in the channel iron. This allows turning the channel in any direction so that the column will rest on the box. The circumference of the 6 inch hole is then welded to the weld plate affixed to the concrete by J bolts. In this first shot the fit is just fine, the column came down right directly above the weld plate.

2. This shot shows a column not directly over the weld plate but it rests firmly on the channel iron box and the weight is carried by the pier. Lateral strength is more than adequate given the pipe is 3/16 wall and the channel is way heavier (overkill actually but I paid only $2/running foot for the channel so what the heck.)

3. This third shot shows the location of the barn WRT the house. Perspective is quite distorted in the picture as the barn is well over 100 feet from the garage.

4. This is the view from the east end of the barn looking south across the catfish pond (they are gettin' rather big and eat like horses.)

5. Foreground is the nearly flat area at SE corner of the barn the greenest of the grass is all volunteer Bermuda that has grown since the pad was built. view is of the catfish pond dam on the left and a copse of trees beginning to show fall colors along the margin of the 2nd of three backyard ponds (below line of sight in this shot.)

I think when I trench to bring electricity to the barn that I will also run a shop air line for easy tire pressure management of anything in the barn and whatever else I could do with it. I'm not sure what I would do with water but will probably run water and install a couple frost free hydrants because it has always turned out to be handy previously.

I have some "simplex" repeaters and this barn will make a good location for an antenna farm.

Pat

 

[LBrown59]

Makes moving my little 8 x 10 storage building on a roll back truck come Monday morning sound like childs play.

L . B .

2many rocks and Chillimau:

18 inch diameter piers because that is the size auger the winning bidder had and recommended (very experienced and highly recommended contractor) and I liked it.

12-15 feet deep to get to: 1. undisturbed soil (below the fill I used to make pad and 2. to get to the layer of sand rock (not sandstone) that forms a shelf below the area. Piers get a lot of support from friction between irregular walls and soil, not just support from the bottom area of the pier. So getting into undisturbed soil is a GOOD THING.

The building isn't really all that heavy. The steel used temporarily to brace and support it while moving probably weighs more than the bld.

It is moved now, positioned pretty good over the piers (pix to follow when the operational tempo subsides.)

Last night after the movers left I started making steel boxes to connect the not to accurately placed weld plates to the column bottoms. I am using HD 8 inch channel. It is 2 inches high. Two pieces will be welded together to make a box 8 inches wide and 4 inches tall. The process is:

Cut a square hole in the channel to fit the weld plate. Orient the hole to position the direction of the channel to be under a column. Weld in place. Add another piece of channel on top of the first to make the 4 sided steel box with two open 4x8 inch ends. Weld the two long seams.

Now you have an 8 inch wide flat metal surface on which to lower and set the 6 5/8 inch diameter columns (10 each and the sodes of the door frame (4 each). This raises the bld 4 inches above the weld plates and makes it about 4 inches taller than when on its slab. This accommodates the overhang of the sheet metal.

After it gets light (note the time of this post) I will take my transit and shoot the locations of where the columns were cut off at the slab. This will give me any elevation differences of where the columns used to sit. The weld plates of where it is about to be placed are all at the same height (rotary laser.) I can shim with sheet steel to accomodate the differences in elevation.

Move went well. Mover commented on how stable the bld was, much more that typical due to the serious bracing we welded inside.

Why move it? It was over a quarter of a mile (as crow flies) from the house through muddy pasture after rain or much further by our paved driveway and public roads in inclement weather (convenience issue.) It was next to a state highway (security issue.) Now it is close to our house and convenient. I will walk out of the house to the BIG RED BARN and drive out on the tractor with whatever implement and not need to drive a vehicle to get to the barn. I can store the tractor and all implements in it plus my trailers and "spare vehicles" like my dune buggy. I will be changing implements indoors out of the rain and snow, wind and cold, or sun and heat. everything will keep nicer stored indoors. 21x48 ft shed on the side of the garage/shop will not be used for tractor stuff and is being enclosed to become a metal shop (with some storage for drying lumber etc.)

I have 2 each 20ft shipping containers which I can move down near the barn or sell if I decide I don't need them. They make good little sheds.

With 18 ft + wall height I can put a mezzanine floor over part of the RED BARN if I want more storage room and my wife can access it easily not having to drive to get there.

Egon, I don't want to put a shed over the slab as that would destroy the ambiance of the skating rink (roller in summer and ice for a short while in winter, some winters when it freezes enough.) It would make a great model airplane aerodrome or mini-airport for an ultralight. Maybe draw circles and have a a marble tournament or smooth the surface and put in shuffle board or...

Pat

 

[patrick_g]

Makes moving my little 8 x 10 storage building on a roll back truck come Monday morning sound like childs play.

L . B .

Unless the roll back truck was a free loan I think I would jack up the 8x10 and back my util trailer under it with some boards, used pallets, or ... to make cribbing and place the bld above the fenders when lowered down. Strap 'er down snug, drive carefully and reverse the process at the other end.

Of course if the truck was free and the driver helps load and unload that would beat jacking it up, supporting with cribbing, etc.

I hope your move goes as smoothly as mine did. The driver and company owner both commented on how well my bld rode on its cross country trip through my pastures. This was due to all the pipe I welded in to triangulate brace it. They said it didn't flex anywhere near as much as that sort of building typically flexes.

(Egon, My wife inquired about using the slab for a tennis court but it is 8 ft too short. Wide enough for singles but a foot too two narrow for doubles.)

Pat

 

[Egon]

My wife inquired about using the slab for a tennis court

Excellent idea. Adding a little concrete should be no problem!

 

[LBrown59]

1*Unless the roll back truck was a free loan.
2* I think I would jack up the 8x10 and back my util trailer under it with some boards, used pallets, or ... to make cribbing and place the bld above the fenders when lowered down. Strap 'er down snug, drive carefully and reverse the process at the other end.
3*I hope your move goes as smoothly as mine did.
Pat

1*The roll back isn't free .
2*That's what I'd do but i don't have a trailer or a truck to tow a trailer with so i had to hire the roll back;
but even at that the cost of the building and the cost of the roll back combined is hundred of dollars less than the cost of a new building like it.
3*Thanks;so do i an i'm glad everything went good for you on your move.