Squaring a 24' x 32' building site

debo1683 · Aug 25, 2010

Well ... had some family and friends come in this weekend to do some building. Started Saturday morning and did as much as we could through yesterday afternoon.

I think we made pretty good progress for a bunch of amateurs in 4 days. Pictures attached!

wedge40 · Aug 25, 2010

Highbeam said:
64x40!!!! That's not divisible by 3!

No, but it divisible by 8.

Wedge

jcaron2 · Aug 25, 2010

debo1683 said:
Well ... had some family and friends come in this weekend to do some building. Started Saturday morning and did as much as we could through yesterday afternoon.

I think we made pretty good progress for a bunch of amateurs in 4 days. Pictures attached!

Looking good! Can I ask roughly how much you had to pay for that truss that holds up the center section? Were you guys able to man-handle it up there without any special equipment?

Also, it's hard to tell from the pictures, but are your purlins 2x8? 2x6 seems like it would be awfully small to span 16' at ~24" o.c.

jwstewar · Aug 25, 2010

I'm also interested in that center truss. We are looking at building a 24x3?(30,32,33

) barn for a horse and ???? So If I could get by with just one of those at a reasonable cost, tha would be great.

Also would be interested in how you connected your posts to the concrete "posts."

debo1683 · Aug 26, 2010

jcaron2 said:
Looking good! Can I ask roughly how much you had to pay for that truss that holds up the center section? Were you guys able to man-handle it up there without any special equipment?

Also, it's hard to tell from the pictures, but are your purlins 2x8? 2x6 seems like it would be awfully small to span 16' at ~24" o.c.

The truss came as part of the kit, I have no idea how much it would cost individually. Getting the truss up there was a bit of an ordeal. My neighbor has a big Case tractor with a FEL that wouldn't go quite high enough. It required some luck to get it up there. Along with a whole lot of nervous moments. That thing is extremely heavy.

The purlins are 2x6. From the peak down, the top 4 are 2-2x6's nailed together. We decided to put those spacers in the first three at the bottom to help hold them in place. The purlins are a little small, but up to code for our very stringent building code department.

debo1683 · Aug 26, 2010

jwstewar said:
I'm also interested in that center truss. We are looking at building a 24x3?(30,32,33) barn for a horse and ???? So If I could get by with just one of those at a reasonable cost, tha would be great.

Also would be interested in how you connected your posts to the concrete "posts."

Like I said in the previous post, I don't know how much those trusses would cost individually. I purchased my building from 64 Metals in St. Louisville (near Newark), I am sure they could provide you with a quote. They also offer free delivery in all of Ohio.

The posts came pre-made. They are call perma columns, there is a u-bracket at the top of the concrete that has two or three bolts that attach to the wooden part of the post. Prevents wood from rotting in the ground. On my building, it was around $500 to get perma columns versus a pressure treated post. I just did it for peace of mind ...
Perma-Column | What are Perma-Columns

The only thing I didn't like about the concrete is that they recommend you attach your grade board with a split drive anchor. I would recommend using a tap con. The split drive anchors took whole chunks out of the posts ...

jcaron2 · Aug 26, 2010

debo1683 said:
The truss came as part of the kit, I have no idea how much it would cost individually. Getting the truss up there was a bit of an ordeal. My neighbor has a big Case tractor with a FEL that wouldn't go quite high enough. It required some luck to get it up there. Along with a whole lot of nervous moments. That thing is extremely heavy.

The purlins are 2x6. From the peak down, the top 4 are 2-2x6's nailed together. We decided to put those spacers in the first three at the bottom to help hold them in place. The purlins are a little small, but up to code for our very stringent building code department.

I can appreciate the nervousness getting it up there. It definitely looks heavy from the pictures. When I erected a big homemade truss onto one of my barns I ended up strapping a 6x6 post to my tractor bucket, which I used as a "crane boom" to get the truss up higher than my loader's 11' reach.

As far as the purlins go, if they meet code, I'm sure they're more than sufficient.

I definitely like those perma-columns. Hopefully I won't ever regret the direct ground contact with the posts in my barn.

Thanks for the info!

higgy · Aug 26, 2010

Very nice project.

Well done!

varmint · Aug 26, 2010

When our Morton building went up (it's 24' x 32' also) the posts in the ground were 3 treated 2x6's spiked with SS nails. They used the 3 boards instead of a treated 6x6 because the treatment will permeate a 2 x whereas it might not do so well into a 6x piece of wood. About 3' out of the ground, the treated boards have staggered ends which recieve regular 2x6's that go on up. Kind of a finger joint, if you will. They had drilled about a 16" dia. hole, dumped gravel in the bottom, set the post and dumped maybe 4 bags of conc. around it before backfilling. Seems to have worked just fine, but its only 10 years old now. If I had it to do over, I would put blue board insulation under the whole slab and not just the 2' around the perimeter. Radiant heat tubing, too, but that's another story. You'll love your building, from the looks of it!

debo1683 · Aug 30, 2010

I started my metal work this weekend. I got three of the eaves done, and started the roof last night. I have had a couple of oops moments and missed the purlins with the roofing screws. Is there any advice for repairing those holes? ...or have I junked the metal? I was thinking a little dab of caulk in and out would take care of it ...i am not sure, though...

I don't have any pictures right now, it was too dark last night when i finished to take any.