Pole Barn advice

[mx842]

I just built a 30X48X10 6/12 pitch roof and I have some good advice for you.
1: insulate the whole thing. I did mine with 1/2" pink polystyrene for less that $700. It is worth it. The week it dropped off to 20 degrees highs and single digit lows at night around here and did not get above freezing I did a test. I took a 32 oz. stop-n-rob cup of water 1/2 full and it took 3 days before ice formed. No heat in the building yet it just absorbed that much during the day. Remember $700 did the whole thing and a few rolls of duct tape to seal the seams did wonders.
2: Have them put the hydrant inside, while you are at it plumb in a few flor drains and put the piping in to do a bathroom later (at least stub it outside of the building if you do not hook it up). My shop is 200' from the house, i put a bathroom out there, wouldn't have it any other way. Bathroom is a 9x9 and I also have all my hunting clothes in there, it is heated with a 500W electric baseboard heater. It has more insulation than the rest of the building (dad had a bunch of R 13 fiberglass left over from an addition on his house so I used it for him).
3: Have them do yor floor in a manner that has it above grade. I do not mean grade at the edge of the building but 10' away from it. Mine sits about 1' higher than the surrounding area 10' away from the building. Of course i also built mine with a 1' concrete wall around the perimeter (except door openings) and all of my posts are above the concrete not in the ground.
4: Puting metal up on the sides is not difficult, if you can handle wiring the shop yourself then you and a buddy can knock out sheathing it yourself. Roof is a bit different but still not hard unless you cannot handle climbing on trusswork and purlins.

I too am in the process of building a 32X40 pole barn shop/storage building. I saw where you did not place your post in the ground but rather put them on a 1' wall. How did you attach them? I didn't want to put mine in the ground either and I have poured about half my pole footings. I did the corner post 2' sq and the rest are 18" sq with roughly 10 to 12" of 4000 lb concrete in the holes. What I wanted to do is bring up the concrete from the footing using those cardboard concrete forms to grade for the post to sit on and attach them using 3x3 pieces of angle iron bolted to the concrete and thru bolted. On a couple other forums I have had people tell me this would not work or would not give enough support as it would if they were placed into the soil/gravel and tamped into place.

I'm not a structural engineer by any stretch but why would this present a problem other than maybe they are worrying about the wood post cracking or splitting during a F5 tornado attack and pulling the post off it's foundation. I can make my own post blocks cheaper than I can buy them the ones at Lowes are $25.00+ each. I have plenty of angle laying around and my time isn't worth anything.....if you don't believe me just ask some of my customers.LOL I'm trying to build this building as cheap as I can and it will be an on going project probably for s year or more before it completely done. Once I get the roof on where I can put my junk I will do the rest when I can get the money to fund them. The floor will be done probably done in two maybe three pours starting in the back moving forward to the big door in the front. Right now I just need room to put a bunch of tools and equipment because I want to move out of the building I'm renting now.

I guess what I'm asking is how are your post connected to your foundation?

 

[KB9UDE]

We just built a 64x40 with 18' sidewalls. It is really nice to have 14foot tall doors. I can pull my GN trailer with tractor loaded in and out as needed. See my avatar pic.

 

[QRTRHRS]

As we are having a 20' D x 32' W x 10' H pole build this spring. I have to ask why does 10' limit you?

Read my previous response. "Not sure of your intended usage but ten feet will limit your door height to about nine feet. Kind of limits larger vehicles like tall tractors or RV's."

 

[QRTRHRS]

Well, 've built a few pole barns...I actually built one and finished the inside like a trad, house and live in it right now...I welded up my shop...took a little longer, but i wanted it to be termite free. I wouldnt worry too much about the laminated posts unless you're planning on moving thru the build up real slow...generally they only use those to prevent a little twisting that occurs over a slow build, if you're having a co. do it, I wouldn't bother...they'll be done in 4-5 days. Definately use some form of insulation...metal sweats! I am installing styrofoam in my shop and it's acting as tho it's a large ice chest...very pleased...but def use something if you want a climate controlled enviroment for your man cave!!

I have seen solid post twist and bow over time after construction. Best to question your builder about their posts. With the advent of ACQ treated lumber, I would be asking the treatment process and the type of hardware being used.

I can still get CCA treated fenceposts, round or square but I have not kept up with what builders can and are using for treated posts these days. I would go with perma coulums over ACQ posts if financially possible.

 

[boggen]

Read my previous response. "Not sure of your intended usage but ten feet will limit your door height to about nine feet. Kind of limits larger vehicles like tall tractors or RV's."

doors are placed on ends of sheds. allowing higher doors. 10' would be i am guessing side wall height.

 

[KB9UDE]

doors are placed on ends of sheds. allowing higher doors. 10' would be i am guessing side wall height.

If you have standard trusses you will not gain very much door height by them being on the end wall.

 

[Scotty370]

Well, I've finally 'pulled the trigger' on my new build. A 28'x40' Gambrel Roof. It all starts with Amish Logging, of some of my pine! Picture attached. Varience application has been submitted, with building permit not far behind. Hopefully we can get this thing up, if the F@#$%^&^%$#@^&ing winter ever ends! ~Scotty

 

[Gizmo2]

Well, I've finally 'pulled the trigger' on my new build. A 28'x40' Gambrel Roof. It all starts with Amish Logging, of some of my pine! Picture attached. Varience application has been submitted, with building permit not far behind. Hopefully we can get this thing up, if the F@#$%^&^%$#@^&ing winter ever ends! ~Scotty

I too had to apply for a variance, town wants 30' to the property line. The killer is I own the other piece of property. Replacing the brown barn up by the house and it's the reason we are only going 20' deep with the new building. We have the horse barn approximately 300 feet south from the house and another building approximately 300 feet north from the house in the other direction. Some how over the years we managed to acquire 3 pieces of property and our planning was ALL wrong. Have to say though, the volleyball court on the north piece has been marvelous.
SDG LiveLink

 

[mjncad]

As we are having a 20' D x 32' W x 10' H pole build this spring. I have to ask why does 10' limit you?

Check out additional replies in this thread, and ask DiamondPilot as he regrets having 12' tall sidewalls since they aren't tall enough. He's kicked himself in numerous threads on this forum over not having a tall enough building.

If you go with standard trusses as another poster said, it limits your door height, which could be a problem for tall trucks and tractors. Want to put a lift in your building, 10' may be cramping your style. What about future ceiling fans or gas fired radiant tube heaters hung from the ceiling. Unless you intend to use all fluorescent lights for area lighting, a low ceiling rules out low-bay lights. And so on...

 

[mx842]

Does anyone have a post foundation plan for how they connected their post to the concrete footing? I am working on my post footings now and don't want my post buried in the ground for a couple reasons. One is post rot and the other is the cost of the post themselves. I can get by with 12' post by sitting them on the top of the footing at grade where it would take 14 maybe 16 footers by going in on top of a 8 or 10 inch footing buried in the soil. It may not be much savings maybe $25 or $30 bucks a post but every buck I can save leaves me more bucks to spend on my concrete pad once the roof is up.

I don't want to hyjack the OP's post so maybe I'll just start another thread but any help would be helpful.