Raising a barn

cat fever · Sep 9, 2015

So it's finally cooled down enough that I can start building my new barn.
This will be a simple pole barn 45' X 72' with a 12' X 72' awning. (closed in) Height from floor to bottom of the trusses will be about 12' in the main barn area.
I tore down an old woodshed so I could utilize the concrete pad that was already there, although I do not intend to add any more concrete.
The barn will be to store hay and the hay growing equipment. The awning is for wood storage and the utility trailer.
It will be my wife and adult son (when he's not working) and myself building this. So it might go a little slow at times.
So here are a few pictures of the progress.
First, the woodshed that I tore down.

Shed gone ready to build.

Neighbor drilling holes.

Picking up posts and rough cut 2X6s.

Putting posts in with my homemade post holder/platform. And found a use for my hay spear!

Mixing concrete and setting posts.

I started all this on the 4th of September, (the building part, not the tear down) as of last night (8th) all the posts are up and cemented in.

I am now waiting for trusses that should show up between now and Friday the 11th. I also go on vacation Friday for a couple weeks so I'm hoping to get the roof complete during that time. More pictures to come as the work progresses.

EddieWalker · Sep 9, 2015

Sounds like it's going to be plenty big enough. I'm looking forward to following your progress!!!!

cat fever · Sep 9, 2015

Thanks Eddie, it should be plenty of room. (of course, I said that on the last two pole barns.) The awning was an after thought; but while building I thought it wont add that much cost and will keep the fire wood and trailer out of the main barn area.

mjw357 · Sep 9, 2015

getting set to build one myself, so watching closely.

cat fever · Sep 9, 2015

Good luck, they are easy to put up. :thumbsup:

Bookemdanno · Sep 9, 2015

mjw357 said:
getting set to build one myself, so watching closely.

Me too, so watching intently.

QRTRHRS · Sep 9, 2015

cat fever said:
Thanks Eddie, it should be plenty of room. (of course, I said that on the last two pole barns.) The awning was an after thought; but while building I thought it wont add that much cost and will keep the fire wood and trailer out of the main barn area.

I had a horse barn that was 40x120 (12 foot stalls and a 16 foot center aisle) that I also had a 16 x 120 foot overhang on.

That overhang was worth it's weight in gold in terms of having extra shelter for those seasonal implements, a wagon load of whatever, a quick shelter for the tractor at the end of a too long day, a place for a party or just a dry place to get out of the rain while entering the barn. We even had yard sales and would take kids into the barn to visit the horses.

cat fever · Sep 10, 2015

Bookemdanno said:
Me too, so watching intently.

About 15 years ago my brother built a pole barn just like I'm building. At that time I looked it over and thought, "I could build that". So I built a 36' X 36' garage. Worked out nice. The next year I built a 21' X 36' barn same style. At the time they were just the right size and purpose built. Circumstances have changed (more toys urrr I mean tools) so I need more covered space. This one being much larger should serve me the rest of my life.

I have convinced myself this is the last one !!
I will take pictures of how everything is attached and you'll be saying "I could build that". :thumbsup:

svenlylethor · Sep 10, 2015

This is really cool! I got a quote from a barn builder in Payson yesterday and they said they could do a 24x60 fully enclosed barn for about $17k. I'd probably want something a little bigger like yours for all my hay and tractors though.

I've never built anything like a barn before but I'm pretty handy. I'll definitely watch this thread and hopefully I'll think "I could build that" and do it myself.

Just out of curiosity, how much do you think you'll spend in materials for the project?

cat fever · Sep 10, 2015

svenlylethor said:
This is really cool! I got a quote from a barn builder in Payson yesterday and they said they could do a 24x60 fully enclosed barn for about $17k. I'd probably want something a little bigger like yours for all my hay and tractors though.

I've never built anything like a barn before but I'm pretty handy. I'll definitely watch this thread and hopefully I'll think "I could build that" and do it myself.

Just out of curiosity, how much do you think you'll spend in materials for the project?

Without doors about $15k.

svenlylethor · Sep 10, 2015

cat fever said:
Without doors about $15k.

Gotcha. I'll have to see what the barn builder says but it'll probably be a lot more for something your size.

I've also seen people use carports for hay. I found a 30'x50' carport from carport.com for under $ 7.4k assembled. I checked other sizes and it's about $4-5 per square foot. I wonder how they'd stand up with a foot or two of snow on them though. They might be too flimsy.

cat fever · Sep 20, 2015

Just an update; I have the trusses up and am nailing up the perlins (spelling ?) over the next couple days.
Here is a picture of the trusses ready to raise.

Note the pre drilled holes for bolting. Much easier to drill flat on the ground.

Note the stringer board which becomes the first perlin, and the brace under the truss.

Trusses in place.

cat fever · Sep 20, 2015

svenlylethor said:
This is really cool! I got a quote from a barn builder in Payson yesterday and they said they could do a 24x60 fully enclosed barn for about $17k. I'd probably want something a little bigger like yours for all my hay and tractors though.

I've never built anything like a barn before but I'm pretty handy. I'll definitely watch this thread and hopefully I'll think "I could build that" and do it myself.

Just out of curiosity, how much do you think you'll spend in materials for the project?

I think the 60' long is a good length but 24' wide is not enough for farm equipment for sure. That price does sound reasonable. I think I would look into about 36' wide at a minimum.

cat fever · Sep 20, 2015

A few random pictures.

EddieWalker · Sep 20, 2015

Looks like you guys are having a lot of fun up there on those lifts!!!!!

Wood_Butcher_Dav · Sep 21, 2015

Normally don't comment to often but what a background view.

Dave

svenlylethor · Sep 21, 2015

cat fever said:
I think the 60' long is a good length but 24' wide is not enough for farm equipment for sure. That price does sound reasonable. I think I would look into about 36' wide at a minimum.

Yeah, I've been looking around and trying to price something like this. I've looked into steel arch buildings but hear a lot of mixed reviews about those. The thing is you need to pour a concrete foundation around those and because of frost, you have to pour the foundation about 2' underground and the foundation ends up costing about the same as the structure. After getting a couple quotes it's about $38-45 per foot to pour a foundation. I found one on KSL that's 45' wide but I'd have to disassemble the whole thing and put it back together. It ends up costing so much to move it and pour the foundation that I might as well pay someone to do a barn for me.

After crunching all these numbers and trying to figure this all out I might just stick to putting tarps over my hay. It gets expensive very quickly.

buckeyefarmer · Sep 21, 2015

Those are some heavy trusses, and I 2nd the beautiful background view. Nice job, we love to see barn raisings.

MacLawn · Sep 21, 2015

Wow cat, that is looking great! Hey, I can do that :mickeymouse: :liar:

Oh, to have flat, treeless land!! My place is in Georgia and it hasn't been logged in about 100 years! I used to think I wanted wooded land... right. I just might sell and move out west!! Love that scenery! You can actually see more than about 40 yards!