Small Post-Framed Barn Construction: Opinions Welcome!

[Rustyiron]

You might want to take a few minutes "working up" plywood/shingles vs metal and purlins. Right now I'm getting $4.25 - $5.25 per foot pricing of regular 28ga. 3' coverage roof metal for my project that I need to order.
I'm sure that the metal will be cheaper, but if you have any preference for the shingled appearance the price spread between the two is a lot closer than it was a year ago.
Nice job you have there and it sounds like you're having fun!

 

[UOFan]

A goat barn ... now you tell us ! I was going to say no matter the size you never build big enough but goat barns ?? I have no feel for that.

Yeah yeah, I should have been more clear about that. Our animals are happy right now in a 16x16 pen...this is a major upgrade for them

You might want to take a few minutes "working up" plywood/shingles vs metal and purlins. Right now I'm getting $4.25 - $5.25 per foot pricing of regular 28ga. 3' coverage roof metal for my project that I need to order.
I'm sure that the metal will be cheaper, but if you have any preference for the shingled appearance the price spread between the two is a lot closer than it was a year ago.
Nice job you have there and it sounds like you're having fun!

To be honest, we actually prefer the metal roof. All buildings on our property have metal roofs, so we're just keeping with the look. Someday i'll do shingles, just for the experience.

Thank god for the weekend. Looking forward to making some more progress. Hope you all enjoy your Friday night.

 

[hslogger]

Assuming you are a young couple..... you have many years ahead and lots of changes in the future. I would recommend you put plywood and paper and metal down. The only thing you will regret is the money at the moment. In the future you will be glad you did it. Some people like having the rain and hail beat down on their barn roofs. I don't. It's noisy as can be if you just have a metal over nailers. When you're working livestock in the barn, in the middle of a downpour, it will be so noisy you won't enjoy it. Having the plywood and paper down under the metal will also make it safer and easier when you might have to work on that roof at sometime. Snap lock roofing beats exposed screws or nails. And besides, maybe someday you would want to make the barn an insulated structure.... stranger things have happened. good luck and work safely

 

[yanmars]

Having animals might cause more moisture from them to condense on the cooler roof?

 

[Mudfarmer]

Take a look at the roof in my signature picture. I built that barn 30 some years ago and used what i had for purlins covered with metal roofing. For all those years I we have endured rain inside on sunny winter days as the frost comes off the roof and the warmer air inside condenses water on the metal. A couple of years ago we replaced the rusting out galvanized metal roof with a new painted metal roof. This time we sheeted the roof first with the cheapest OSB we could find, then papered with the cheapest tar paper we could find. The roof looks and works great and no more "rain." (BTW my crew was also the wife with a little help from my son-in-law on weekends.)

 

[Rustyiron]

There are several products for condensation control for metal roofing. I don't know the cost but I use tyvek and have zero dripping and it brightens up the inside some.
Here's a link, but I believe that it's applied at the time it's rolled off the coil and in a non ag area it might be hard to find. Drip Stop Condensation Control - Dripstop Insulation for Metal Roofs | ABC
It's gotta be a lot cheaper than osb and tar paper. So is a building wrap.

 

[rScotty]

Just finished our very similar size shed last week. Ours is for tools & firewood, not livestock....so our emphasis is on ventilation instead of enclosure. We do have a snow load. Lots of snow, but low humidity. Like a lot of building decisions, ours are based on local conditions.

We did it ourselves as a husband and wife project with help hired as needed. That allowed us to spend more money on materials instead of labor.

For a roof we chose 2x6 rafters on beams much like yours except that our beams are higher on one side than the other to allow a shed type roof. Then on the rafters there is plywood, tar paper, and metal roofing. Having used that system here for other buildings we know it will last.
rScotty

 

[hslogger]

My experience with sheds...... Putting down some form of insulating or condensation barrier under a metal roof.... ie hanging the stuff on your nailers and then putting tin on top...... in the end, bugs, birds, bats, and flying monkeys eventually trash it so that it has holes and leakage, and looks crappy. A long time ago I built a 12 by 36 shed roof pole structure. A few years later that 12 by 36 shed became a sixty by 36 barn..... ALL plywood and paper under the metal. Eventually it became a sixty by forty eight barn. I ended up tearing that rinky dink bogus shed roof off and put down plywood, paper and new metal to match the whole rest of it. Tin roofs with out anything else freeze, sweat and drip.

 

[UOFan]

Just an update - thank you to everyone for the insight. Roof is on, still chugging away at the rest of the barn. I'll post plenty of pictures in the next week!

Anyways, here's what I ended up doing for the roof:

2x6 Rafters 24" OC
5/8 Plywood
Synthetic roofing felt (Black plastic roll, don't know what brand), stapled to plywood
Galvalume from local metal roofing supplier.

I added a ridge vent and some rake trim, it looks great. Very happy with the extra money for the 5/8 plywood...made all the roof-work a lot safer IMO.

 

[UOFan]

 

[UOFan]

^^ Well, still working on the front of the Barn. Been delayed because I’ve been focusing on the new shop, just a bigger version of our current one.

I can’t figure out how to rotate pictures...so I apologize!

for the front of the barn, I just sank 4x4s for the door frames, and attached them to the header with some 12” Simpson steel plates.

 

[deezler]

Wait, so you are building a goat barn, while ALSO building a new shop, directly next to your older existing shop? This just all got way more interesting lol.

More pics of the shop buildings! I'm not sure about the picture rotation but maybe you could try rotating them in your phone before uploading.

 

[Steve_NH_TL90A]

Realizing its already built but for next time or others out there, with a 15' span you do not need center posts. The roof load will transmit to the outside walls so there is no vertical load on the center, especially with very little snow load.
Your barn looks great and it looks like quality construction!

 

[N80]

Will echo what others have said about condensation. I built an open on all 4 sides tractor shed about ten years ago. Did not know what I was doing. It is a little overbuilt and plenty sturdy. It has survived one decent snow/ice event (very rare here) as well as some big winds and storms. But, not knowing any better I put tin over purlins. There are many days that it rains in there from condensation. All my equipment has marks from drip lines. Most of the purlins are water stained. A few have gotten soft.

All future shops, sheds, barns or carports will have some sort of sheathing with tar paper and then metal.

 

[Rustyiron]

Home

The powerful shopping cart software for web stores and e-commerce enabled stores is based on PHP5 with SQL database with highly configurable implementation based on templates

www.dripstop.com

This has been around for 5-6 years iirc. I've never seen or used it but it states that it's cheaper but the advertisement doesn't say than what, plywood? I've used tyvek under the metal on open framing (purlins) but that's a super pain in the ass to install (you can't see the framing) but there's no drips at all.

With the price of 4x8 sheathing and a tar paper or synthetic underlayment and labor, it may well be worth a look.

 

[Hay Dude]

Didn’t read all the replies, but I think some diagonal bracing would help stiffen your structure.
Good luck!

 

[pmsmechanic]

Didn’t read all the replies, but I think some diagonal bracing would help stiffen your structure.
Good luck!

If you install tin it is the diagonal bracing.

 

[Rustyiron]

^^^ to a limited extent. After years of expansion and contraction of the panels, added to lack of proper framing diagonals, those holes through the 26/ 29ga.
(0.079"/0.0149") will "egg out" even more with the buildings movement.
For the sake of only 4 2x4x16's, one at each corner of the roof, I don't rely on any possible "racking" abilities of the metal.

 

[Hay Dude]

^^^ to a limited extent. After years of expansion and contraction of the panels, added to lack of proper framing diagonals, those holes through the 26/ 29ga.
(0.079"/0.0149") will "egg out" even more with the buildings movement.
For the sake of only 4 2x4x16's, one at each corner of the roof, I don't rely on any possible "racking" abilities of the metal.

The diagonal braces actually help prevent the racking and twisting, which keeps fasteners from elongating the holes in the tin in the first place.
Also keeps framing “square” while applying roofing and siding.

 

[OldPaint]

About the only thing I would have done differently on the framing is skip the center posts and put up trusses. I made my own and had a 24' span. There is ZERO sag in the roof and the building is probably going to land somewhere in one piece if a tornado ever gets it. I put all the trusses together with screws and glue. Ain't no way they're coming apart (with any component in one piece).