20x20 Pole Barn Project

[s219]

S219, If you don't mind do you have a break down of the costs. I am thinking about a pole barn and was wondering what it might cost.

The best thing to do is to go to the website for DIY PoleBarns, and price up materials for the size of barn you want with your desired features and options (there are many ways to go). Then you can also get a labor estimate from their website, and their preferred builder happens to be the CHA folks if you're on the east coast. That should give you a very good and specific estimate of both materials and labor. If I recall right, I was looking at about $4000 in materials and $2600 in labor for a standard steel-roofed and steel-sided barn of this size with split-slider doors, a bunch of windows, 12" overhangs, venting, and an entry door.

In this case, after exploring that option, I contacted CHA directly to see if they could do wood board & batten siding, as that is not an option from DIY. As much as I would have liked metal siding for the low-maintenance, it wasn't allowed in my neighborhood and we sort of wanted a barn that would look more rustic and fit in with our home's architecture anyhow. Well, going with the wood siding increased costs quite a bit (total was about 2X the overall cost had we done steel). I don't know the breakdown of materials/labor, but I suspect most of that was labor. The CHA crew got the frame up in 1/2 day, which would have been common to any siding materials. Much of the remaining 1-1/2 days were spent sawing, nailing, and trimming the siding. It was very labor intensive, getting into what I'd call "trim carpentry" myself.

So for a barn of this size, in the 20x20 to 24x24 range, expect about $6600 for steel siding/roof with lots of options, and then go up from there as other materials are used. If you can do the labor yourself, you can save a good chunk of money. This project would have been well within my carpentry skills, but with two jobs and a baby in my house, it would have taken me many weeks or months to complete. In this case, the CHA guys knocked it out in less than 3 days, and I just need to spend another day building/hanging doors and then have someone else come in to pour and finish the floor.

Note that you can really get the cost down if you have a very basic building and skip things like overhangs, venting, windows, etc (most pole barns I see in this area have no overhang, windows, or venting, for example). I kind of though overhang and venting were important, but not everyone needs it.

 

[mark02tj]

S219 - You have to post up some pics of your barn!!

Did the $6600 include the concrete floor?

 

[s219]

S219 - You have to post up some pics of your barn!!

Did the $6600 include the concrete floor?

Good question -- no, I am not including concrete in that price. In fact, I just started getting quotes today.

 

[streamin]

that is a nice little project, 3 days is pretty good. I will be doing a bigger one but building myself so the cost is what I am looking at..

 

[s219]

I added 1-2 rows of 2x6 lumber below the main skirt to fill any gaps, then cleaned up the grading around the barn, raking material just up to the bottom edge of the skirt boards. I ended up quitting early, since the biting flies were out in force, but was able to finish up before we got deluged by rain later in the day, which is good.

When we pour the floor slab, we plan to also pour down behind the skirts (from inside). This will contain the fill bed under the slab without putting direct pressure on the skirts (I'm told that for tall skirts, settling fill could otherwise bow the skirts and wall out over time).

Here are a couple pics of the finished barn, minus doors and floor:




I plan to level the dirt inside the barn tomorrow -- there are 12 piles of spoils from drilling posts, and they need to be knocked down and spread out. Then the soil will be compacted with a plate compacter, and additional gravel will be brought in to get up to floor level minus 4".

 

[DT86]

Beautiful barn!

 

[TURKEY131]

S219, thanks for the information, your barn looks great!

 

[s219]

Progress has been slow but sure. I got the entry door built, fit, and stained. Will be installed tomorrow (mainly to free up my workbench for the sliding doors). Will stain the barn siding as time allows over the summer, using Sherwin Williams "Woodscapes" stain, Redwood color, two coats.

I lap jointed the door's siding boards, screwed in trim pieces from behind, and then attached the door panel to a 2x4 backing frame with plywood diagonal. That should prevent all forms of warping, twisting, and sagging. Feels like a vault door! If a tornado ever strikes, I imagine the door will be the last piece standing....



The gravel fill bed has been layered and compacted several times. Today I tweaked the grade to allow a 2" slope back to front, and compacted again. Next I will dig out and form up for the thickened edge at the front door, put down some poly for vapor barrier, then chairs and re-bar at that thickened area. Concrete should be coming next week.

 

[farmer2009]

Looks good. Have you considered a little insulation under the floor to take away the heat sink effect. Just in case you ever decide to heat it in the future.

 

[s219]

Looks good. Have you considered a little insulation under the floor to take away the heat sink effect. Just in case you ever decide to heat it in the future.

You know, I never even considered it. The barn could become my doghouse someday if my wife ever kicks me out, so that might not be a bad idea....

I saw 1/2" R-3 styrofoam sheet, which I could use without affecting the slab height too much, but would that make much difference? The thicker R-5 sheets wouldn't work without taking gravel out, and I'm not too keen to do that at this point.