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.

 

[farmer2009]

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.

That would work. Although I do prefer atleast a 1" thick rigid foam board for this. I know it would mean regrading but you can't wish it in later. I also prefer rigid foam to styrofoam. Once you work with both you will know why. And tape your joints.

 

[forgeblast]

Great write up awesome barn!!

 

[s219]

Door is up and swings real nice. Very rigid.



(That's one coat of stain on the siding and two coats on the door in that second picture).

I put in expansion strip around posts, using standard felt/tar strip on top and a couple wraps of foam sill plate insulation below:



And put in bracing along the back and sides to keep the skirt boards from bowing when we pour the concrete:



I am hoping to get 1-2 coats of stain down this weekend, as time/weather allows.

 

[SPIKER]

There is a Foil Bubble Bubble Poly radiant barrier insulation that is not too bad in price and thin but reflects the heat back into or out of the shop.

TekFoil Reflective / Bubble Bubble / White Poly (R/BB/WP) - FarmTek

where I got mine and I added thinner styro under and over it (two 3/4" LAYERS ON EACH SIDE OF THE RADIANT FOIL BUBBLE BUBBLE POLY) I figured that way I protected the FBBP from being stomped flat & radon barriers as I had poly plastic layers in between and taped all the seams.



Pic shows soft layer down, FBBP and start of the 2nd layer of HD 3/4 styro. Plastic tape was used on all the seams as shown in other pics if ya click the photo and scroll thru.

Mark

 

[s219]

Concrete floor was poured last Wednesday. After going through a lot of trouble to line up a concrete guy, he bailed a couple days beforehand with a real weak excuse. Luckily, another contractor on my list had a cancellation and worked me in on short notice. They were a little pricier, but did real nice work.



Yesterday, I did the apron outside the opening, to use up about 20 sacks of quick-crete leftover from setting the posts. Boy did it get old mixing that much concrete manually, but the finishing work went well.



That last shot shows a broom finish on the first two sections on the left, while waiting for the last section on the right to setup after troweling. In the middle section of the apron, I embedded two short pieces of PEX pipe close to the center, which will accept sliding pins from the bottom of the barn doors to secure them

I'll pull the plastic off the floor tomorrow and resume work inside the barn. I'll give the apron another 4-5 days to setup before I start fitting the slider doors.

 

[s219]

Too much rain this weekend, which prevented me from painting or working on the slider doors. And the mud has been lousy from previous rain, sticking to tires and boots pretty bad (try climbing a ladder with goopy mud and gravel stuck to your soles). So I figured maybe I should jump ahead and finish grading. I picked up 2.5 tons of crusher run for the driveway into the barn and got that down and roughly graded yesterday. Today I picked up 3 yards of mulch and started spreading that along the front and sides. I need to do some box blade work behind the barn, but will eventually spread the mulch around back. Already, these improvements have really knocked down the mud so future work should be less affected by rains.

 

[s219]

Some updates -- got the area behind the barn built up, graded, and topped with crusher run so I could park my 7x16 trailer back there.



Having this hidden parking area was one reason I went with a shorter barn, but I had been second-guessing that decision. Now seeing how much room I have inside the barn and how well the trailer tucks away in back, I am pleased with the arrangement.

I have the front slider doors finished, each 5'x10' in size. It was quite a project, but I took extra care to make sure the doors would be flat and secure. Having looked at a lot of barn doors over the last few months and seeing problems with warping, poor tolerances, and misalignment, and having issues buying straight wood that stays straight in long lengths, I decided to make the vertical sides of the door frame out of 1"x1.5" aluminum tube. It's strong, light, and will not warp or twist. Five fir 2x4 pieces form the laterals, and then various trim pieces cap off the bottom and sides. Here are a couple shots of the construction:



That second shot shows the bottom with pressure-treated cap in the area where the door will sit against the floor slab.

Here are some shots of the test fit of the frames:



At bottom, you can see how I secure the doors using pins that drop into pipes embedded into the concrete apron. Right now I am using timber nails, but will eventually use a piece of rod with a welded-on handle.

Here are the finished doors, hung and adjusted. To keep the weight manageable while putting the doors on the tracks, I attached the siding boards and trim after the frames were up and squared. Didn't want to have painted hex signs but wanted some ornamental rosettes, so I made them out of wood and gave them a little 3D effect. Cam locks on each door jamb complete the arrangement.



With the center pins down low and cam locks midway up each jamb, these doors come together to be very flat, stiff, and secure when closed up. Combined with the aluminum framing, that ought to help the doors stay very straight over time.

 

[sld]

Very nice job!

 

[farmer2009]

S219 looking good. Did you insulate the floor?

Spiker. What kind of tape did you use? I am looking for some and out local lowes just says to use shipping tape.

 

[s219]

S219 looking good. Did you insulate the floor?

Yes, used some thin stuff on a roll that the concrete people recommended to create a thermal break.