>Most pole barns that do not utilize a standard footer or monolithic slab, typically employ friction piles as >supports. Cheap and easy.
Ahhhhh, at least two of the books listed in the above post recommend using concrete collars at the bottom of the pole only (around the poles, filling the hole a foot deep with concrete, not necessarily under the pole, spikes driven into the pole for bonding aid). Reasoning as I gleaned it from the texts was to add bearing area, greatly add to withdrawl resistance, and yet, since both the ground-level area and very bottom of the pole are not concrete covered, there is still good chance that the pole will not rot. How does your definition of friction piles equate to the concrete collars idea? I followed the above advice, but I gather that a lot of professional builders simply drop in a concrete "cookie" and plunk in the pole. And a lot of self-builders concrete them in to ground level, thinking they need the strength. The latter makes me wonder how long their poles will last being trapped in concrete all its life. I've seen what that does to wood.
