Building a Pole Barn: Step 1

hunterridgefarm · Dec 3, 2013

McDowell is a beautiful county. My college roommate is from there and still lives on the west side, Wilson Farm Road.

hunterridgefarm · Dec 26, 2013

Have you started demolition of the old barn? Winter is a good time, no snakes or bees.

And don't you teachers get about 2 months off for Christmas

gregfender · Dec 28, 2013

I took it down today. I was amazed at how fast it went. I'll post some pics as soon as I get them downloaded.

gregfender · Dec 28, 2013

I started the demo on the old barn today. Pretty thrilled with how the old exterior boards held up. With the exception of some rot where there was ground contact (which can be easily cut off), the boards look really good. Beautiful weathered look. I plan on using them to panel the interior of my new shop.

The original barn. Built in either the 1930's or 40's. Got a bit of a lean to it nowadays.

One exterior side removed.

The other side done.

Hemlock exterior. I am figuring the lumber was milled on site considering all the hemlock around here. Some of the exterior boards are 15"-18" wide. I pulled a 24" wide board out of the loft earlier.

Once three exterior sides were off, just a little nudge on the corner was all it took.

Next week I am going to salvage what tin I can and see if any of the loft flooring is worth saving. I will probably scrounge a few hinges and interior lumber and use it for some "rustic" cabinets and such for the new shop. All that I can't reuse or haul off, I will most likely burn in place and bury.

I'll keep y'all posted!

MacLawn · Dec 28, 2013

Good job!

EddieWalker · Dec 28, 2013

Very Cool!!!! Are you saving the old lumber? I something think that having a bunch of old wood would come in handy, but then I also think that having it around would just be a PIA and not worth the hassle of storing it.

Eddie

gregfender · Dec 28, 2013

EddieWalker said:
Very Cool!!!! Are you saving the old lumber? I something think that having a bunch of old wood would come in handy, but then I also think that having it around would just be a PIA and not worth the hassle of storing it. Eddie

I'm saving as much of the exterior boards as I can. A lot of them are 15"-18" hemlock. Once I take the tin off, I can get to what's under there and save what I can. I am hoping to use as much as I can on the interior of the shop I am going to build. Interestingly enough, all of the exterior boards fit on a 5'x6' two tiered rack I put together with scrap 2x4s I had laying around. I hope to get started on my new shop in the early spring so I shouldn't have to hang on to all my "vintage" lumber for too long.

droptop · Dec 29, 2013

Throwing my 2 cents in on the posts, if I were you, look at how Morton does their posts. I had them put up a building a couple of years ago and was amazed on how easy it was for them to set the posts. The actual post that went in the ground was only about 8 ft long and easy for one person to handle, since only about 4 ft of post stuck out of the hole it was easy to position and brace with a piece of angle iron that they screwed to the post across the hole and a couple of spikes to hold the angle in place in the dirt. With a crew of 3 they had 24 posts set, braced and waiting for concrete in under 3 hours.

If you do use the 2x6's make sure you get the ones that are treated for "ground contact". I don't think any of the big box stores carry the grade material you really need to use. The new "environmentally friendly" treated lumber is just treated for exposure and not ground contact for long life.

gregfender · Dec 31, 2013

Started taking off the tin today. It was pretty slow going...mainly because of my inexperienced assistants. I would ask for the hammer, they would bring me a stick. I would ask for the wrecking bar, they would bring me a stick. I would ask for the saws-all...you guessed it, another stick. And to top it off, every time is at down, they tried to climb in my lap. You just can't get good help these days.

dave1949 · Dec 31, 2013

gregfender said:
Started taking off the tin today. It was pretty slow going...mainly because of my inexperienced assistants. I would ask for the hammer, they would bring me a stick. I would ask for the wrecking bar, they would bring me a stick. I would ask for the saws-all...you guessed it, another stick. And to top it off, every time is at down, they tried to climb in my lap. You just can't get good help these days.

:laughing:

cycle_gator · Dec 31, 2013

I have a helper just like that. Her favorite: I would help, but I have no thumbs.

GManBart · Dec 31, 2013

Cute helpers!

gregfender · Jan 1, 2014

A couple of things I discovered over the last couple of days as I took the tin off of the roof:

1. Apparently it was common building practice in the 1940s to put anywhere from 500-900 nails into each piece of 24" wide tin.

2. R4 "Industrial" tires should not be considered R4 "Indestructible" tires. Reference point #1 above.

Fortunately, it was a front tire that took one for the team and not one of my filled rears. A quick trip to my tire guy and a $10 plug later and we were back in business.

At this point, it is beginning to look like there is little salvageable material left. I had hoped to save a good bit of the loft floor but because of the volume of rat excrement (it's the New Year and I'm trying to be nice) it is just not worth the time and trouble to cut out what little good is there. Some of the roof joists are in good shape and many of the roof purlins are fine as well. I'll grab what I can.

The plan, for now, is to salvage the last bit I want, cut as much of the rest as I can and haul it off, then burn in place the remainder. After it's burned. I'll rake out all the metal I can, then rent a small excavator, dig a small hole, and bury the rest of the debris. I want to take off about 4"-6" of the top layer to make sure I get any escaped nails and such.

Today's work. Now to pick out the good tin.

GManBart · Jan 1, 2014

If you can keep the burn pile small, you can get a strong magnet mounted on a stick, and sweep for nails. I did that with a very old shed, and it did a good job finding the nails. I bought the magnet and stick combo from Grainger for something like $15.

gregfender · Jan 4, 2014

Yesterday I took all of the roof purlins off. Surprisingly, they were in really good shape. However, I don't think a single one was the same size. A good many of them still had bark on the edges and were rounded and barked on the ends. It was interesting to see how the whole tree was used. Solid locust poles were used...still had the bark all the way around on those, true sized 2x4s for the roof joists, 4x4 bracing on the top of the posts with the roof joists bird mouthed on them, then random sized planking for the siding. It's been fun taking this old piece of history apart.

hunterridgefarm · Jan 6, 2014

Looks like you are doing great. Be careful when you take off the 4-6" of top soil. I am sure several things got buried over the years. Do you have or know anyone with a metal detector?

gregfender · Mar 14, 2014

EddieWalker said:
Is that a pole barn? Looks more like a stick built barn on a slab. Are you going to pour a concrete floor? If so, then going with standard framing methods used to build a house is how I would build that barn. Eddie

We're gonna be starting the build on the barn soon. Eddie, I'm taking your advice and going with stud wall build on a slab. Turns out, it will actually be a little cheaper than doing it as a pole barn. I've gotta get someone to dig my footers this coming week then we'll get the slab poured. I'm hoping to have it dried in in 3 weeks or less. As soon as we break ground, it will be time for more pics.

EddieWalker · Mar 15, 2014

One thing to consider with a slab is that the cheaper bids always like to use wire instead of rebar, but in every slab that I've ever seen, and the pictures of them posted on here, the wire gets walked on and ends up at the bottom of the slab. Rebar set on chairs 24 inches apart allows room to walk through them while spreading the mud. I know that they all say they pull up the wire while walking on it and spreading the mud, but that is just for show that lasts about the first five minutes. Then they are working too hard keeping up with spreading it to play that game anymore. Even when they do pull it up, the push it right down again when walking on it. Never use wire in a slab!!!! I like half inch for my footings, also called number 4, and 3/8's for the field, also called #3 rebar. Add fiber if you want, it doesn't hurt anything, but it doesn't replace rebar either.

Eddie

GPintheMitten · Mar 15, 2014

On your slab, is it going to be thicker on the perimeter where you place your walls? I'm no expert but I think it is a good idea. Maybe Eddie or others with more experience can chime on on that.

GManBart · Mar 15, 2014

EddieWalker said:
One thing to consider with a slab is that the cheaper bids always like to use wire instead of rebar, but in every slab that I've ever seen, and the pictures of them posted on here, the wire gets walked on and ends up at the bottom of the slab. Rebar set on chairs 24 inches apart allows room to walk through them while spreading the mud. I know that they all say they pull up the wire while walking on it and spreading the mud, but that is just for show that lasts about the first five minutes. Then they are working too hard keeping up with spreading it to play that game anymore. Even when they do pull it up, the push it right down again when walking on it. Never use wire in a slab!!!! I like half inch for my footings, also called number 4, and 3/8's for the field, also called #3 rebar. Add fiber if you want, it doesn't hurt anything, but it doesn't replace rebar either.

Eddie

We used 1/2" rebar (and fiber) in the foundation for my pole barn (built almost like stick frame), but went with a combination of heavy gauge wire sheets (1/4") and fiber mesh in the first section of slab. I had 2" of foam insulation, then Pex tubing with plastic clips (that also prop the mesh, then the mesh (some wood blocks to prop the mesh as well). We were able to set about half of the sheets in place, cover them, set the other sheets, and cover that section, so we weren't walking on the sheets as we poured....seemed to work out really well.

I'm sure 1/4" mesh and fiber isn't as good as 3/8" rebar, but for a slab that won't see anything really heavy (it's a shop with bathroom, one vehicle bay, etc), I think it will be fine. The good thing is that I ran a redi-mix truck for years, and was able to get the driver to keep the mix pretty tight...a lot of concrete failures are simply too much water in the mix, and lazy masons. We only had time to get that one slab poured before it got cold, so I still have the other 2/3 of the floor to pour...haven't decided how I'm doing that side yet.