Finally started on my Texas pole barn!

[Megado]

One of the major projects that I had on my ever growing "to do" list of things needed for our property was to someday build a barn. I had a couple of ideas in mind of the type and size of barn I wanted to build, with one of the main determining factors being that it needed to be something I could do as a DYI project together with my teenage son.

So after reading through what seemed like a gazillion different threads on TBN and doing a mind-numbing amount of research on pole barn construction projects, I came upon the thread of the project being done by SteelDust in Washington State and started following it with great interest. It seemed to include everything I was looking for in terms of the style of barn, size, simplicity of design, constructability for a do-it-yourself project and the fact that it appeared to be rock solid. I made contact with SteelDust (Chris) via private message and he was kind enough to provide me with a great deal of additional information to get me started on my own set of working drawings for the barn. I certainly want to take this opportunity to thank Chris for his time and willingness to share information with me as he has been progressing along with his own project.

As you can see below, I've drawn up the plans in 3D showing the skeleton of the barn. And similar to SteelDust's barn, this barn will be 36'x36' laid out on a 12' grid. Post will be 14' 6x6s and 22' 6x8s, all pressure treated at .60 rating. Side framing will be 2x6 girts on 24" centers and roof support will be 2x12 rafters with 2x6 purlins on 24" centers sitting on top of the rafters. I've modified the design a bit and will have a one of the shed sides open to store tractor implements, along with a shorter length loft inside. I figure I can always go back and add more loft area later if the need arises. Floor will be compacted crusher run fines (poor man's concrete floor) at a depth of 6"-8".

I started on the project about a month ago and I'll update progress as things roll along. With our property being a weekend get-away retreat at the moment, the timeline on completion of the barn is only a wild man's guess at this point. The beauty of it I guess is that we have nothing but time on our hands and no pressing deadline to reach final completion other than the desire to start getting the tractor inside for the night.

These "before" photos below show the location where the barn is being built. The first item of business was to clear off a few trees to give enough clearance around the perimeter. As you can see, ol' blue got a workout on this day. And I know, I know...before the safety police get after me, as soon as I finished taking these photos I realized I didn't have my ROPS up and immediately took care of that.

 

[Megado]

The barn location is just off of our circular driveway and behind where my tractor was sitting in the photo below.

I cut a clearing through the line of trees to gain access to the site. This will eventual become an extension of the driveway leading up to the front doors of the barn.

 

[Megado]

Ran out of time tonight to post more pics. I'll continue tomorrow....

 

[Megado]

Once I completed the site work, it was time to take possession of the first delivery of building materials. Hindsight being 20/20...I wish I had held off on delivery of some of the items because I haven't had a chance to get to them yet and I'm beginning to deal with materials drying out and warpage.

 

[Megado]

During the long Easter weekend, my son and I got to work laying out the batter boards and string lines to mark the locations of the post. My plans had been to rent a Skid-steer equipped with a 12" auger to drill the holes, however, it turned out the Skid-steer had not been returned to the rental company when I needed it and was not available. So it was off to Plan B and I was able to rent a gas powered hydraulic auger to do the job instead. Unfortunately it only came with a 14" bit which meant I've had to use more concrete in the holes.

(I'm still trying to get this picture posting thing figured out so please forgive me. Hopefully I'll get it squared away soon)



Once we got the 16 holes dug we began the process of setting the four corner post. Sure is nice having a tractor around to handle the larger timbers. To this point in the photos below we had only begun setting the 6"x6"x14' so the real test came later when we started to tackle the 6"x8"x22' monsters.

 

[SteelDust]

It's great to see you get started, and I was glad to be of help in the initial planning. From the professional look of your drawings, I should have waited until you got started on this first. It's funny, I originally planned to only make the loft area 24x12 as well, but after much thought, I figured I'd eventually use the space, and having that loft there was going to make putting up the center section of roof go a whole lot easier. The building is turning out to be as solid as it looks, with just the sheeting on the roof and very few girts there is very little sway at all in the building. By the time the girts and siding is on I'm confident it'll stand up to the worst that mother nature can dish out up here.

In case you didn't catch the other thread update, I ordered the roofing metal and trim on Monday (apparently avoiding yet another $0.06/lf price hike), it will be in for pick up on Thursday. I intend to get as much of it down as I can in the upcoming days. I'll try to get some pictures up in the thread once some of the metal is down. I found some really nice cedar 1x8 for fascia board the other day. I had originally planned on 1x6 but trial fit a section and really liked the "weight" it gave to the roof.

 

[Megado]

It's great to see you get started, and I was glad to be of help in the initial planning. From the professional look of your drawings, I should have waited until you got started on this first. It's funny, I originally planned to only make the loft area 24x12 as well, but after much thought, I figured I'd eventually use the space, and having that loft there was going to make putting up the center section of roof go a whole lot easier. The building is turning out to be as solid as it looks, with just the sheeting on the roof and very few girts there is very little sway at all in the building. By the time the girts and siding is on I'm confident it'll stand up to the worst that mother nature can dish out up here.

In case you didn't catch the other thread update, I ordered the roofing metal and trim on Monday (apparently avoiding yet another $0.06/lf price hike), it will be in for pick up on Thursday. I intend to get as much of it down as I can in the upcoming days. I'll try to get some pictures up in the thread once some of the metal is down. I found some really nice cedar 1x8 for fascia board the other day. I had originally planned on 1x6 but trial fit a section and really liked the "weight" it gave to the roof.

SteelDust,

I hope that the other TBN's don't get bored with my project postings b/c the barn and the process of building it is going to look very similar to yours.

I too have thought about how I'm going to set the upper rafters where I won't have the loft to use. At the moment I'm thinking I'll build some sort of pole lift jig to raise them up using my FEL. That's a ways off though so I still have some time to think about it and figure out a plan. Unfortunately it's going to be a few weeks before we get back up there so things will have to wait. And you guessed it...it'll be 98f with 95% humidity by that point!

 

[Megado]

I followed the technique that SteelDust described in his thread http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/110718-want-see-yet-another-pole.html to raise the 6x8x22' timbers and it worked flawlessly. The pictures below show the sequence beginning with transporting the post to the hole location.




Once I had the post at the hole location, I would then set it down atop temporary blocking. This would raise the top-end of the post to allow me to slide the bucket underneath so I could then remove the temporary blocking. I also placed a 4' long 2"x12" into the hole for the bottom-end of the post to push up against and then slide along down into the hole. This prevented the bottom-end from digging into the side of the hole.




After lifting the post with the bucket and removing the temporary blocking, I would then proceed forward while lifting the post into the hole. This process worked perfectly each time and made raising the large post a snap. Best piece of advice I can give is to go slow and steady when you're lifting the post.

 

[EddieWalker]

With all the detailed pictures that you are taking, this might just be "THE" thread for others to learn how to build a barn.

I love the plan and think Steel Dust is doing a great job on his barn. There is one thing that you might think about. On your open section for storing implements. you also have one side as being open. I did the exact same thing on my open storage area and have come to consider it a mistake. It wont take a second to walk around the wall to get to the storage area, so that's not much of an argument. Having that extra wall there will be very, very handy for storing stuff like yard tools. I'm desperate to find a place to hang my weed eater and hand sprayers. I'm maxed out on storage in my open area and having another wall will really increase my ability to organize more things better. You can always change it later, so it's not an issue either way, just something that I'm going to change on mine.

What program did you use for your design and what was the learning curve like?

I learned something new in your pictures. I lift posts all the time into holes with my FEL, but never thought of a blocking board. I just lay the post next to the hole and lift. It would sure make things allot easier doing it your way. Thanks!!!!

Eddie

 

[Megado]

A recent 3-day weekend gave my son and I time to finish up the remaining 5 post left to be set in place. This completed the first of many milestones for the barn.



We also had some fun by creating a time capsule and placing it in the hole of the last post we set in place. Who knows...perhaps if the barn is ever torn down in the future someone will find the capsule and read the note.