Morton Building

[hunterridgefarm]

Are your post set in the slab or on the outside of the slab?

If you get a chance some close-up pics would be appreciated .

 

[RobS]

That's going to be a great building! I did a bit of building research before we sunk so much money in the house. Morton seemed to stand out from the crowd as a premier building. Their equipment shows their focus, I've seen the same sort of tractors up here on their sites. Very specialized machine!

Keep the pics coming, it's fun to watch. What's going inside? PVC is drains for something?

 

[Beavis]

Are your post set in the slab or on the outside of the slab?

If you get a chance some close-up pics would be appreciated .

The post are set in the ground with 3 bags of concrete mix each. The splash board is then nailed to the outside of the post, creating a perimeter form for the concrete. When the concrete is poured ( 4 1/2" in this case ), it surrounds the post that were originally set. Hope the photos show what I'm trying to explain.

 

[Beavis]

Two more photos for you:

A view of the finished building (obviously a lot of landscaping yet to do)
A view of the framed in living space (22' x 30') with storage up above.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Wow, what a beautiful building.
I'm guessing the process was slowed by weather and whatever else. Thanks for updating the thread.

Are you going to finish the interior? Are you going to "live" there, or is it a weekend retreat?

Your concrete looks nice a shiny. Did you top it with something?

 

[Knight9]

Great pole barn!!!! Looks like they did a fantastic quality job! Very nice.

 

[QRTRHRS]

It looks like Morton set short glue lams posts to get out of the ground and then nailed the rest of the columns to those? Were the upper columns in pieces or were they already together and just mated up?

I see what looks like OSB around the bottom. How thick is that and was that optional or stock? Is it for protection from animals kicking or you getting too close and is it structural as well?

Nice looking building. Morton has a good rep no matter where you go. I had tried to get an estimate from them a few years back for an equine barn but the economy was pretty good yet and the salesman did not seem to be much intersted in any deviation from their stock offerings.

 

[Willl]

It looks like Morton set short glue lams posts to get out of the ground and then nailed the rest of the columns to those?

Ya, I was curious about that also. Wouldn't a solid post be better ?

 

[QRTRHRS]

Ya, I was curious about that also. Wouldn't a solid post be better ?

Not necessarily. I don't recall if I posted this info on this site but I have on the "sister site".

I used to haul material for a large pole barn builder that also had a franchise to build and sell "Permacolumns". You can look them up on the web.

Basically the top of the Permacolumn has a "U" shaped bracket that the hand laminated 2xX column material is bolted to. It was my understanding that the engineering studies showed that this method was as strong or stronger than "standard methods".

The company had a batch plant set up with controlled conditions to manufacture the columns. In order to balance out the work load, the workers also laminated the three 2xX boards with air nailers and fastened them to the columns in a big jig to maintain a straight column. They then packaged everything together with blocking and banding for shipment.

They could be a "bear" to load and unload safely along with the other materials typical to a job.

When they first started to construct with those columns, I mostly set them with the truck mounted crane. One day, with no personel on the jobsite, I set them on the ground, too far away I later found out. Seemed the builders were setting them by hand, ouch!

Excuse the long post but now to my observation. I would think that the shorter columns would be easier to set and to get vertical with no wind load to fret over.

 

[Beavis]

The posts that are set into the ground consist of three treated 2" x 6"s nailed together, the remainder (height) of the post are regular 2" x 6"s and I honestly don't know if they were pre-assembled or if they were nailed together during construction.

I have finished the floor with a concrete sealant called "tiah" and I love the finish. Sweeping up dirt, saw dust, etc. is very easy.

The "lower protection" consist of 7/16" OSB and serves and protection from animals or other mis-haps that may occur.

The building is 60' x 72' and in the front corner where the walk-in door is located we are framing in a 22' x 30' living space with a stairwell along one end so that we will have a lot of storage space up above. The plan is to have a very simple living space where we can go for a couple of months when we begin construction on a new home. It will have a bathroom with 4' shower, etc.

I want to do some landscaping around the building as soon as I bury the downspouts. I'll try and post photos as I make progress. Next weekend I plan on putting up eight light fixtures in the main shop; One fixture is 4' long and contains four T-5 bulbs with a highly reflective surface to throw all the light down. Above the living space I will just install some regular old screw-light fixtures. In the covered porch area, I plan on putting can lights and on the front of the building a 150 watt metal halide wallpak.

I have been VERY PLEASED with my Morton experience.

THANKS