Non PT pole barn poles

schmism · Apr 9, 2007

My lovely 32x60' pole barn does not have PT poles.

Which never occured to me till i started digging at the front this past weekend for the new electrical, and noticed that one of the front posts is damm near rotted off flush with the ground

.

so i think i want to cut them back 1' above the ground, with a H type notch extending another 2' up the post... then useing a 3py 2x6 PT new "base" for the post, hopefully developing enough moment connection. (considering useing simpson SDS screws for connection).

The building doesnt have a concreet floor YET, but concreet will likely flow by july of this year, the question is this... if i dont do the same for all the other posts, and replace the bottom 2x6 "wailer" for the sideing, and put concreet in, am i just going to wind up with rot problems 10 years down the road?

(i plan on keeping the building indefently.

1bush2hog · Apr 9, 2007

You will also need to address the rest of the non PT poles sooner or later if they are in contact with the ground

kwolfe · Apr 9, 2007

I would say fix them all. Kinda like ripping off a bandaid. All at once

I would even consider dipping them in some heavy duty sealant as well.

schmism · Apr 9, 2007

thats what im thinking... but im thinking i dont want to hand dig all the way to the bottom of each post.... I keep comming up with reasons to get the back hoe but the CFO stands firm against it

tommu56 · Apr 9, 2007

schmism

What about a post hole digger?

Drill on the inside of existing post then on both sides if possible.
this will give you clearance to work
some of the pole builders around here use a concrete "footer" and the concrete post is on top of it then the wood. here is a link Perma-Column: Pre-cast concrete columns for post frame building industry - Stop rotten posts - Replace rotten posts - Post Frame Construction - Pole Barn - Pole Building - Post Replacement

and a link on how to do it Perma-Column: Pre-cast concrete columns for post frame building industry - Stop rotten posts - Replace rotten posts - Post Frame Construction - Pole Barn - Pole Building - Post Replacement

tommu56

EddieWalker · Apr 9, 2007

I would drill at least one, and two holes on either side of the posts. Then form up a concrete wall above grade at least six inches. Put two sticks of rebar in one hole, bend it over, through the footing, adn then down into the other hole. Cut the post off flush so it lines up with the top of your formed up above grade portion. Put two lenghts of channel iron into the forms and have them long enough to go two or three feet up the sides of your posts. Bolt them channel iron to the posts and pour concrete in the holes up to the bottom of the post. It might be a bit of work, but you can do one at a time and when done, it will be stronger then brand new.

Eddie

schmism · Apr 10, 2007

I like the perma column, as its designed to fix this exact problem, but im not shure im ready to go concreet post bases.... (sounds expensive) and im still struggling on how you attach the bottom wailer back to a concreet 10,000 psi post....(that doesnt sound easy)

1bush2hog · Apr 10, 2007

schmism said:
I like the perma column, as its designed to fix this exact problem, but im not shure im ready to go concreet post bases.... (sounds expensive) and im still struggling on how you attach the bottom wailer back to a concreet 10,000 psi post....(that doesnt sound easy)

A temporary jacks/post could be used to relieve the load while you are rectifying base of exisiting post. I would definitely only work on only one post at a time.

schmism · Apr 10, 2007

ya the actuall replacement of the bottoms (no matter what method i go with) is fairly straight forward as ive got 8' OC trusses and 8' OC posts ie one truss per post, so ya its just a simple matter of temorarly supporting one truss while you work on "its" post.

of course theres alos the problem of we are currently in the process of moving all of our worldly belogings from our larger STL house out to the property, including the full shop, which is starting to fill the barn in all the "convinent" places.... which means we have to re-move everything so would be able to get the tractor in there.... but once we have the STL house sold, Ill have all the time in the world to work on it and move stuff around 10,000 times