Planning to build new 50x60 Pole Barn. Help!

[sawtooth]

Guys,

I'm planning to build a new 50x60 pole barn this fall. This is my first so i know very little about them. I am looking at everything from the standard kits to Morton buildings. This will be built to store equipment, deer cleaning station and some upper level storage for smaller items. We have a gas well so plan to install a gas heater. Based on this i plan to insulate the building but not sure to what level. So is the Morton building worth the price? They look great and better than most other buildings that i've seen. Are there other companies that compete on the same level as Morton? I do want a nice building and not interested in junk. I want something that will last for 40 plus years. I want something that will fade as little as possible. I'm considering, vent ridge, full insulation vs just roof, concrete vs rock floor, gutters or not etc, how to keep out pest like bats, mice, rats etc. Can you guys provide me some insight on all this? This building would be for SE Ohio.

Lastly, i have a friend that can get me a kit like TNT, carport.com, elephant buildings etc at cost. This would save me a boat load of money but looks to be a very cheap way to go. Also i may be forced to have supports inside the building. I can get it certified etc and they do the install once the foundation is ready. Any thoughts on going this route?

Thank you,

 

[Zebrafive]

I had Morton put up my 42x 63 x12 barn 18 years ago. It was a bigger project than I could do by myself. I should have built higher for a loft. A friend built a 42x75x14 Morton barn. Saleman suggested going higher and "loft prep" which is different trusses/ roof purlins over the loft area to make it open. Maybe it did not exist 18 years ago? With sliding doors it will be almost impossible to keep the mice out. Roll up doors might be better. Dark colors will fade faster than light ones.

Get wainscot. If you damage a panel you only have to replace the bottom.

 

[David644]

I just built a 24wx32 long in December. I used 6x6 treated and 26'engineered trusses 24 oc, I have a 12" OH all the way around. My nephew poured my floor 4" thick. It took 10 and 1/2 yards floated to glass finish. We put 1/2" plywood, tyveck and vinal siding on. It looks awsome. You would never no it is a polebarn. It is a three bay garage. I used one twelve foot section as work shop. The entire project todate is about 6 grand. Metal roof. We had to go 4' into the ground because of frost line.
I put three windows in and made a 6' double door to go out the back wall for my tractor and mower. I have a 7x16 oh door and life is good. Put sheet metal around your bottom guirt then backfill with gravel to the girt. We put crushed stone 12 inches deep up to the girt and so far no snakes, mice rats etc. If you put on a steel roof besure to install the corrigated rubber strips at your ridge and about 24" down on all your roof purlins. This should keep the bats out of your ridge. The bee's another story. Go on line and by plans for about 100 bucks. Your material is not that much if you by local. The kid that helped me out builds these all day for another company and he was looking for some extra work. Ask around alot of guy's do them. I new this guy's work and he was excellent it took him about a week to have up and he was gone. I paid him labor and I bought the materials. Good luck.

 

[murphy1244]

50x60 is a unusual size, Why?

 

[sawtooth]

Not set on that size exactly but want to park vehicles etc on sides of isle And still be able to have plenty of room in center of barn. I would consider a 40x60.

 

[Carl_NH]

50x60 is a unusual size, Why?

I agree - go in 4' increments for materials, so 32x60 and if you are in snow country snow load is a factor so roof pitch should be 8/12 to 10/12 and look into "attic trusses" where you can have a 16'x length second story at not a huge cost increase.

It depends on your space needs - for instance 32x60 is roughly 1900 SF, and with a 16x60 attic truss you gain almost 1000SF in the upper level. Plus insulation is less due to less surface area (walls and roof) and your heat loss is less, concrete cost is less and so on.

Morton and eveyone will "build what you want" but if you are insulating, and doing concrete, going up is less cost than going "wide". Wide is OK if its just a pole barn but check the truss cost - wide is $$

Carl

 

[murphy1244]

Not set on that size exactly but want to park vehicles etc on sides of isle And still be able to have plenty of room in center of barn. I would consider a 40x60.

Go 40x 60 with a lean to. A square builing will have a weak roof.

 

[Darrenone]

Guys,

I'm planning to build a new 50x60 pole barn this fall. This is my first so i know very little about them. I am looking at everything from the standard kits to Morton buildings. This will be built to store equipment, deer cleaning station and some upper level storage for smaller items. We have a gas well so plan to install a gas heater. Based on this i plan to insulate the building but not sure to what level. So is the Morton building worth the price? They look great and better than most other buildings that i've seen. Are there other companies that compete on the same level as Morton? I do want a nice building and not interested in junk. I want something that will last for 40 plus years. I want something that will fade as little as possible. I'm considering, vent ridge, full insulation vs just roof, concrete vs rock floor, gutters or not etc, how to keep out pest like bats, mice, rats etc. Can you guys provide me some insight on all this? This building would be for SE Ohio.

Lastly, i have a friend that can get me a kit like TNT, carport.com, elephant buildings etc at cost. This would save me a boat load of money but looks to be a very cheap way to go. Also i may be forced to have supports inside the building. I can get it certified etc and they do the install once the foundation is ready. Any thoughts on going this route?

Thank you,

Hey Sawtooth, first, I have a thread going on my 40x60 pole barn build where I have tried to explain my progress as I build. I looked into Morton buildings and a couple others and found I could save a lot of money doing it myself. Of corse Morton will come in and have it up in about 5 days and I have been working on mine for months. Morton does put up a great building and uses good quality material and pays attention to small details. They just are very expensive. You won't be able to put up a pole barn as cheap as say a carport but in my opinion, the pole barn is better and will last a lot longer if built right. I'm not familiar with your area but around here there are other pole barn builders who do good work and at a cost a lot less then Morton. If you are going to use steel for roof and siding, then pick a size divisible by 3 as the steel covers 3' per piece. Then have 1.5' over hangs at each end and that will be one extra piece of roofing per side. Gutters will be a good option as you get a lot of water coming off the roof when it rains. You could collect this water if you wanted with gutters to use for other things. Ridge vent is a good ideal also. If you can build maybe a work area inside it will make heating a lot easier if you choose to do this. If you try to heat the whole building, then insulation is a must throughout. My building has 12' walls but I used scissor trusses so I could still have a loft. Good luck to you on whatever you choose.
Darren

 

[Cat_Driver]

My advice, go bigger than you think you need. I put up a 100'x125' thinking this is HUGE and I'll never fill it up. I only paid 50K for it years ago, now a 30' x 125' wind will cost me almost as much as the entire building. At the time I could have bought the wing for 15K.
Next, put water and power on all four walls, and stub out all ends so you can continue on for additional use.

Spend time and think about where you will put things like work benches, compressors, generators.

Insulate, insulate insulate.

Think of adding strength to the roof for future sprinkler system loads, lighting, skylights, fans, heating etc.

 

[boggen]

you might want to update your "profile" to include your general location. so you can get better answers from folks.

the larger the space you want to heat the more $$$ you will pay to heat that space long term.

if you go with insulating and heating, then ya spending cash for insulation, concrete floor, and more likely some sort of "roll up" doors. (think garage doors, but much larger, for the big machinery)

if you are going to heat, and concrete floor, you might as well go with radiant heating.

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on a different note you might want to "split" the shed up. so you have a large parking area / storage area. that is not heated or insulated, then a "shop area" that is insulated, concrete floor, and is heated. and place a regular size garage door on the shop area, so you can get vehicle or ATV, or like into shop area.

do a search for "metal buildings" there is a good amount of companies out there, that more likely mainly market to companies, vs home owners, but still make/build barns/sheds

if you go kit route, everyone has there own "insulation" some of it is just a spray foam, some of it, is just bubble wrapping, other is hard board insulation, other is rolled insulation. they all have there con's and pro's.

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beisdes the typical rectangle shape and A shaped roof. there is also the half circle sheds.

there is just so many choices, to building a shed / barn. you really need to decided what you want, and how much you are willing to pay for it, either DIY or having someone build it for you.