Pole Barn Loft Help Needed

[04Fatboy]

Hello All
I am getting ready to add a 24 x 12 loft to my pole barn. I am needing help size the beam to span 24' (do not want any posts) and the floor joists. Some pictures of your projects would be great. I am also having an issue with the stair planning. It will have to be ab interior stair to the loft. Ideas there would also be helpful. Pictures are worth a million words. I am planning on having everything here and working over the holidays. Thank you all

BOB

 

[PA hayseed]

Hello All
I am getting ready to add a 24 x 12 loft to my pole barn. I am needing help size the beam to span 24' (do not want any posts) and the floor joists. Some pictures of your projects would be great. I am also having an issue with the stair planning. It will have to be ab interior stair to the loft. Ideas there would also be helpful. Pictures are worth a million words. I am planning on having everything here and working over the holidays. Thank you all

BOB

I'm confused, don't you have trusses? How high will the loft be off the floor?, and will it be between your trusses and your exsisting floor?

One other thing you might need to list is how much weight will be on the loft?

Most, but not all, floor systems will need joists and beams, which will need support. on a 28' x 32' room I used TJ's and a glulam, but it required two posts to support it. Not bad as far as the amount of room the posts took up.

 

[EddieWalker]

Pictures are worth a million words.

Bob, like you said, pictures are worth a thousand words. A loft is pretty basic, just a deck, but up higher.

Knowing what you plan to do with the space makes a big difference as to what you need to use in building it. Lumber size and spacing is different for a living space, heavy storage and light storage.

It's also important to know what sized poles you have and what they can support. Building a loft that can hold 40psi is one thing, but if the poles can only hold ten psi, then there's not point in spending the extra money.

Eddie

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

click on this link

I-Beam Lift - The Garage Journal Board

post #23 is mine......

if i can help, let me know....

 

[04Fatboy]

Thank You for all your coments. A couple things. The loft will be for light storage / kids play room. My posts are 6 x 8 The bottom of my eaves are 14' I plan on having 8' clear on the bottom and the rooms lowest point will be 6' and up to 9' with the roof.

thank you

 

[MarkV]

Better look and see if you can live with a post couple of posts. If not you will need run a pretty good size 24’ steel I-beam $$$$$!

MarkV

 

[04Fatboy]

well with some research i found this link. I 1m 12x24 so I am thinking 5-1/2 x 16 Am I looking at this correct?
Any pictures of stairs in a shop?

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/759713.html

 

[radioman]

i am confused. you said you are going to have 12 by 24 loft ? why not have joists span 12 ft wide instead of 24. going 24 will require a beefy unit and not to mention the cost and loss of space. spanning 12 ft you can use 2X12's to hold alot of weight. you could go with 2X8's instead if you need to.

If you still insist on spanning 24ft , you will need to use wooden i joists 16" high.

 

[MR_NC]

Pictures?
No problem. Crappy phone pics but they show what I did.
Information:
1. My intent is office space so things are a bit different than you would do.
2. The stud wall you see is NOT loaded.
3. Barn is 24FT wide.
4. The LVL boards are 20FT long. The rest is steps.
5. The floor is 2"x8" (16" centers) 3/4" OSB flooring.
6. I designed the wall bracket and got it fabricated for 250. If you want I still have my print.
7. The LVL is 14 tall.
8. All my posts are 6X6.
9. I have 83 clear height on the floor level. If I were doing it again, I would use that same #. Very happy with that height.
10. My lowest head height (stairwell area 2nd floor) is 6ft.
11. The place that sold me the LVL calculated what I needed based on what I wanted to do. This was not Lowes...
12. The roof (above the automotive lift) is 13.6 tall.
13. The back header is lagged to all 4 posts on the supporting wall. (2"x8" double)
14. The post supporting the LVL is notched that the LVL sits in the notch. Lags are installed thru the post into the LVL. The post is also attached to the steps.
15. My pole spacing is 9FT (barn build). My "loft" is 20x9ft. Not using the 9FT barn spacing would have made this much more difficult.
16. Steel cost was retarded when I did this. The beam I calculated I would need to = the strength of the LVL you see would have cost over 600 (with a killer discount mind you). Steel cost may be better now, but the LVL cost me 208 (for both pieces)...

If you have any questions PM me I can provide more pics via email if you wish.

Best regards,
Sean

 

[04Fatboy]

MR NC (Sean)

That is my plan except I was planing on spanning the whole 24' Did you pour your Post in or is it sitting on the slab? My stairs would be easier your way.

 

[MR_NC]

The post sits on the floor. My carpenter wanted to lag it down / attach it somehow. He was denied due to (radiant heat). Given it's mounted (lags) to the LVL and the steps (steps are fastened to the outside wall post) I accepted not having it in the crete.

Crete was poured around all the outside wall poles when the floor was poured.

I made the call on the stairs because I wanted to keep all the floor space possible for the office. Having the stair entry in the "main" area would have made a mess of the office layout. Remember in a low headroom deal like this, the stair opening will need to be above the very first step. You don't get away with 2 or 3 steps that are covered above by floor. My stairs are a bit steep. If you went with something "comfortable" you might end up needing an opening of 12+ft long + width of steps. That was a deal-buster for me.

Best regards,
Sean

 

[04Fatboy]

Sean
My slab is 4'' Did you have more than that? I did not think I could just place a post on a 4'' slab. Thank You for the pictures. I think I am going to do about the same as yours. the stairs have been killing me about the wasted space. I am now worried about the Post on the slab.
BOB

 

[MR_NC]

Bob,
I would check with someone "qualified". However, I see the math like this:
3000+PSI concrete
6x6 post = 36 SQin
36 x 3000 = A very big number...

My concrete is 5.0 thick, however it has 2 layers of mesh and a bunch of tubes in it. I took far greater issue with the possiblity of knocking the post down and the office falling. I feel pretty good about the floor being able to hold.

Best regards,
Sean

 

[04Fatboy]

Sean

One more question. What is your Rise / Run of your stairs? Are they too steep? I am going to span the 24' with a 5-16 glulam (only $10 per foot) but will need to make short steep stairs. I will post Picks after x-mas when I finish

BOB

 

[Danno1]

Sean
My slab is 4'' Did you have more than that? I did not think I could just place a post on a 4'' slab. Thank You for the pictures. I think I am going to do about the same as yours. the stairs have been killing me about the wasted space. I am now worried about the Post on the slab.
BOB

If you're worried about that, then you could put your post on a 12 inch square piece of 1/2 in steel to spread the load. I've seen this done industrially for second floors that were underrated for heavy machinery.

Or, cut a 12 in sq hole in the slab and pour a 24 in deep footing.

.

 

[04Fatboy]

I thought about the plate idea though I just do not want any cracks in my slab from the point weight. I know if I go to my 6x8 posts there will be no issues

BOB

 

[brianidaho]

Have you considered putting the stairs outside, on the back side of your shop? I struggled with where to put the stairwell on the inside, they just take up so much room and we didn't want to give up the space. Our loft is strictly storage, we went that route.

We have a 40 x 40 building, I put a wall down at the "front" face of the loft. This seperates my wood shop from the garage area and took care of load carrying isses. If you want a 24' free span, you'll need a big I-beam.

 

[04Fatboy]

I want to keep them inside. I ordered my beam. 5-1/8 x 16-1/2 glulam ($10 per foot Home Depot!!!) designed the loft for 10 dead load and 60 live load.

 

[04Fatboy]

I just wanted to say thank you all for your great ideas. I have received ideas, sugestions of things I never thought of!!! This place is great.

 

[04Fatboy]

well the rough framing is done. Great project so far. Here are some pictures. Need to get the walls going now.