Pole Barn posts rotting

[Budweiser John]

In the spring of 1983 we lost a barn to fire. As a replacement we built a WICK BUILDING. At that time we were assured the posts would last a lifetime and in addition, the posts were a full 6" square which according to Wick would add another level of longevity to the building.

Fast forward to present day, (July, 2013) and the rate of decay on the posts allows a pocket knife to be inserted at the ground level a good 2" all the way around each post. Needless to say, so much for the sales pitch. OK, now the $64 question. Have any members had a similar experience with a C1983 WICK BUILDING? And, has anyone run across an after market solution to rotting pole barn posts such as an epxoie consolident that could be injected to the damaged posts?


Our building is 64" square with 16" eves and has served us well as a horse stable, hay storage, and equipment storage. What reallly buggs me is the fact that with in the last several weeks we removed a post building erected about 1975 to make room for a larger storage facality and the C1975 posts were almost perfect comming out of the ground. Infact, good enough to be repurposed as cribbing for some raised garden beds

Thoughts, Ideas and coments appreciated
Budweiser John

 

[Illini22]

My mom had a wick building put up in the fall of 1980. In 2004 I noticed a post was almost rotted all the way thru. I checked the rest (30'x36') and 6 others were rotten. She called wick and they said they had a bad batch of posts back then and repaired them for free, 25 year warranty. The dug done next to the existing post and bolted a shorter one next to it. It wasn't the best solution but they did repair them.

 

[Redneck in training]

I heard that they buy material in hardware store. So whatever quality is there that what is used. I bought Morton buildings barns. They claim they have quality control and buy their own material from reputable sources. My building has 50 years warranty on rot.

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

what type/size/species/treatment of posts did you buy when you picked the design and material for the new building?

30 years you did well unless you took care and bought high quality material. Most sellers are so price conscious as buyers shop around for price more so than quality the old adage you get what you pay for comes to mind.

What was the warranty they gave you at time of purchase and are you in the warranty period or out of it? the warranty period will be good indication of quality you bought.

There are treatments / products you could have used to extend the life but too late now.

Sorry to hear your purchase did not meet your expectations but after 30 years some repairs are not too much to assume.

 

[joshuabardwell]

There are established methods for digging out the bottom of the bad post and either installing a fresh one or putting in a concrete pier. I looked into it recently, but I don't have too many details to give you. Basically, you shore up the barn wit blocking, then auger out around the existing post, cut it off, dig out the rotten one from the ground, and put a new one in tied to the old one, or pour a pier and tie the existing post to it with a custom metal piece. I would be pretty tempted to put in concrete piers 12" above ground level, if I was building a barn today. Seems like cheap insurance for a problem you know you're going to have eventually.

 

[PhysAssist]

I was always warned against using solid pressure treated posts as opposed to laminated pressure treated posts because of the concern that the treatment would only protect the outer wood, and the inside would rot.

However, it sounds like your problem is just the opposite. There is epoxy available, but I doubt that it would be approved or helpful in a load-bearing application like yours.

There is a way to arrest the process in posts that aren't severely damaged, which involves drilling holes and placing rods made of borate (or D.O.T.- Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate- what we are using on our log house in areas where wetness has caused rot) into them, then plugging the holes with wood of a similar grain and color (in our case, we have SYP logs, and we're cutting plugs from some leftover pieces of the log siding that covers the band joists between the logs and the concrete of the foundation).

The rods slowly dissolve in the presence of (in your case ground) moisture, and the borate and CSO4 diffuse throughout the wet wood, preventing (ironically "dry") rot and other fungal growth as well as killing insects and preventing them from infesting the wood.

After doing a lot of comparison shopping, we found this place had the best prices for our application:

"copperca.ipower.com"

I hope that this is helpful,
Thomas

 

[Grumpy Old Man]

We built a pole barn in Maine in 1971 and soaked the posts in used motor oil for about a week before planting them they still are solid and look good today !

 

[Budweiser John]

Thank's all for the reply's. I'm fairly certain the long range fix is to excavate beside the existing damaged posts and sister new stub posts to the old ones, an incredibly labor intensive project.

Now to find a contractor who's willing to tackle the project..........

 

[texasjohn]

I bought Penta treated fence posts about that time...rotting off underground now...feel your pain, hope company will make good for you

 

[dmccarty]

...

There is a way to arrest the process in posts that aren't severely damaged, which involves drilling holes and placing rods made of borate (or D.O.T.- Disodium Octaborate Tetrahydrate- what we are using on our log house in areas where wetness has caused rot) into them, then plugging the holes with wood of a similar grain and color (in our case, we have SYP logs, and we're cutting plugs from some leftover pieces of the log siding that covers the band joists between the logs and the concrete of the foundation).

The rods slowly dissolve in the presence of (in your case ground) moisture, and the borate and CSO4 diffuse throughout the wet wood, preventing (ironically "dry") rot and other fungal growth as well as killing insects and preventing them from infesting the wood...

I am behind on my magazine reading, got a stack about 3-4 inches tall of magazines, but I started on the backlog this weekend. With the Monsoon we are getting I could not get my outdoor chores done.... One of my magazines is about naval history and has an article about an old sailing ship that was being overhauled. I have not read the article yet, just looked at the photos, :laughing::laughing::laughing: but they where adding salt and borate between the ship ribs and hull planking. It looked like the ship was double hulled. Hopefully the article has more information. Anywho, the borate and salt was added as a preservative. Rain water would get into the cavities which was literally filled with the salt and borate which would create a slurry that would soak into the wood. This would help preserve the wood. I now right after we started building our house, I read that you could get borate sprayed on your wood framing as a pest control. I read that too late for our house.

Later,
Dan