Pole barn question

[SteveinCT]

Hi, new member, long time reader. I have read many posts here on putting up pole barns and I have started my own this year. I have the location cleared and I have started digging the hole for the posts. It's gonna be a 16' x 24' barn with 6"X6"s every 8 feet. I have a backhoe that I am using to do the post holes. My question is this: I have seen a lot of pictures of barns with post holes done with diggers, nice and round and straight down. I have a ton of boulders that I have to grub out of every hole, so I end up with craters. I then have a problem supporting the poles. I put up supports, usually 2"x4"s, but I need to be able to shift the poles, because in digging the crater, I lose the center of my hole, so I need to measure the distances between poles to keep everything plumb. I had one end wall set up twice, only to have the poles knock each other down twice while shifting poles. I am using 16' poles, so even though my head is thick, I don't want to break a pole with it. Any ideas?? Thanks a lot!
Steve

 

[cowboydoc]

I assume you have squared your building and you have your strings all set. If you have those you should be able to just put your pole in and level it with your string, fill, and tamp your post in. It will probably be a two man job if you have craters for you holes.

 

[PineRidge]

The guys that put up my pole barn used a hydraulic post hole digger to cut the holes. They were 24" in diameter, and then they poured the concrete in the bottom of each hole. After it cured they had a good base on which they placed each 6 X 6 support. The larger pad gave them a lot of wiggle room to get the 6 X 6s square and plumb as they backfilled each with dirt tamping all the way. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Soundguy]

My 6x6's are set every 12' and were augered in.. big 24" auger was way overkill.. but the guy setting the barn had an old truck that had done telephone poles. In any case.. string and cross string kept the pole locations down to the 1/4"

Back braces.. like 2x4's were used to keep the poles in place while trussing was set up.

Soundguy

 

[gmason]

I just sat my first 2 poles last weekend. I had the strings and had plenty 20"-24" holes size. The first one was a little tricky, but after that I got a little better.
My poles are ~24' and I used the FEL to put them in.

Pretty neat actually. My holes are 4-5' deep and so I measured up the pole 12' and put a large chain around it twice, then put it through the D-Drings on my FEL.
I lifted the pole, and it was almost mid-point of the weight, it took just a little tipping to get it to lean bottom down. I then moved it over to the hole and slowly lifted the FEL up, having to adjust the tractor position while lifting, kinda like a little dancing.
Because the chain was tied off pretty tight, it allowed it to pivot without loosing any height. After a few minutes of 'dancing' the pole was ready to slide down into the hole. Having the pole tied at the 12' mark allowed me to position the pole in the hole by letting me lift the pole off the bottom of the hole and move it into the correct position.
I braced the pole before untieing it from the FEL. Plumb and square and just under 10min.. Now just backfilling....

gary