pole barn

[whistlepig]

The barns I have been posting about had 8' spacing on the poles.

 

[WM75Guy]

Morton built our stables 48'X36'X10'. They build their posts by laminating 3 2X6 so there is not any warping. They are on 12' centers.

 

[QRTRHRS]

Morton built our stables 48'X36'X10'. They build their posts by laminating 3 2X6 so there is not any warping. They are on 12' centers.

Randy, Just curious, are the posts nailed together or glued? Also, did the rafters with cross ties come in one piece or did they put them together in place? Morton builds a nice barn.

 

[Rustyiron]

FWIW, I'm partial to the laminated 2x6 (3plys). If you are burrying the post directly in the ground and not using the new Permacolumn concrete type base for your posts. Three 2x6 are better protected with what ever the chemical du jour is now (I like and trust the old CCA) for treating wood, prolly ACQ whitch will eat your fasteners in short order!!! A 6x6 is only penetrated an inch or so (with preservative) where the 2x6 is pretty well treated all the way thru, it should last longer. A couple of other reasons are, try to find a straight 6x6 over 10' and a 3ply 2x6 is stronger and will stay tru.
Lately the pre manufactured posts have been very popular and nice to use. Don't know if they are avail. in your area but they finger joint and glue them together with 3 2x6 and the lower 6-8' or so is PT and then KD above that for the rest of the post. They then send it thru a planer and smooth it out, it is a very nice product, and I found the convience and appearance of them made them affordable.
And by the way I think you asked, when I laminate the posts, I just clamp and (oposing) angle nail the sheet out of them usually, but the last posts I built I splurged on these new hi tech screws with a built in washer head. Very nice, very strong, and can be tightened if you want when you have shrinkage.
One more thing, do your self a favor and go with 12' ceiling, a few more bucks for side wall metal but, well worth it.

 

[Gizmo2]

FWIW, I'm partial to the laminated 2x6 (3plys). If you are burrying the post directly in the ground and not using the new Permacolumn concrete type base for your posts. Three 2x6 are better protected with what ever the chemical du jour is now (I like and trust the old CCA) for treating wood, prolly ACQ whitch will eat your fasteners in short order!!! A 6x6 is only penetrated an inch or so (with preservative) where the 2x6 is pretty well treated all the way thru, it should last longer. A couple of other reasons are, try to find a straight 6x6 over 10' and a 3ply 2x6 is stronger and will stay tru.
Lately the pre manufactured posts have been very popular and nice to use. Don't know if they are avail. in your area but they finger joint and glue them together with 3 2x6 and the lower 6-8' or so is PT and then KD above that for the rest of the post. They then send it thru a planer and smooth it out, it is a very nice product, and I found the convience and appearance of them made them affordable.
And by the way I think you asked, when I laminate the posts, I just clamp and (oposing) angle nail the sheet out of them usually, but the last posts I built I splurged on these new hi tech screws with a built in washer head. Very nice, very strong, and can be tightened if you want when you have shrinkage.
One more thing, do your self a favor and go with 12' ceiling, a few more bucks for side wall metal but, well worth it.

Nice write up and I have the same thinking. I will also add, the so called foundation (posts) is not the place to try and save money.

 

[WM75Guy]

The trusses were built at the Morton factory. Two 18 wheelers showed up and offloaded the materials and the trusses were already built. The posts were built onsite, glued and nailed. If you zoom in on the left post in the second picture you can see how they cut the center 2X6 short and place the truss in the notch. They then bolted the truss to the outside members. The 2 2X6 inverted Ts between rafters is how I mounted my 8' flourescent lights.

 

[QRTRHRS]

The trusses were built at the Morton factory. Two 18 wheelers showed up and offloaded the materials and the trusses were already built. The posts were built onsite, glued and nailed. If you zoom in on the left post in the second picture you can see how they cut the center 2X6 short and place the truss in the notch. They then bolted the truss to the outside members. The 2 2X6 inverted Ts between rafters is how I mounted my 8' flourescent lights.

Sorry to hi-jack the thread but I want to take the oppourtunity to point something out that might be of interest.

I am attaching a photo of a barn I had with rafters and purlins to compare with Randy's Morton barn. The rafter and purlin design in my barn will collect a whole lot more dirt due to having more flat surfaces.

As you can see in my photos, I too used the headers to mount my overhead lights. Using 8 foot two bulb fixtures, skipping every other bay and staggering the lights on both sides. This setup made for a very bright barn with light reaching every nook and cranny. With the plastic bezels, the lights could be blasted off with a light duty pressure washer with no penetration.

The posts in this barn are spline jointed SYP/PT SYP glued then heated and cured under pressure. For someone building their own, etc., perhaps these posts are not an option. That's why I am curious about laminating with hardware and how well the posts work without the benefit of spline joints.

The barn builder I used to haul for had a Perma Column franchise and used hand laminated for all their own barns. Recalling that I had moved some pretty long posts, I wish I could remember if they used more than one board for each layer or if they had to piece any.

 

[mickish]

I guess you right,the foundation ain't the place to be scrimping pennies,

 

[mickish]

Anyone used pitch on the bottomn of their posts for rot proofing?

 

[QRTRHRS]

mickish

Are you having a barn built or building your own?