Pole barn

Chuck52 · Aug 31, 2001

Beenthere,
Thanks! I didn't see exactly my plan, but that site is great for general construction ideas.

CowboyDoc,
I guess I can use my pro-model lazer pointer to bore holes in the 2x4's so I don't split them with those 6" spikes! Seriously, I think I'll go with some kind of hanger, even if I put the purlins on top of the trusses. I'll no doubt add some reenforcements too. I usually go overboard on stuff. The last deck I built will be there long after the house has gone to dust. Totally earthquake proof.

Everybody,
Thanks for the input. Check out that site from Beenthere if you're doing this kind of thing. Many useful plans free for downloading. I printed off a few and had better run to the office and retrieve them before someone starts asking what they have to do with our business. BTW, I'm going to save lots of money by cutting my own 6X6's from my okra trees. As soon as they quit produciung, that is.

Chuck

Chuck52 · Sep 3, 2001

I decided Labor Day weekend was a good time to labor on my pole barn, so I got ready Saturday by buying a box blade to prep the site. My tractor is a 30 year old Kubota L210, so I am limited in the size/weight I can pull. I got a 5' King Kutter that probably wouldn't do for lots of folks needs, but my soil is fairly easy to work and has no rocks. The site I selected for the barn has about a 1' drop in the direction I plan to have the 24' side aligned with. I was thinking I could remove the sod and get some fill dirt from an adjacent swale that could stand to be widened. So I set out to strip the sod from both the building site and the swale side. I knew I'd be taking small bites, and boy I did. After about three hours, I figured out how to strip sod with this outfit reasonably efficiently....of course by that time I had chewed it up pretty well inefficiently. The idea seems to be to get the teeth down as much as possible and score the sod with the blade as low as you can go without hanging up. Then you score at right angles to the first score. Then you can tilt the blade back some and slice off the sod in chunks. Easier described than done, but I got there. After getting the sod off, I set about discovering that a box blade is a poor tool for picking up here and moving there, at least if you don't have a hydraulic top link with enough adjustment to make the box behave like a backhoe. I finally found that I could pile up loose dirt using the teeth pretty low, and then puill the dirt over to where I wanted it with the blade tilted back again so it would slide over the surface. This required lots of hopping on and off the tractor, but again, I got there. I also had to make a skid path from the swale to the barn site so I didn't lose most of the dirt on the way. I still need to move some more fill, but it's getting there. Of course a guy with a cat could have done the whole job in 30 minutes, but where's the fun in that?

Chuck

RichNJ · Sep 5, 2001

I'm in the process of putting up a 30x56 pole barn. I thought long and hard about doing the site work myself with a Kubota L4310. I found that digging up the sod with the FEL was very time consuming. I talked to alot of people and posted some questions here and decided to pay the local excavator to do it. His labor will run about $1000. That includes a 150 ft driveway and all the grading and swales around the building.
I also needed some fill for the lower side of the building. I used the FEL to get small stones from stone rows and dumped them there, making sure to keep them away from the future posts. The rest will be filled in with shale and topped off with 5/8 road stone. I figured that a box blade would be $500+ and then I would only be saving about $500 and it would take me days to do what he did in a few hours.

Bill_in_MI · Sep 5, 2001

Here is a shot of my barn currentlt under construction. You can see the purlins on the 7ft 6in spaced trusses. They were nailed with long nails straight from the top as was suggested. The purlins are not overlapped. Rather they are spliced end to end with nailing plates. The spliced joints, however, are staggered so that they are not all in one section. For what it's worth. Good luck with your project. I am looking forward to having mine done before the colder months here in Michigan.

StoneHeartFarm · Sep 6, 2001

Bill

Nice looking barn /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Are those scissor trusses?

SHF

cowboydoc · Sep 6, 2001

Nice job Bill it's looking good.

Bill_in_MI · Sep 6, 2001

Thanks Richard and Steven,
I hope I did not give the impression I was doing the building. I am having it done by Morton Buildings...don't know how far and wide they roam. I DID, however, clear the site and prepare it with my Kubota. Made heavy use of the 4 in 1 and the box blade. I was a little worried when the builder arrived and measured up the site for level. Was I surprised when the whole thing varied less than 2 inches... and that was a single high spot! Of course, it undoubtedly took me 5 times longer than a pro with pro equipment. But what the heck, I enjoyed it and was quite proud of the result.
I don't think I know what scissor trusses are. They called these "raised chord." Vaults the ceiling up at the center. The inside walls will be 12ft raising to 15ft in the center. I am having it insulated and covered with steel inside so I can heat it.
Here's how she stands as of this evening...attached.

MarkV · Sep 7, 2001

Bill,

Very, very nice looking! What size is it?

MarkV

RichNJ · Sep 7, 2001

Looks great. That's one thing about Morton. Their pole barns always look great.
We have Morton here in NJ also but the price was double that of a "generic" pole barn. Couldn't see the extra expense just to store equipment and old cars.

StoneHeartFarm · Sep 7, 2001

Bill

Looks nice! The raised chord do essentially the same thing as scissor. I just wasn't sure my if eyes were seeing a straight line or a bent one. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif 15' should give you plenty of room inside. Can I ask why you picked steel for the interior? Cost? Safety?

SHF