Pole building using my oak trees

[mgoodman1]

I own a place in middle Tennessee and am looking to build a garage / shop. My brother in law who is an iron worker, who builds metal buildings, was over and we were discussing this. He saw all the small straight oak trees on my property and suggested I use those trees in building the garage / shop. The trees are white oak, they range in size from ~6" to ~12" in diameter and are very straight. I need to thin the woods out any way. He suggested using them as they are, bark and all, soak them in creosote.

First I don't know if city building codes will let me do this -assuming they will:
Don't know if they are truely straight enough, they do appear to be, and if they're not how much trouble this will be?
Next will they last and should be be dried prior to using? - he suggested cutting and sitting them.

He's a great iron worker, but not sure his idea will work. It would save lot of $$$. I was thinking about a 40' x 50' shop as I have the room for one.

Thanks

 

[tommu56]

mgoodman1
Welcome
See if you can find a local guy with a portable saw mill to mill them on site.
You dont want to leave bark on bugs will eventually bore in and you will hava a mess.

If you get them all the same dimension the building will move on alot smother.

I not sure of tha available of creosote any more.

If the wood is good and straight what about selling it and buying pressure treated posts? I would think a mill would prefer this type wood.
tom

 

[MarkV]

If you have any termite problems in your area I would not use them for posts in the ground. If milled, white oak is great wood for the rest of the structure.

MarkV

 

[mgoodman1]

Our house is 100 years old and no signs of termite damage (we picked the house up and moved it 175'), but new construction lumber could have a problem with termites.

The only saw mill I know of, might not be able to cut my smaller trees, but I might be able to find someone with a bandsaw.

If I can't find creosote, any other material I should use?

 

[carpenter383]

You could use treated posts just long enough to get out of the ground, and half lap the oak posts and treated ones togeather. You wouldn't have to worry about creasote then, and it would save on the ammount of treated posts you need.
I agree with cutting them into dimentional sizes (3-1/2 x 5-1/2) this will make your life alot easier during construction. At the least I would cut one side flat for the walls and two sides flat for the corners.
Don't forget the pics!

 

[theboman]

See the Iron Hill Shed project for pics.

All the material is oak. Most white oak, there's an occasional red and black in the mix too.

That's what I'm doing now. 3' holes with 6-8" of limestone in the bottom. Foundation coating from Lowes on all the poles around 36-40". I may coat the bottom 6"-8" of siding with the black stuff too.

Bottom stringers are treated 2x6, the rest is lumber sawed up right here from the trees removed during lot clearing a couple others.

The siding, againg the stuff sawed right here, from here is various widths 4-8" is my guess. The CEO wants paint, but I haven't ruled out white washing for a bunch of factors (kills bugs, clean and bright, CHEAP....).

No concrete is being used, the moisture rots the poles. Lag bolts, exterior wood screws, 20 penny nails are holding it all together (but I have duct tape just in case!).

Look at all the 100 year old barns, I'd bet 70% or more were built this way.

 

[tlbuser]

Another, maybe better, option would be to pour footers (piers) for the poles. Everything wooden and subject to termites would now be out of the ground and you could use whatever from there. Debarking and squaring would be the ideal way to go, but debarking and notching where needed works too.

 

[2manyrocks]

Like everybody else said, the bark needs to go because that's where the decay sets in. Middle Tenn. has more than its share of termites, and untreated wood is not necessarily a good thing to put in the ground. There are various preservatives and coatings (tar) you can put on, but it's not the same as pressure treated wood.

Also, drainage is important. A concrete collar around the poles will make them solid, but it will also tend to hold moisture around your poles. When I built my tractor shed, I used PT poles, but they are sitting on concrete pads above ground. It doesn't have the rigidity that they would have if they were sitting in the ground.

If you go look at some of the picnic shelters in the Tennessee state parks, you'll see that they used heavy timbers. It looks like they poured concrete pads and then used iron to separate the above ground posts from the concrete to avoid end rot. Take your brother and go look at some of them, and it may give you some good ideas how to build your barn if you intend to build it to last and can afford to build it that way. If your brother can scrounge some cheap metal for you, that would be a huge help.

I think the reason a lot of the older barns are still standing is because many were built on rock foundations. Rock doesn't retain moisture like concrete, and so the wood members in contact with the rock foundations lasted pretty well. People let the roofs go bad, they start rotting from the top down, and then there they go.

 

[czechsonofagun]

It will work no problem, just adds another load of work to the project. Instead of just buying the lumber, you will have to prepare it yourself and it gets old very quickly, trust me, if you dont have special crew doing just that.

And the bark needs to come off.

 

[ToadHill]

I built my barn over 25 years ago. So far my method has worked and none of the timbers have any sign of rot. I drilled holes in the ground 36'" deep and put in 12" cement tubes. When I filled them with cement, I inserted a 18" long by 4" wide by 1/2" thick piece of steel into the concrete with about 8" sticking out.

The iron sticking out had 2 3/4" holes drilled in it. When I set my uprights I lag bolted them to the iron after setting a 12" piece of aluminum flashing on top of the cement pier.

The flashing keeps the moisture from wicking up the pier and into the wood and the lag bolts keep the structure from mocing in the heavers wind.

I didn't use fresh lumber but if you do, bolt then into place while the lumber is green and as it drys the wood will shrink around the lags and make an even tighter fit. The same principal used when making mortise and tennon joints using fresh lumber and dried wooden pegs.