Trussless Pole Barn Construction

[Larry_Van_Horn]

Folks,
Was wondering if anyone here had any experience with a product such as that from www.socketsystems.com. It appears that I can have a completely open span and probably saves on construction costs as well. Just planning my barn for construction and this appears to be an attractive option.

Thanks for your thoughts and experiences.
Larry

 

[shado]

I really don't see any problem with a construction plan such as that as long as it meets the local codes for wind & snow loads. A couple of pictures on that site did not really appeal to me if the building is a rather large structure. For something like a lean-to just to cover a small area does not appear to be too bad of a solution. Some of those arches just did not appear to be really that high to hold up the roof, depending on what you put on it. If it were me, I'd rather go geodesic.
J.W.

 

[Slamfire]

I'm glad they said it was inexpensive, $264 for each gambrel tip up section would have sounded expensive to me. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[yooperdave]

Clear spans up to 30' wide....where, south of the Mason-Dixon line?

Be careful - these are wood frames. They are not a bad thing, just different and need to be addressed as such. High snow and wind loads need to be considered. If you buy, make sure you get a sealed copy of the engineers calculations which will substantiate your design assumptions.

Good luck.

Yooper Dave

 

[OkeeDon]

Considering that I'm having this complex gambrel attic truss design for a 32' wide barn built and delivered to my site for about $300 each, and will have a complete clearspan floor system in place with them (except for the actual T&G plywood flooring), the $264 per pair does sound expensive. On the other hand, my barn will be stick built, which means I need 25 of the trusses for a 48' barn, so my total cost will be about $7500. They're engineered for 120 MPH wind load, required here in Florida.

The attached drawing is accurate as far as the main chords of the truss. The truss company won't release the official drawing of the complete truss with webbing to me until I place my order (with a deposit), so the webbing in this drawing is not accurate, and is based on about a 30 second look at the "real" drawing. But, it's close enough to tell the story.

Of course, I also lose some storage space on either side of the vertical chords, but the height is 6'2" above the loft floor at the edges and 8' across the center. The clear storage space is 23'+. The top peak of each truss will be delivered separately and will have to be assembled at the job site. Known as a "piggyback" truss, this is because the trusses are too tall for transportation.

 

[SteveBenson]

Looking at the drawing you can tell that truss is designed to take a large wind load and loft storage load. I would guess you would never get that kind of strength out of the other system, not even close. I think you are infinitely better off getting those engineered trusses. That 120 MPH wnid rating is a killer. Those trusses don't seem like too bad a deal at $300.

 

[mrcaptainbob]

That pic of the gambrel roof on that site looks just like how my barn was constructed. Except they didn't use the 'sockets'. But the truss system's the same. They span 25 feet. If it were up to me..no way would I build something like this and think it wold last through one Michigan winter. But...this things been standing for at least 30 years! I'll take some pics of those trusses tomorrow........