Two Pole Barns, one new and one to renovate

[schweizer]

That styrofoam stuff may work. I'm no contractor, but all my college physics classes tell me that condensation is going to form wherever there is enough temperature differential with relation to the humidity. 1/4" of foam insulation is not very thick. And what do you have planned for backing? Sometimes people just roll that out over the purlins. If you do it that way, I'd probably unroll it horizontally and overlap it like roofing felt so that any water doesn't get inside the building. If you tape it, you'd still have a vapor barrier. Just my $0.02. I considered something similar, but in the end it was easier to just lay down 1/2" plywood and roofing felt -- makes a good solid diaphragm. Sure, there's probably condensation under the metal, but it just runs down the felt.
Marcus

 

[Ranger Rick]

At last all of the trusses are up. After spending a good part of the day yesterday shoveling snow and ice off the building floor I got some help today putting up the trusses. The boom on the tractor worked well and all eleven trusses are up. I have to put in some more of the permanent bracing and plumb up the second gable end but most of the heavy lifting is done.

 

[wmonroe]

Nice work, it's really taking shape now.

 

[jallenmd]

Nice looking barn. And I know it's a nice feeling to see your own work bring this along.
Louisa, wow that's a blast from the past for me. While I was at UVa my wife taught school at Louisa Elementary!
I'll be using your work to pattern my own barn, hopefully later this year.

 

[crbearden]

I got in on this thread too late. Your barn looks great and you will be proud of your accomplishment. My Dad 7 I built 2 barns here. He is gone now & I lost my best helper. The first one was from a steel building manufacturer. Our last one was built from salvage materials and new tin. We had 4 inches of foam insulation sprayed inside. It was the best investment we could have made. Insulation is higher now, but with spraying it on, we could forego the sticky tape caulking between the sheets and save a lot of time. When you put the tin on,, If you use the sticky tape caulking, lay the metal down, then get it where you want it, then screw down the side that does not lap, then pull up the lapped edge and install the sticky tape. This way you get the sheet lined up easily. If you install that tape before laying the sheet down, it is He!! to move. One or 2 inches of foam insulation will seal between the sheets, and it can be done in a day easily. I would use hard foam, as the soft stuff we used attracts woodpeckers!!! The cats also like to scratch it. With the thin metal that is sold now, and with the sorry lumber we get here, I would space my rafters on 16in centers. Our last building has 12in rafters on 4ft centers on a 20 ft span. It is 40 X 100 x 16ft with trusses made of 12in I beam with 4 in wide flange I beam for the top members. The poles are 10 in wide flange. I wish I had taken pictures when we built it. I built fold up airplane hangar style doors with homemade winches to raise them. I hope I have not rambled here, just wanted to offer the benefit of my experience. It has survived a 100 mph plus wind during the 2011 tornado that hit Piedmont OK. It was a mile away.

 

[crbearden]

If you can afford to put plywood over the rafters, it will provide a good heat barrier and give you something to lay on while attaching the roofing felt. When we built our buildings we built some scaffolds to go on the bed of my grain trucks. It was so much easier than working off ladders. Safer too. Of course, a front end loader bucket is a country boy's scaffold.

 

[Ranger Rick]

The winds and bad weather gods cooperated with me for a while today. I got my scaffold set up along the side of the building. Got the fascia boards and drip edge on and started putting on the metal roof. I would stand on the scaffold and pull a sheet of tin off of the pallet of tin that the tractor was holding 7 feet up. One of the guys on the roof would grab the end and help pull the tin up on the roof. Thanks CR about the sticky tape. We had one of the guys hold up that edge as I alined the bottom edge and then he would lay it down and then the two of them would screw it all down. As we moved down the building on the one side I moved the scaffold to the other side of the building. They kept me hopping.
I decided that I would not try to put on any type of foam when I was putting the metal on. When I am done with the shell I will get spray foam installed.



Light snow this afternoon and the guys on the roof decided that they did not want to try slip and slide. We got to within 6 feet of the end when the snow began. Next weekend we will trim the purlins to fit the remaining panels. It was a productive day. Rick

 

[wmonroe]

Nice job. It is great how fast metal roofing goes once you get the first couple pieces on. It is also amazing how a very light dusting of snow make that metal roof worse than ice.

 

[crbearden]

A coating of dust from a road will make a 5/12 roof impossible to stay on without laying a ladder down to crawl up!!! Also watch out for the shady side of the roof when there is still dew on.

Ranger Rick--- Just another suggestion form my bag of tricks... Tie a rope to a pair of vice grips. we welded a chain link to the adjusting bolt on a "real" p[air ov Vice Grips and then tie a rope in that. Your roof guys can help you guide the panel up without having to walk up and down the roof. It saves tracking the panels. You are doing what I was suggesting, foam insulate after getting the metal on. I loved erecting metal buildings. If my legs had held out I was going to do that after I retired from state gov't service. The last real roofing job I had was my Dad's Double wide. It had a 2 yr old asphalt shingle roof that the wind took off and laid it on the back side. It was 1600 sq ft with 4 gables and 11 stacks piercing the roof. I cut all the panels on the ground with my plasma cutter while a couple of guys who thought they were metal roofing installers screwed the metal on. They were astounded when I could cut the angles for the valley intersection with only a measurement of the longest sheet!! I couldn't stay on the roof due to an injury to the ligaments in my ankle. It was in July here in OK when the temp was between 110 & 115 !!! I have a quonset type with straight walls to put up as soon as I can get a crew together. It is one of those with the 18 in ribs.... Never put one up before, but have a neighbor who helped with one.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Yesterday I started roughing in the window openings and then putting sheathing on the wall. I got most of the sheathing up on the gable wall. I still have a piece to put up over the windows. Tomorrow I will have help and I hope to finish the last of the roof. The big nor'easter that is hitting New England is giving me some pretty good winds tonight. Hopefully it will die down early Saturday as I do not want to see anyone para-sailing off the roof with a piece of tin. Rick