Where do I park my tractor?

[SSG]

Does anyone have any ideas about prefabricated tractor sheds/ barns? I've seen Morton buildings, and ARCO buildings, both look nice, the former uses wood trusses, the latter steel. I would like to have a shed that would fit my tractor, implements, farm truck, etc, plus have room for a work shop. My neighbor has an ARCO structure, from Norcross, GA that is about the right size (75x30 with a 10 ft. clearance and a 12/4 slope on the roof). He liked the steel frame, but chose to build the outside of pine rather than the aluminum the company supplies. He opted for a poured concrete floor in the shop area (25X30), while the open tractor area is graded dirt. Any thoughts or experience with other companies, good or bad? Any thoughts about pouring the floor for the tractor area rather than leaving the dirt? Thanks.

 

[Thomas]

Steve, By the sounds you looking at a barn not a shed./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
Have you visit your local lumber supplier,for they might have plans or information on your needs.

I like your out look on your barn or shed,yep build it big enough the first time./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Take care and stay /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

Thomas..NH

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You are welcome to come park it in one of my sheds. Please leave keys. Have Blue Orange and Green, looking for other colors or more of the same.

You can never have too many tractors!

Oh, on a serious note, I saw a small something parked in one of those things people use as greenhouses, that are the exact shape of an airplane fuselage. I think they get rid of them when they start to show their age.

 

[Bird]

SSG, it just depends on how much money you can afford to spend. I prefer metal sided buildings (hate to paint), and I sure do like having a concrete floor. Nothing wrong with a dirt floor to park a tractor and implements on, but it sure is nice to have the concrete if you want to roll around under it on a creeper and little things like that. Mine is a wood framed, aluminum sides and roof, concrete floored, 40' x 60' building, but it was here when I bought the place.

Bird

 

[JerryG]

Have any of you checked into free span steel trusses? You can buy them in just about any width, up to 50 feet. The ones I have are set on 10’ centers. They come with the perlin attachments installed with nail holes in them and mounting tabs down the side for your siding. I bought 98, 43’ wide ones with 6’ sidewalls in January. I think that my contractor said that they were about $500 each. One thing to look into before buying them is insurance. When you get into sizes over 43’, some companies get picky. One example is Farm Bureau. There is only one manufacture whose truss that they will insure in the 50’ size.
JerryG

 

[ERNIEB]

I think Bird said it pretty well. In this area, most of the newer buildings are metal, with little or no wood. More expensive to build, but very low maintance. I think what Del is talking about is the quanset hut style buildings. I've seen some of those around, and in fact some on the larger farms and ranches are really big. They don't seem to be real popular, but I don't know why. Most of the older ones I've seen seem to hold up well. Bird brings up some good points in favor of a concrete floor, but there is the added expense. I don't have a concrete floor, mainly because a bad back prevents me from standing or walking on such a surface for long periods of time. I guess it really comes down to an economic and personal choice.

 

[roysallis]

There are plenty of companies that will put up a barn/shed for you. Here are some websites that you can check out. I have not had any dealing with any of them so I am not recommending any of them.
http://www.agristeel.com/
http://www.mortonbuildings.com/
http://www.budget-buildings.com/
Some companies will do a turnkey job or sell you the materials and you can put it up yourself. Just like buying a tractor or equipment there are a lot of options to consider when putting up a barn/shed.
Get the farm/agriculture newspaper that NC publishes each month and there will probably be several companies advertising in it. Also, when you see a barn/shed just stop and ask the owner who put it up for him. I have done this and everyone I asked was proud to show me their barn/shed and provide a lot of information about it.

 

[gerard]

I would look at a "coverall" shelter. We priced a lot of buildings when looking to build an indoor arena (120 x 60) and this is what we would have gone with. It's basically an arch structure with trusses made of galvanized steel with a fabric covering stretched over it. They come in any size you want, have loads of headroom, greater inside volume than a rectangular structure, and Best of all, since they are able to be disassembled easily they are not considered a lot improvement ie NO TAX ASSESSMENT INCREASE! I've seen a lot more farmers going to them recently which says a lot. FYI For a 60 x 120 installed we were looking at about 40K, 20K for materials and the fabric should last about 15 years. After that it's easily replaced at about a 4K cost.

 

[bsauter]

Morton Buildings are probably the best of the best as far as quality. Also pricey, that's why I don't have one /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif.
We went with a local builder last year to put up a new barn with wood trusses and metal siding. I'm with Bird, don't like to paint. We do have wood siding on the southside of the barn where the horses have access. I have 2 twelve foot garage doors on my side for the truck and trailers and stuff and we have to fourteen foot sliders on each end of the aisle on the horse side. Poured concrete for the 12 by 60 foot aisle plus wash rack and then concrete for a 26 by 30 foot work area plus shop and tack room on equipment side. Parking area is graded ag lime over dirt. Ag lime works well. The interior of barn is 50x60 with a southerly 8 foot overhang for horses so footprint is 58x60. I told my wife the only way we were putting up a new barn was if I had half for my toys! I still use our old barn for implement storage and hay and sawdust storage. Copy and paste this link for some pictures:

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=179207&a=1494600

These are older and we now have a drive and parking area and the old tractor is gone, replaced with a B2910. Hope these might give you some ideas what you may like and may not like.

Brad

 

[civguy]

I have a barn that I can pull my tractor into, but the center aisle is not very wide. Even if I tore down the stalls to put my implements in, I could not get the tractor turned around sideways to hook it up. And if I did pull the tractor in the barn, it would be in the way real bad. I also have a 3 bay shed (open on one side) that I really like. No doors to open and close. Plenty of light. However, it is rotten and about to fall down. So I too am trying to figure out how to store my tractor and implements. I noticed that my neighbors store them outside. At first, I thought this was crazy to let your stuff rust. Then I thought about how much a bay of storage cost and I figured I could replace the implement many times for what one bay would cost to build. I still don't want my stuff to rust though. Would a shed that is open on one side away from the weather be too moist?