Stick or steel Poll

[sizzler90]

Stick or steel

Could the moderator please put this in the garage discussion section?

I am still in the planing stage on my garage/shop.
So those of you that have had both stick built and steel built garages, Which one did you think was better? And why was it better?
I would do a search, but I don't know what I would search for.

 

[IHI]

Comparing stick built vs Pole is a back and forth debate per application. If you live in a rural area, doing a pole building is often cheaper since you can go much larger (most codes dictate 850sqft being the largerst you can go without footings) so anything over 850sqft it becomes a bit cheaper since your not pouring trench footings which, here in IA, the going rate is $55-60/foot for a 12" wide x 42" deep footing, so that amount adds up quickly. if you live in a residential neighborhood often so you dont look like a kick you want the exterior finished off so you can side/roof it to blend in with the nieghborhood...doing that dwith a pole building requires a bunch of extra lumber so then it becomes a wash. If you plan on insulating by using batt insulation, then it'll add up even more since if doing a pole building you'll have to build bookshelves so you can lay the insulation in horizontally to get a decent r value, then furring stuff out so you can get a nice flush wall, or furring out so interior wall sheathing has a place to screw/nail too.

if it's just cold storage-pre steel prices going through the roof, often the pole barn always came out ahead in saving money, if it does'nt ahve to blend in with the neighborhood, but we build garages/additions and remodel and i bought ahouse with no garage so have a blank canvas. I drag race and my company trucks need a 10' tall door so i need a taller structure, but i want it to blend in with the nieghborhood. I prices out going ICF's, stick built, pole building finished to look like a stick built on the exterior and in doing so the pole building ended up running about $8K more than stick building it initally with all the added furring strips and such for insulation, or if i end up having spray on insulation.

It's late and i could go on and give alot more examples, but i need to hit the sack. if you could post some other more specific questions i'd be happy to help you with pro's con's unless your just posting this as a something to think about thread?

josh

 

[cletus66]

It's hard to beat the price of a pole barn. Mine is 30 x 48 with a concrete floor and a 20 x 20 pad out front. I have less than 20 thousand in it. I live in the woods, and nobody can see it, so I don't care if it looks like a warehouse. If you live in a neighborhood, you should move immediately. LOL.

I had www.nationalbarn.com build it for me, and a local contractor did the concrete work. I wired it, and I will insulate it in the future. I did have the insulation put in the roof under the steel when they built it so it wouldn't cook me in the summer.

I'm lazy, and this was EASY.

 

[sizzler90]

It's late and i could go on and give alot more examples, but i need to hit the sack. if you could post some other more specific questions i'd be happy to help you with pro's con's unless your just posting this as a something to think about thread?

josh

I am looking seriously at a Steel garage/shop from carports.com the local company is versitube. I don't think it's a pole barn though. The one I like is the (insulated) 30X32X12 for $10,085 not counting the pad/slab or power. I realize by the time I am done I can add at least another $10,000 +-. I can get a stick one built for about $23,000 not including power or insulation. As far as the naibors, I don't think it matters since there are both stick and steel garages up and down the street, the guy next door has a 40X60 steel.
I am just wondering what you peaple see as a pro or con of the differant kinds?

 

[Bib Overalls]

As the man answered to the question "boxers or briefs" - "depends."

 

[sizzler90]

As the man answered to the question "boxers or briefs" - "depends."

Yes, they both can hide your $#!t.

 

[IHI]

So your looking at an all steel building, frame work and all. I take it this is going to be cold storage only? If you plan on trying to heat it, i would recommend a minimum of 2" closed cell spray on urethane foam insualtion...it will make it air tight so you'll have no air exchange going on which is most of the battle in heating any structure, plus it'll end up with a R14...the r sounds low, but you will have no air entering anywhere so it works much more effeicent. other wise your going to have to build some sort of interior wall system inside the walls of the structure if you plan to use batt insulation, since you cannot let the batt insulation have any contact at all with the steel. come the cold season it will frost up and freeze to the steel, fill with moisture effectively hindering their ability to insulate, not to mention it will grow mold and over time the place will be a sick house so to speak with black crude/mold spores working their way out into the open where people will come into direct contact as well as breathe the spores which is not good.

If your hiring it done, your probably better off, all the guys i've talked to that bought that style of building said after the first week they wanted to turn all the steel in for scrap since there were soooo many nuts and bolts LOL!!!

 

[sizzler90]

So your looking at an all steel building, frame work and all. I take it this is going to be cold storage only? If you plan on trying to heat it, i would recommend a minimum of 2" closed cell spray on urethane foam insualtion...it will make it air tight so you'll have no air exchange going on which is most of the battle in heating any structure, plus it'll end up with a R14...the r sounds low, but you will have no air entering anywhere so it works much more effeicent. other wise your going to have to build some sort of interior wall system inside the walls of the structure if you plan to use batt insulation, since you cannot let the batt insulation have any contact at all with the steel. come the cold season it will frost up and freeze to the steel, fill with moisture effectively hindering their ability to insulate, not to mention it will grow mold and over time the place will be a sick house so to speak with black crude/mold spores working their way out into the open where people will come into direct contact as well as breathe the spores which is not good.

If your hiring it done, your probably better off, all the guys i've talked to that bought that style of building said after the first week they wanted to turn all the steel in for scrap since there were soooo many nuts and bolts LOL!!!

I guess I need to look into the a little further. It says its insulated, but does not say what kind of insulation it is.

 

[IHI]

I guess I need to look into the a little further. It says its insulated, but does not say what kind of insulation it is.

It might just be the standard **** they sell with pole buildings with the capsulated fiberglass. If that's the case it will be alright, but the spray on is the better option all around if your going to use this building much during the colder season, around here it's typically $1.75 for the firrst inch of the spray on closed cell and $.75 each additional inch. One of these life descions of, do we spend the extra money right now and start saving money the first time the heater gets turned on, or do we do it cheap now and forever pay the increasing gas prices to heat the place...typically it takes about 5 yrs before the spray on will have paid for itself in a constatnly heated structure.

 

[sizzler90]

if your going to use this building much during the colder season,

Well, one of the main reasons I want to build a shop is because of winters.
My wife really would not be happy if I do a long project in our attached garage.
She insists on parking the cars in there every night. But winters especially. She is not happy if she has to scape her windows in the morning. Besides we could loose our cars if it snows to hard (Miatas).

So yes I would use it a lot in the colder seasons.

 

[IHI]

In the big picture, once you have both shops set up like you want, and if you want to attain the look of a normal garage like you'd see in a typical residential neighborhood, and a similar R value....in the end, after all is washed out, your going to end up around the same money for either style...until a guy sits down and figures out exactly what they want, it's too hard to really guestimate on exact costs for either style, but we already know each has it's own pro's and con's.

 

[MuleskinnerDave]

This is a very good question and is one of the main reasons that I like this forum. I'm glad I found this site becuse I too am going to put up a new building. I'm looking for more input to make a better informed decission. My last building project was too costly to repeat. I was a very nice shop/barn (see "That's not a Barn, this is a Barn" thread) but way too expensive. Another thing I'd like to mention is that I also use a software program called PunchPro Home Designer. I'm not promoting that particular software but there are programs that you can design a stick building and it will give you a materials list for cost estimating.

 

[tdkkart]

I've been doing some price shopping for building material "kit" prices, Menards.com has a decent collection of post and stick built selections.
By the looks of it the materials packages are about the same price, however to insulate and put interior sheeting of whatever kind inside a pole building requires almost building another building inside, so the price goes up considerably above a stick built.
One the other hand, a stick built, depending on your local codes, requires a frost footing foundation once you get above a certain size, which essentially doubles the price of the conrete over a floating slab. Pole buildings usually require only a floating slab on the interior.

 

[Curtis M]

Is a insulated Truss ceiling in a Pole building more energy efficient than a regular Steel building with a padded ceiling ?

 

[kbs2244]

If you are going real big, ask yourself if you have to heat the whole thing.
I have been in a lot of farm shops that were walled off sections of those real big post and truss building you see in the farm country.
The big part is for machine storage. The heated part is for working.

 

[Ign]

other wise your going to have to build some sort of interior wall system inside the walls of the structure if you plan to use batt insulation, since you cannot let the batt insulation have any contact at all with the steel. come the cold season it will frost up and freeze to the steel, fill with moisture effectively hindering their ability to insulate, not to mention it will grow mold and over time the place will be a sick house so to speak with black crude/mold spores working their way out into the open where people will come into direct contact as well as breathe the spores which is not good.

Do you believe this to be true across the country or just in your locale? Seems to me Iowa is considerably more humid than the original poster's home state of Idaho? Maybe I'm wrong?

 

[kbs2244]

A lot of the time these kind of mold problems do not have to do with where the building is as much as with the owner useing an unvented heater in the winter.
Unventered heaters throw out all kinds of moisture that will find any little cold spot on a wall or roof and then condense or even freeze into frost.
When spring comes this moisture will trickle down the wall behind the insulation, get warmed by the sun and grow all kinds of stuff.

 

[IHI]

Do you believe this to be true across the country or just in your locale? Seems to me Iowa is considerably more humid than the original poster's home state of Idaho? Maybe I'm wrong?

If they see times of below freezing temps, mold will grow, high humidity of not. It will trap any condensation forming between the barrier and the steel...and if his building is drafty enough to dry it out before it becomes a problem...well then, he has another problem LOL!!!

 

[Ggg]

So bringing this back to the original question. If I understand IHI correctly if you are building in a rural area and you are not going to insulate then a wooden pole barn is cheaper, but if you plan on heating it then go steel.?
BTW I am wanting to build in southern WI and it is rural, zoned ag. But I plan on having living quarters there too.

 

[e-tek]

To Cletis66: OMG - Love your car collection!!
What engine's in that (65 or 66?) Galaxie? And the 'stangs - great fox body(does that say 11.99 on it?), what go fasts do you have in it? And especially: even cooler oldie stang - what year/motor is that? - I see the mill is half out - what's happening with that one? And the mopar - great original looking body on that B! Are they all yours? Great space man!

 

[W-Cummins]

So bringing this back to the original question. If I understand IHI correctly if you are building in a rural area and you are not going to insulate then a wooden pole barn is cheaper, but if you plan on heating it then go steel.?
BTW I am wanting to build in southern WI and it is rural, zoned ag. But I plan on having living quarters there too.

I like steel framed buildings. I made a living space in mine just fine. Where you are, I wouldn't worry about the mold growing in your building either. Your location is close to mine and I don't have mold growing in my building. As for the poster in ID, you will have 0 problems with mold there in the winter (too cold and dry) and unless you do some thing strange and have a sauna in your building in the summer none then either. Now move some place like the PNW and you will get tons of mold growing in the winter months. Mold (fungus) needs a nice food source, moisture, and above freezing temp to grow well.

William...

 

[Ggg]

W-Cumins- other than personal preference why do you like the steel better? Not arguing, just trying to understand the pros and cons of each type of building so i can make an educated decision.

 

[W-Cummins]

W-Cumins- other than personal preference why do you like the steel better? Not arguing, just trying to understand the pros and cons of each type of building so i can make an educated decision.

Well on a smaller building it's not as big of a deal, but some of the reasons I like them better are:

No rot, no insect damage, no warped twisted pretzel wood like the junk we get here in the Midwest ( not a problem if you live on the west coast). Much stronger per cross section, Clear floor space and open ceiling space ( makes 2nd floor space larger), Lower fire insurance premiums. Faster to erect, and the bolted members are very strong. Lower maintenance ( painting and upkeep good for at least 20 years or longer). If you can use a liner panel for the interior walls and celings you can finish out the interior much faster.

There are down sides to them also;
Harder to insulate ( but there are systems that make it close to as easy as a stick building)

If you want a drywall interior you have to stud out the walls.

They require a foundation and a pole building dose not, but a stick framed building in most places when it gets larger will need one too.

William...

 

[ryangreene]

I am a Sentinel Steel building dealer and if you have any questions or if you would like a bid send me and email. [email protected] we can send you anything you need for your shop