A REAL Pole barn wall question, Help!

[Stillgottimefor1]

I’m needing to wall-in a workshop under a house made of 8” i.d. Pipe twelve feet high. I have only a compacted caliche floor at this time, will have to pour concrete in sections myself later, but want to put up walls using the large amount of wood and tin that is already here in piles...problem is the owner will not allow me to drill into the pipe holding up the house. Welding is also a problem. So i was thinking of cutting small 2 by 4 pieces to make a square around the pipe, screw those together, and then nail my framing or girting or whatever you wanna call it onto that. Use standard barn corrugated tin on the outside and osb on the inside. The pipe is on ten ft. Centers. Small scrap shown here.


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[seanc_mt]

Whats gonna hold your 2x4 box vertically? gravity only works one way...

 

[wcp0611]

If he won't let you attach to the pipe, then boxing it in like you said is one option and another is to dig and set new wooden posts to secure the wood and metal to. Weird that he wants a room, but doesn't want you touching the pipes he's had set. I do understand him not wanting the integrity of the pipes to be compromised in any way if they are holding up something dearly important.

 

[wcp0611]

Whats gonna hold your 2x4 box vertically? gravity only works one way...

He could pour a small footer at the bottom of the pipe for the box to set on. The pipe will keep it from falling over obviously.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

The owner is my GF, and we both need the space under there to be useful. I want to frame in one 12 by thirty bay to keep the weather out and my tools dry before it gets too cold. The wind can be fierce, rained sideways under there last week. Embarrassing to have to deal with these odd conditions but this is what I have...Offgrid, twenty miles from town.[emoji849]
We live in the Colossal steel warehouse
On stilts...[emoji880]. One bay would be 12’ by 30 ft.
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[Stillgottimefor1]

If it were up to me I would likely weld tabs on the pipe to bolt wood onto. Was thinking of heating and bending steel straps to fit the pipe, bolt those together and then bolt wood to that...as usual I’m probably overthinking things.


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[Big Bad Dad]

Simple. Use U-Bolts. (Think of like extra large muffler clamps) Drill your horizontal members and retain with nuts to the U-bolts.

 

[Kevin54]

The owner is my GF, and we both need the space under there to be useful. I want to frame in one 10 by forty bay to keep the weather out and my tools dry before it gets too cold. The wind can be fierce, rained sideways under there last week. Embarrassing to have to deal with these odd conditions but this is what I have...Offgrid, twenty miles from town.[emoji849]
We live in the Colossal steel warehouse
On stilts...[emoji880]
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Do you know more than your GF or does she know more than you?

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Ok good idea, at three bucks a pop that’s doable

I’m wondering if the clamps are for 8” O.D. Pipe-so they would be too small...
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[Stillgottimefor1]

I’ve got a lot of 2by8’s stacked in good shape, so if I cut pieces a foot long and cut half moons out of them and screw them together clamping them to the pipe I would then have a place to start...overthinking again, or under thinking.


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[Stillgottimefor1]

Do you know more than your GF or does she know more than you?

I’m an ASE master mechanic, she’s a nurse making thirty bucks an hour, you tell me.


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[C_F]

I’m wondering if the clamps are for 8” O.D. Pipe-so they would be too small...

Judging from your photo of the pipe, you need 8.5" U-bolts. That pipe appears to be 8.5" OD.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Kevin54: Not sure what you meant by that, if you meant I should tell her what to do with HER house re: welding drilling cutting, that’s not on the table, took nearly two years to convince her to let pull enough worthless junk out from under there to make enough room to replace the ****** in her 3/4 ton truck...if you’re just being snarky please troll somebody else!


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[Stillgottimefor1]

Judging from your photo of the pipe, you need 8.5" U-bolts. That pipe appears to be 8.5" OD.

It measures 8-5/8, so yeah that’s right.

Still thinking there’s a way I’m not seeing, i want an outer cover, insulation in between of course, and an inner wall of osb or something I can nail things to. Eventually enclose the whole thing. ( the whole space under the house)
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[Kevin54]

Kevin54: Not sure what you meant by that, if you meant I should tell her what to do with HER house re: welding drilling cutting, that’s not on the table, took nearly two years to convince her to let pull enough worthless junk out from under there to make enough room to replace the ****** in her 3/4 ton truck...if you’re just being snarky please troll somebody else!


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Not being snarky dude. Just sayin' You know more about welding or nursing, and visa-versa. Just because it's hers, and you care about her, and you know how to fix it......again...just sayin'

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

Okay gotcha, sorry ‘bout that. Winter’s closing in, ...and she wanted me to do the outside walls in stone!...sure it would look great and there’s plenty of rock around here..I’ve never done stone masonry and I’m pushing 60...[emoji15]...Need to come up with something else.


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[Stillgottimefor1]

I still think a screwed together box around the pipe will work. Anybody done this?

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[Stillgottimefor1]

Whats gonna hold your 2x4 box vertically? gravity only works one way...

The wood box would clamp to the steel pipe with wood screws long enough to build the rest of the structure, after that gravity won’t matter.


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[SALIV8]

I boxed out the basement columns with steel studs. It was easy as pie.

Not sure why boxing out these 8" columns would be a problem?

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

I boxed out the basement columns with steel studs. It was easy as pie.

Not sure why boxing out these 8" columns would be a problem?

I’m a mechanic with only a little carpentry skill, so can you tell or show me pictures of how you did that?


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[SALIV8]

Man I'd have to search for pics. It was years ago. Not even sure I could find them easily. I used steel studs, they cut easily with tin snips, and are plenty sturdy enough.

I even made a kind of floating ceiling structure that boxed out the piping.

I would box out these 12' columns every few/several feet with a full box surround and self tap screw those to the vertical studs that i install and connect to ceiling and floor sections. Once staggered this structure would easily support drywall. And once drywall is installed it will completely secure the structure.

Stagger the drywall joints.

Not sure if that is clear enough.

 

[Homerr]

I boxed out the basement columns with steel studs. It was easy as pie.

Not sure why boxing out these 8" columns would be a problem?

The wood won't be attached to the steel. No report here about what the connection is at the top of the steel column.


Several problems here:

1. Owner making unqualified structural decisions.
2. Unqualified builder trying to react to #1.
3. Not doing the sensible thing of welding on tabs like the rest of the world because of remote location/budget/skill/etc.

Hire out #3.

You've already noted that it's windy where you're at, don't build a building-sized kite. Taking on this building also means you take on the responsibility of building a safe structure.

 

[SALIV8]

The wood won't be attached to the steel. No report here about what the connection is at the top of the steel column.


Several problems here:

1. Owner making unqualified structural decisions.
2. Unqualified builder trying to react to #1.
3. Not doing the sensible thing of welding on tabs like the rest of the world because of remote location/budget/skill/etc.

Hire out #3.

You've already noted that it's windy where you're at, don't build a building-sized kite. Taking on this building also means you take on the responsibility of building a safe structure.

Structural decisions?

I don't see how any box out of a steel column is structural. The steel is carrying the load, not anything else...

??

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

To clarify: the house has been here at least ten years, built crazy strong by a good welder, (never met the man, but my father was a great welder, so I know what I’m looking at). I just want to enclose the twelve foot high part under it. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, having read all this she who must be obeyed has decided that I can weld tabs on the pipes as God intended to bolt wood onto and then proceed! [emoji106][emoji880][emoji41]. Thank you all for helping me (us) get through this problem. It Takes a Village!


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[Wanna Ride]

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, having read all this she who must be obeyed has decided that I can weld tabs on the pipes as God intended to bolt wood onto and then proceed!

Good deal! That truly is, and will be the fastest and best (least expensive, most effective, etc, etc) way to accomplis this. If it was me, I’d make a jig to wrap around the pipe, to insure all the brackets are oriented properly so all of your studs stay in line with each other. Post up some pics as you go, because you know... we all just love pics.

 

[Homerr]

Good news then Stillgottimefor1!

SALIV8, the exterior skin doesn't carry any gravity load but it will catch it's share of wind loading. Twisting the exterior skin around the vertical axis of the column could cause a failure of one or more sections of siding and could allow an overpressure condition from the windward side. This could lift the building (uplift) and/or blow out more of the skin, either more walls or the roof.

Lateral loading has it's own characteristics too.

 

[Stillgottimefor1]

As for wind-yeah my wind generators are designed to self govern, but I’ve seen the 1-1/2 in sched.40 pole bend like a banana and the blades moan like wild banshees while making 30 amps of power...wouldn’t believe it if I didnt see it. So keeping the wind from going under the house and forcing it to go around/over isn’t going to kill us is it? Those pipes-16 of them-are sunk in holes three feet deep drilled into bedrock limestone. I’ll keep you all posted how this goes. Many thanks again for the help. Love, Grumpy.


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