Advantage to pole building

[Hunt2871]

I am going to build a one car garage (16X25 mon-pitch roof) in my backyard in the next couple months and I am pretty well versed with stick building but I am intrigued with pole buildings (post frame...I was told yesterday a pole is a pole and a post is a post and never the two shall twain...).

I am stuck with the small and weird dimensions due to zoning and the HOA Nazis but I can make the size work. It will have a 3/12 pitch shingle roof (east central Georgia so no snow or very little) with an 8 foot wall at the low side and a little over 12 on the high side. I would like to keep the ceiling open and attach a suspended ceiling to the rafters to facilitate moving equipment around and moving power and dust collection with it. I am stuck with shingles and horizontal siding because of the HOA nazis. I would like to build a post frame garage because I have never built one before but I do not see any cost advantage. The site is almost dead flat and here in Georgia the footings can be pretty shallow (at most 18" but more like 12"). Given that I am stuck with horizontal siding it looks like it would take about as many 2X4s
as well as the girts to frame as it would to stick build. I like the idea of being able to add onto the garage when the HOA nazis and the county inspector ain't looking and it would be simpler to do with post frame construction thant it would be with stick building it but the initial costs seem, without doing a material take off, to be about the same. The foundation will be a little less expensive but its a small foundation either way. Am I missing something?

 

[u2slow]

Check with your zoning/building department. I was stuck with either a monolith or stemwall/slab foundation to build legit. (Full permits of course). Could only do a pole style shed/barn if I was a farm. It ***** to start laying concrete and get busted.

OTOH, I had a non-compliant carport I could not replace legally, nor afford to lose. Long story short, its now bigger, taller, and enclosed. Posts sit on saddles, on 12x12" pier blocks, on grade. Nobody complained because it looks better than before.

 

[cj7jeep81]

Pole barns really become more economical the bigger you go. At small sizes, its pretty much a wash as you've found.

 

[Voi]

I would like to build a post frame garage because I have never built one before but I do not see any cost advantage.

Given that I am stuck with horizontal siding it looks like it would take about as many 2X4s
as well as the girts to frame as it would to stick build.

Am I missing something?

With the small size & horizontal siding I doubt you'll see any cost advantage to post frame.

But what do you mean by additional 2x4s & girts? For sheathing?

I've seen sheathing go directly over bookshelf girts in my area so I would price it that way.

 

[Hunt2871]

With the small size & horizontal siding I doubt you'll see any cost advantage to post frame.

But what do you mean by additional 2x4s & girts? For sheathing?

I've seen sheathing go directly over bookshelf girts in my area so I would price it that way.

Yes for sheathing. I had read somewhere else that using concrete siding with sheathing on girts alone was not a great idea because the siding would, it places, be nailed to sheathing only instead of sheathing and the stud supporting it. I don't know that I agree with this but it seems legit.

I have checked the local codes and post frame construction is allowed however I am about decided I am going to stick build. I really wanted to do a post frame as I have never done one but I don't see and cost advantage with the small garage I am going to build. If I could use steel roofing and siding though I can certainly see the cost advantage. Being stuck with shingles and horizontal siding it doesn't seem as obvious. Oh well, I have a 40X30 plan I am working on which will start life as a garage for our boat and trailer and when I retire in a few years I am going to stand up some walls, install some cabinets, stain the concrete pad and call it a 3 bedroom 2 bath starter home LOL....I have done this with stick built buildings several times in the past but I am going to do this one with a steel roof and metal siding.....I won't have $20K in the garage and less than $50K in the house when it is done and it will be worth about $210K...and I will have a place close to the lake to keep the camper and the boat in the meanwhile.

 

[Bopbop]

Hunt2871,
Which part of Georgia are you located in?

 

[nadogail]

IMHO, When you try to sneak something past the HOA, they just might get nasty when they find out about it.

"If you think you are ready to mess with the Bull, watch out for the horns".

 

[csp]

Yes for sheathing. I had read somewhere else that using concrete siding with sheathing on girts alone was not a great idea because the siding would, it places, be nailed to sheathing only instead of sheathing and the stud supporting it. I don't know that I agree with this but it seems legit.

It's legit. Concrete siding needs the entire length of the nail holding it tight. If the nail loosens the siding will move and the nail hole will wallow itself out.

I've had this happen on my home because a crappy contractor just thought he could put a nail anywhere on the sheathing.

 

[Hunt2871]

Hunt2871,
Which part of Georgia are you located in?

Augusta area.

 

[Hunt2871]

It's legit. Concrete siding needs the entire length of the nail holding it tight. If the nail loosens the siding will move and the nail hole will wallow itself out.

I've had this happen on my home because a crappy contractor just thought he could put a nail anywhere on the sheathing.

That makes a lot of sense. The stuff is heavy...a great product by all accounts but very heavy and brittle...movement of any sort seems like it'd be an issue over time especially without sufficient backing.

 

[Hunt2871]

IMHO, When you try to sneak something past the HOA, they just might get nasty when they find out about it.

"If you think you are ready to mess with the Bull, watch out for the horns".

I have reached a point in my life where my caring what those nazis think is very low on my list of priorities. I will of course go to them with my hat in hand and beg for permission to add a $40K structure to my property which will add value to my property thus adding value to the surrounding properties but regardless of what they allow my boat will be in my back yard. It'll either be in the backyard in a $40K garage which matches the architecture in the neighborhood complete with a stamped concrete drive from the street or I will park it in the yard under a tarp and drive up the slope on the grass. Its their decision obviously if they want to litigate the resulting damage but they will have options. They can get judgements, file liens, lay down in the street and throw a tantrum, I just do not give a tinkers damn LOL. I only plan to live in the house for 7 years until my daughter graduates and then I'm moving to the country where I can put a Camaro up on blocks in the front yard and have a couch on the porch as is my birthright as a Georgian LOL. Worst case scenario is I file bankruptcy upon retirement and they can all get together and talk about that old man who just would not do what they demanded. Its up to them. I do not care.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I have reached a point in my life where my caring what those nazis think is very low on my list of priorities. ....I do not care.

LOL. I'm the same. I began my 25x35 pole barn about 4 years ago and got as far as you see in the pic...then pulled my permit. Now, with that said, I live in a very small town with very lenient building codes, and an inspector who lives a few hours away. I sent him my "blueprints" that I created myself to get his OK to start the build. He OK'd them, but told me that he wanted to do a site visit BEFORE I poured any cement. I said, "Yeah...about that...."

 

[Bopbop]

Augusta area.

Okay. I am in the Savannah area. I hate HOA's and live in an area that i can do as I please. 35 years ago I would race the dirt track at Gordan park and Modoc.
My new shop is all red iron steel and was built by a group that is located between Savannah and Augusta. They were within $3000.00 dollars of the pole barn on a 30 x 60.

 

[Hunt2871]

Okay. I am in the Savannah area. I hate HOA's and live in an area that i can do as I please. 35 years ago I would race the dirt track at Gordan park and Modoc.
My new shop is all red iron steel and was built by a group that is located between Savannah and Augusta. They were within $3000.00 dollars of the pole barn on a 30 x 60.

I agree wholeheartedly....HOAs are the bane of modern existence. Why ANYONE thinks there is any value to them is beyond me. However I have a daughter in the 5th grade and private schools in the area aren't an option....no space available....and the public schools are hit and miss but the one this house is in is fantastic. Se we decided to tolerate the HOA as far as possible.

I agree with the red iron issue...I would go that route in a heartbeat if not for the HOA and would do so anytime getting something dried in quickly was an issue. I have a lot close to Clark Hill with almost no restrictions and no HOA I am going to build a larger shop on and convert it to a house in 2-10 years when we retire. My initial thinking was a red iron building but I would like to attempt a pole building having never done one. Its 30 minutes from our house so its close enough to keep the RV and Utility Trailer in but I gotta have the boat at the house because I fish evenings a bunch and not always on the Hill....and its my boat and my house more to the point LOL.