building a second floor in a pole barn

[toohott7718]

Hello, I'm planning on building a 40x104x18 pole barn and I'm wanting to build a second floor for my living quarters. I had thought I could poor a thickened slab of concrete under the living quarters walls.
Another guy said I should pour a short wall around the living quarters area to build my walls for the main floor so the second floor joists can sit on.

I will have the main living quarters on the main floor with a separate wood shop for my dad and the rest will be the garage area. The second floor will be another living quarters for me with a separate exercise room.

I'm probably including too many details but I didn't want to leave anything out.
thank you

 

[RWorth]

whats the layout? is the second floor the entire 40' width? If it is I'd use a steel beam, or LVL's, and attach the other 3 walls to the existing posts. If you don't like the span, put a footing for a post at the 20' mark.

 

[red61cj5]

this is off topic, but I have thought about building a large, warehouse type pole barn and building a house inside of it. Think of it, no roof leaks, no cleaning gutters, also no sunshine though. I think living inside your shop is an awesome idea, if you can do it.

 

[bullnerd]

Doesn't this open up a whole new set of problems fire code wise?

 

[sberry]

Yes, you need egress. I wonder if these dimensions are something special or basically just because? An exercise should be on main floor on concrete but a sill for the floor plate is ok but difficult to remodel, hard to change a mistake and the floor doesnt need additional footer for a common wall.
A decent design will use the walls as load bearing for the 2nd floor, probably not need a girder and a post.
The left is a way old pic but the framing is the same with upstairs bigger than down.

 

[sberry]

I done this a lot before I did this one. I made some minor mistakes but the general layout is very smooth with all the doors n right spots, office up front where it belongs, enter building then it with washup and messages all rather "organic" or ergonomic. This place is super easy to work in.
All the routine movement has been tailored for. Jobs we do regular been outfitted and stuff we don't use has been removed, certain pieces I retrieve vs let stay in the way if we don't need them at the time. Not a warehouse for cardboard boxes and I really compulsively hyper strip. I took a pickup load out last fall that really hadn't been used, storibng empty extra trash cans in a cozy shop, some pieces got stuck in the corner early on, hadn't moved since.

 

[larry_g]

Have you searched around this site? There are a few builds that fit your wants. Search out the pecan farmer. My build below has a second floor but for different reasons.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[kj_mustang]

You can check out my build that I currently live in. It has a loft over almost half the building.

 

[toohott7718]

whats the layout? is the second floor the entire 40' width? If it is I'd use a steel beam, or LVL's, and attach the other 3 walls to the existing posts. If you don't like the span, put a footing for a post at the 20' mark.

The second level will be 40'x40' I can use a steel beam or lvl's I will be doing most of the work myself but I will have help at times where heavy lifting is required. If I bolted the outer perimeter joists to the outer existing posts do I need to dig the posts deeper? I had already planned on going 4' deep on all my posts. Everything depends on cost but in the end I want everything to be safe. Thank you for all your help

 

[toohott7718]

Yes, you need egress. I wonder if these dimensions are something special or basically just because? An exercise should be on main floor on concrete but a sill for the floor plate is ok but difficult to remodel, hard to change a mistake and the floor doesnt need additional footer for a common wall.
A decent design will use the walls as load bearing for the 2nd floor, probably not need a girder and a post.
The left is a way old pic but the framing is the same with upstairs bigger than down.

The dimensions are plans I drew up. I plan to have my own place upstairs so my dad will be right under me if he needs anything. I'm doing all this for him so he has a smaller place than where he lives now and he has a less chance of him getting hurt inside his house.
I would love to have my exercise room on the main floor but I would have to make this pole barn even bigger. Thank you for your help.

 

[wfopete]

I did a second floor over my 30x50 pole barn using plans off of this site: https://barnplans.com/

I love the results:

 

[toohott7718]

Have you searched around this site? There are a few builds that fit your wants. Search out the pecan farmer. My build below has a second floor but for different reasons.

lg
no neat sig line

The pecan farmers build was awesome, I didn't see or maybe I over looked it, if he poured a footing where all his walls were going for his second floor.

 

[R_einan]

I had a 28' X 42' pole barn with a center truss designed for a loft, I got through 1/2 of it before my wife was tired of living in the boonies and driving so far.

Used 2x10 doubled and bolted to the post faces, used BCI 5000 series engineered joists on 16" centers and 3/4" TG subfloor. When completed it would have been 28'x 22' that I could walk edge to edge without thumping my head (6'3" tall).

 

[R_einan]

Couldn't get the second photo to attach.

 

[jack stand]

The second level will be 40'x40' I can use a steel beam or lvl's I will be doing most of the work myself but I will have help at times where heavy lifting is required. If I bolted the outer perimeter joists to the outer existing posts do I need to dig the posts deeper?

I would put a concrete "foot" or disc under the perimeter posts that will carry the additional 2nd floor load and footer (3x3x8"-10") at any supporting 2nd floor post locations.

 

[bczygan]

Hello, I'm planning on building a 40x104x18 pole barn and I'm wanting to build a second floor for my living quarters. I had thought I could poor a thickened slab of concrete under the living quarters walls.
Another guy said I should pour a short wall around the living quarters area to build my walls for the main floor so the second floor joists can sit on.

I will have the main living quarters on the main floor with a separate wood shop for my dad and the rest will be the garage area. The second floor will be another living quarters for me with a separate exercise room.

I'm probably including too many details but I didn't want to leave anything out.
thank you

First paragraph is confusing. Please rephrase.

Bill

 

[toohott7718]

First paragraph is confusing. Please rephrase.

Bill

My building will have an 18' eve, my dads living quarters will have an 8' ceiling height and the second level will also have an 8' ceiling the 2' left over will be for floor joists, plumbing, and hvac.

I will have a 4" concrete floor throughout the building, I was told where the living quarters wall towards the garage area that I could poor 6-8" of concrete there to support the wall that the second floor joists will rest on.
Let me know if this still seems confusing, I could draw something up. Thanks for your help

 

[toohott7718]

I would put a concrete "foot" or disc under the perimeter posts that will carry the additional 2nd floor load and footer (3x3x8"-10") at any supporting 2nd floor post locations.

Shouldn't the footing be deeper? Being it will be supporting a second floor. Also being that the perimeter posts will be 4' deep supporting the trusses and second floor joists. If you could explain I would really appreciate it.
Thank you for your help

 

[toohott7718]

I had a 28' X 42' pole barn with a center truss designed for a loft, I got through 1/2 of it before my wife was tired of living in the boonies and driving so far.

Used 2x10 doubled and bolted to the post faces, used BCI 5000 series engineered joists on 16" centers and 3/4" TG subfloor. When completed it would have been 28'x 22' that I could walk edge to edge without thumping my head (6'3" tall).

Do you have any more pictures of the truss used? Would this be the same principle in my building being it is an 18' eve? How deep did you bury your posts? Thank you for your help

 

[R_einan]

Do you have any more pictures of the truss used? Would this be the same principle in my building being it is an 18' eve? How deep did you bury your posts? Thank you for your help

Unfortunately I don't have any better pics, we moved about 6 mos ago. I can tell you that the bottom cord extended along the 42' depth with 4 2x10s, the top cords were 4 2x6s and the vertical and bracing was 4 2x4s. The center peak height was about 22' feet from the concrete and about 10' from the loft floor. You can see the open center space in the first image, and the open space was between the vertical bracing was approx 14'. As for the posts, I seem to recall that they were 6x6 pressure treated posts set at 5'.

If I was going to do it all over again, I would have chosen a different build and roof design. Likely a 2x6 on 24 wall structure with a monitor or mansard style roof because it would have been easier to insulate, and cheaper to heat because less space would have been wasted in the ceiling. The Monitor roof would have been ideal IMHO, only real negative would have been the support posts. Might have been an engineer that could have worked around those using either an engineered beam or an I-beam.

 

[toohott7718]

this is off topic, but I have thought about building a large, warehouse type pole barn and building a house inside of it. Think of it, no roof leaks, no cleaning gutters, also no sunshine though. I think living inside your shop is an awesome idea, if you can do it.

I will still have windows even towards the garage area. I won't mind not seeing the outside through the windows toward the garage. I'll just be glad that I'll be able to watch over my dad and he won't have to walk outside to get to his wood shop, right now he has to walk a 150'to his shop.