Chicken house trusses

[nterry1957]

Hey guys.. After a lot of thinking.. I'm torn between hiring a company to build a 30X50X8 pole barn for $13,800 or building a 40X40 myself using repurposed chicken house trusses from a local commercial chicken farm. Best I can figure I can get it done for around $11k. The chicken trusses stick close to the roofline so the cieling would be much higher. Probably 16'-18' at the peak.

I want to make sure I am considering everything before I decide. Any thoughts or experiences?

 

[Strouty]

What is the purpose of the shop? I like high ceilings so I would probably go the truss route.

 

[HoosierMark]

If you go the chicken trusses route, make sure you get them cleaned so there is no bird viruses on them. My son has a good friend who played in an old chicken house and is now legally blind because of a virus he picked up. This happened when he was a kid, very sad.

 

[BD1]

This above ^^^^^^

I was informed about the same issue of what could be transmitted in wood from recycled lumber from livestock facilities. I would not take a chance.
I'm sure you get hire someone to verify they are '' clean ''.

 

[James-W]

When you take into consideration the cost of getting the building cleaned and then having it inspected by someone who can verify the wood to be safe, you will no doubt exceed the cost of the new pole barn. Unless having the taller ceiling is super important to you, I would go with the pole barn. Have you checked into the cost of a "taller ceiling upgrade" to the pole barn?

 

[KenC]

I assume you are referring to the welded metal trusses. My only concern would be the fact that in recent years there have been a number of chicken houses collapse due to heavy snow and/or ice loads. I think an engineer could specify a closer spacing to reduce that risk.

 

[GDPossehl]

For the small price difference, I think I'd rather have someone else build it.

 

[RPH]

If height is a concern then look at raising the ceiling on the pole barn. Going up on them is fairly cheap.

 

[matt_i]

Anything that's been near chickens stinks to high heaven, and worse when moisture is involved even later down the road. Drive by a chicken farm sometime. You can smell it before you see it. No thanks.

 

[nterry1957]

It costs $1000 every 2' you raise the roof in the pole barn.
I've never heard of getting any sort of virus from the used chicken stuff. I would probably sandblast the trusses and paint them.

 

[GDPossehl]

I think spraying them with some diluted bleach should do the trick for disinfecting.

 

[rieferman]

For the small price difference, I think I'd rather have someone else build it.

Totally agree. Unless budget is extremely tight, you have abundant time that isn't better used elsewhere in your life, and your skills are able to produce pro results, it seems to me that having the building installed by a crew is the way to go in this situation. Add in any complications of having to work with second hand trusses, and there just isn't enough upside in my opinion to go that route.

 

[jockeylot]

I think I will go with the pole barn and raise the roof. That way you would never have to worry about what's in the chicken lumber.