Column savers

[timmyd]

I posted in the heating cooling section yesterday by accident.
I am going to be putting up a 30'x48' pole barn this October, it will be fully insulated with heated concrete floor. I am looking for some input on column savers or wraps for my laminated columns. I really haven't budgeted for a footer or precast cement columns. I just want my building to last my lifetime and not have worries for the next owner. Input, information or ideas Are welcome, thank you.

 

[readhead]

Input? You are going to get lots of it so I guess I'll start. You can't bury wood in the ground and then expect it to last your lifetime and maybe the next guy also. But then maybe you're eighty years old. I would ditch the infloor heat and spend the money on a foundation and stick frame the building. Infloor is about the most comfortable and most expensive way to heat a building. Unit or tube heaters will be way less expensive to operate. I didn't just make this up. I have been building large shops and commercial buildings for over twenty years.

 

[n20junkie]

Pole barns are temporary structures because burried wood will not last. The beams always rot off at the ground level.

 

[kbs2244]

Is 200 years temporary?

I park in an early 1800's barn with salvaged telegraph pole supports every time I visit my
DeKalb County, Illinois family farm.

I park next to a $500,000 combine that lives in it.

 

[readhead]

This conversation will go on forever. Of course there are cases where high quality first growth trees buried in free draining soil have been standing a long time. But we are talking about current PT lumber.

I make a good living replacing pole buildings "that will last forever" with new steel buildings. I have had to dig out hay, tractors, classic cars etc from the debris when they fall down. You have no idea what the life of the 200 year old barn is. The posts may be rotten right now.

To answer the OP's question about column savers. They can trap as much water as they keep out.

The hybrid foundation/pole building systems seem interesting but in the end I'm not sure you're saving much over stick framing. Clearly pole buildings are popular and will continue to be as long as they are an inexpensive way to get a building up fast.

 

[matt_i]

Imo: heated floors are for working out there nearly every day where you are going to keep the heat on 24x7 for the entire season. For sporadic use here and there my opinion is you will save thousands up front on the install costs. The PEX itself isn't too bad, but when you get into placing foam, building manifolds, circulation pumps, controls, and whatever heat source, boiler or hot water heater is where the stuff gets really expensive. Make sure you understand the cost of the entire system and your intended level of use, not just the buried PEX.

Despite the low cost of pole, I'd look seriously at stick framing as a longer lasting alternative. The Perma Columns seem like a great idea but I have no direct experience with them, just from what I read on here, but that's where I'd start if I was building a pole structure.

 

[DougWil]

Is 200 years temporary?

I park in an early 1800's barn with salvaged telegraph pole supports every time I visit my
DeKalb County, Illinois family farm.

The industrially treated 12" diameter phone poles in these parts, with frequent drilling, injecting of preservatives and plugging last about 50 years.

When they are replaced you can poke your finger right through them.

Wood poles in the ground are a false economy.

 

[rieferman]

Perma columns add approximately $100-200 per pole. Skipping this minor expense just doesn't make good sense IMO