concrete in pole building

[JF1]

Finished the wiring and hanging of garge doors on my pole building I built. Now its time for concrete in the spring. This is my first pole building I have constructed so i have a question about concrete.

Is it better to pour around the posts, or should I frame a treated skirt board flush with the inside of the poles and only pour to the inside of the posts.

I'm concerned if I pour around the post, that is a potential place for the concrete to crack in the future. Are these valid concerns?

Garage is 24x24

 

[Printer Mike]

Seems like some sort of flexible foam wrapped around the pole maybe about an inch thick might help.

 

[Garys Garage]

My concrete is 16 years old and poured to the polls. No cracks.

 

[Mike007]

My pole barn, the concrete was poured right up to the poles also. Now problems as of yet.

 

[JF1]

Do you guys have any expansion material where teh concrete meets the poles? Maybe my concerns about the poles moving some due to heaving aren't valid??

 

[Garys Garage]

I am in Illinois and ground heaves all the time. Concrete poured to the poles as stated before.

 

[Mike007]

No, the concrete is right in contact with the poles.

 

[Justanoldguy]

As said, put some foam or rubber around the pole "IF you are concerned"
It sure won't do any harm.

 

[Chetter]

My concrete is poured right up to the poles as well, no problems in 16 years and it hasn't had any movement or cracking around the poles.

 

[yimbo]

When they poured my floor they poured around my posts but did mention they are starting to use plastic pipe sections 4" high split down the back and fit around the post. They weren't able to contact me before the truck showed to ask if I wanted that but they said the corners of the post sometimes cause cracks to start when they soak up moisture and freeze, but we'll see. I live in Illinois also.

 

[dondarnell]

As long as the posts are wood you can pour right up to them. If they were anything harder (steel or concrete) you would want a barrier.

 

[Rixter58]

I went through this very same dilemma before pouring mine. Beat my head against the wall trying to decide what to do. My thoughts were the opposite of most other responses.....which is in no way to be interpreted as me thinking I'm somehow smarter. My concrete was going to be 6" thick so I laid a treated 2x6 flat at the bottom of the concrete line. I then framed a skirt on the inside of the poles using treated 2x6. My thoughts were to get insulation on the outside of the concrete so as to hopefully not have the concrete wick as much cold in from the outside. To this day, I'm not completely sure if I did right or wasted my time and money. I still have guys tell me it was a good idea and other guys tell me it was a waste.

 

[mad57]

mine is poured to poles no cracking.... but you will need to cut expansion joints in finished slab to stop any future cracks... before you pour slab just make sure your base is been well tamped like months if possible then all will be good.

 

[Pinhook]

mine is poured to poles no cracking.... but you will need to cut expansion joints in finished slab to stop any future cracks...

yes. around 18-24 hours after the pour. Cut approx 1/4 to 1/3 the thickness of the slab.

You need to cut the slab on a checkerboard pattern at about 10' - 12' from joint to joint.

These are called control joints in the construction industry - CONCRETE WILL CRACK so this just controls cracking.

 

[69lm69gp]

For the guys that live in cold climates. Was your slab poured with a footer to below the frost line? I also have a pole barn an would like to have a floor poured but in other pole barn build posts I have seen here, the slabs don't appear to have a footer even in the northern US.

 

[rat deuce]

I have two Pole barn additions to my block garage. Both floors have a 2X8 outside treated skirt. And a 1X6 inside skirt set at floor grade, this makes it easy to know where the grde is when finishing. The concrete goes around the poles- no problems. I have clay and drainage is bad in my yard. More important I think is put enough crushed stone under the slab and cuts as stated before.

 

[Possum]

If you wanted to take the time extruded polystyrene (foam board) would give you insulation on the slab perimeter above grade and work as an expansion buffer if you are worried about that.

 

[Zeke]

What are the poles set in? Being a SoCal beach bum, I don't see any pole barns. If the poles are in gravel, I'd want no dirt, only gravel around my poles.

What do I know? All we have is sand.

 

[king1]

My concrete is poured up to poles,2x12 bottom skirt with concrete poured 6".Also reliefs cut every 10'.

 

[Jay H 237]

For the guys that live in cold climates. Was your slab poured with a footer to below the frost line? I also have a pole barn an would like to have a floor poured but in other pole barn build posts I have seen here, the slabs don't appear to have a footer even in the northern US.

A guy I know has a pole barn in Watertown and it has no footer under the slab. The slab is 4-6" thick, the grading varied some, and it's poured right up to the interior of the walls and poles. It does NOT go under the walls so if it moves (heaves) some it basically floats.

 

[jopickens]

I put 3/8" foam 6" wide strip (comes in a roll for concrete joints) stapled all the way around to the inside of the skirt boards and posts. 6-7" thick floor. Also drilled through the posts in two places embedded in the concrete (high and low lets call it) and ran two runs of #5 rebar all the way around the inside perimeter of the building from post to post locking them to the slab. Bad or good, was not engineered by anyone but me, 6 yrs. later still looks ok...
Josh