Drill pipe building in Louisiana.

[supersaiyan93]

So this is my wife’s grandpa’s building I’m helping him fix up. He and his son built it in the 80’s.

Being a retired oil man, he had access to literally tons of old drill pipe and built the girder structure of the building with it. He wants to put some insulation in the building and rewire it, but I’ve been getting a good look at it and had some concerns. I’ve never seen a building put together like this and was wondering if I should be worried about the construction.

I should point out that we live in south Louisiana and this building has been unscathed by all the major hurricanes that have passed through, but I also know how survivor bias works. Lol.

The building is 45x60 with 12’ tall walls.

The slab is awesome. Very thick, perfectly smooth, and high compression concrete. The drill pipe girders are sunk into the concrete. They don’t move. But the ends of the building seem lightly connected. I can grab the center of the wall and shake the pole in the center and the whole building shakes.

Also, there are only four main girders, so there is roughly 20’ between them. There is no cross bracing at all.

Am I being paranoid? Is this just fine?

Thanks!

 

[Pathfinders]

If it has been up since the 80s I would say it is ok. I have been in several in the Boothville /Venice area and they have weathered as many storms as Houma.

 

[cajunfirehawk]

Sweet shop, some spray foam in there would make that a lil more tolerable in the south Louisiana humidity and heat, but it isnt cheap. You might be paranoid, use it and enjoy it, IMHO. My muller engineered steel building with make all kind of noise if I hit it hard enough.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

I've looked at used drill pipe for misc. things like bollards and such. Old drill pipe can get pretty corroded due to the salt water they get into on deep drills.

Now...I know that some of the oil patch equipment ends up getting radioactive (tanks and such)...at least around here. I guess I'm thinking that would take years of exposure to crude, and drill pipe wouldn't pick up enough to hurt anything? Anyway...a friend in the oil business around here has had a heck of a time with used petroleum tanks, because they won't take them at the scrap yard because they set off their geiger counter.

Phil

 

[Falcon67]

Drill pipe is common as dirt in west Texas. Lots of sheds, buildings, etc framed with it. Fences, bleachers. road and stair railings, backstop on baseball diamonds, etc, etc.