Help me understand Pole Barns

[coljar]

If you plan to insulate and finish the inside of a pole building, you need to shelf girt the horizontal runners on the wall, in other words, there needs to be 2x6's on the walls laying on their side and nailed to the 2x4" runners that go between the post. This way, you can roll the insulation horizonally between the posts and between each 2x6 girt. They put 36" rolled insulation on my walls. If someone else can explain it better, have at it.

 

[mtwaterguy]

Some may be cheaper, but by the time both are done, they can equal out at the same price. With the price of steel today, that drives the price of a Pole Barn up. If you are going to insulate, and finish off the inside, you pretty much have to stick build your walls anyways. What a Pole Building does save over a stick build is foundation cost. If you put in a foundation, block or solid, down to frost line on footers, you have a few thousand in that before you ever get out of the gate.

Stick build with OSB sheeting on the outside and exposed on the inside, you won't have sweating. With a Pole barn, uninsulated, weather can change to the point that it's raining inside. Moisture will condense on the metal.

There are a multitude of pro's and con's to each. If you are going to build it yourself, then it goes to the point of what you feel most comfortable doing. Myself, I wouldn't have any problem stick building a garage, room addition, or whatever. I have done it numerous times. But if I had to build a Pole Barn, I'd be nervous as cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Could I do it? Probably. But it would more than likely take me four times as long, because I have only been around a couple in my life when they were going up. My biggest fear would be getting poles in line and the building square. I just wouldn't be comfortable doing it by myself and not having someone around that has done it before.

Lots of mis-info here. First you don't have to use steel on a pole barn. There are lots of them with traditional roofs and exterior siding. I've built in Oregun and Montana and not had any of the problems you are describing. Pole barns are more cost effective on most everything over stick built. Using OSB under the roof eliminates any chance of "raining" inside, and using shelf or commercial girt installation actually frames the i/s and o/s walls at the same time saving both labor and materials. In addition, this style of construction ends up being considerably stronger than a traditional pole barn. As far as having problems with poles that are buried, my first pole barn, built in the wet PNW nearly 40 years ago, has had absolutely zero problems.

 

[pmiranda]

Something to consider about any sort of open construction (and probably for any steel framing) is that you usually have to run all the electrical in conduit. Stick-built with a finished interior can be plain romex. That's not to say you can't use romex in a pole barn, but it has to be protected... no big deal if you're going to finish the interior, of course.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Pole barns have been popular in Minnesota for probably 50 years now if not more. As far as I can tell they hold up well, the poles are treated and they are set down in the ground below the frost line so they don't move around any more than a building with a conventional foundation would.

I had a 24x30 with 12' wall pole shed built by the local lumber yard in 1976.. Red walls with white trim, and galvanized roof.. No walk-in doors or windows, just a 16' wide sliding door on the south end wall.... total with materials, labor and tax was around $2800... I was on the roof about five years ago and drove a bunch of loose nails down, and installed two turbines on the peak... Trenched in 60amp electrical service about the same time. It is low cost storage... The treated posts appear to be in good condition, the building is standing straight. If done over, the biggest thing that would be changed would be the use of screws instead of nails.. I'm in northern Minnesota, bout 30 miles east of Crookston.

 

[Cemoto]

Thanks for all the info.

I planning to break ground in the spring and the cost of a concrete foundation (30'x40" w/ 6" floor) came in at $8,500. excluding excavation and fill. So I'm figuring $11,500 for just a hole. Doesn't sound too good to me.

I'm going to look into a pole barn (less taxes?) a bit further.

Regards,

 

[justanengineer]

I hear these comments but have never seen a failure of one done with treated lumber. Have you seen examples first hand?

Yes I have, usually right before I am asked to help salvage the roofing tin.

Even treated wood wicks water to some extent if its stuck into dirt as many pole barns/sheds are. Some folks seem to think tar makes them impenetrable but even that has very real limits. Back east many of the "horsie crowd's" beloved white horse fences are treated locust or hemlock, tarred, and repainted every few years...and in 15 years theyre starting to get skinny at ground level and need replacing. I suppose in reality it comes down to drainage as BWS said and in very dry soil they may work well but in the instances I see these buildings theyre usually built bc theyre cheap and easy, not bc somebody wanted to spend the $$$ to do a thorough job. Then again, most folks on here really care about and also heat their shops, which should help keep things nice and dry.

 

[jkeyser14]

I hear these comments but have never seen a failure of one done with treated lumber. Have you seen examples first hand?

Yes, pressure treated wood is not invincible. The 15 year old 4x4's on my deck were completely rotted through when we bought the house. Set directly into concrete footers, surrounded by gravel, topped with soil, and with the ground graded steeply away from the deck. I also had termites living in one of my pressure treated fence posts.

 

[Chetter]

One more thing I do every year spring and fall, is to spray insect spray to help keep termites and carpenter ants from attacking the wood. My friend that helped me build mine back in 1996 built the same size for himself back in mid 70's and it still looks fine with no leaning or other visible problems. I have even taken wood spray sealer and gone along the wood outside and sprayed it with a good coat to help. Like I said in my earlier post, there are an awful lot of 50-100 year old barns out there that when taken care of are still standing. Good luck with your build no matter which way you decide to go with it, it's just nice to have a really nicely built garage.

 

[NHBandit]

Mr D. I am just up the road a bit in North East TN and I'm building the same size shop you are thinking about. 30x40x12. Same reason too. Retired and wanting a place to tinker with my old cars. I did alot of reading on here, did alot of online research, made alot of phone calls and had 2 different independant builders out here to give me estimates. I ended up going with National Barn Company on the reccomendation of another member here. No pics because it won't be built for another month or 2 but the contract has been signed and I'm just waiting my turn. I am going with a 40x40 slab which gives me a 10' apron in front of the bays (my 2 overhead doors will be on the long side). Concrete is being done first because my land is all Limestone ledge and busting holes through that to set posts would get real expensive real fast. Concrete work with 6" thick rebar reinforced sections where the lift will go is costing me $3800. National Barn is building on top of the slab which is the same price as putting the posts in the ground. Posts rotting in the ground will not be an issue this way either. The total cost of the pole barn with 2 10x10 overhead door frameouts (no doors), 1 walk through door, 2 gable vents, 1 window, fully insulated, scissor trusses for lift clearance, delivered AND assembled is $11,600. So just about 15.5k not including electric which I am doing myself with the help of a friend. No plumbing. It's not in the budget. I think that price is pretty hard to beat considering all I have to do is drink coffee, write checks & watch out the window... I am shooting to be into it including overhead doors, lift & electric for right about 20k. Please feel free to pm me if I can offer any advice. Here is the rendering they sent me showing the layout of the doors & window. It can, of course, be modifies any way the customer chooses. 1 large door on the end, 3 doors on the side, etc. I went with this design because I want an office/man cave area.

 

[Sureshot]

Yes, pressure treated wood is not invincible. The 15 year old 4x4's on my deck were completely rotted through when we bought the house. Set directly into concrete footers, surrounded by gravel, topped with soil, and with the ground graded steeply away from the deck. I also had termites living in one of my pressure treated fence posts.

Cuts need to be coated and their are two types of treated. One for burial the other not.

 

[cyamaha2007]

**** some power poles have been in the ground for 60 years. Many pole barns on our farm are 40 years old and in good condition.

 

[jopickens]

I had my 40x64x16 shelled up by a local pole building outfit - and finished the rest myself.
Here's a time lapse vid I put together. I had an axis network camera in a bucket on a pole taking a picture every 15 seconds. When I compiled all those .jpg images into a movie I played them at a rate of 8 pictures / second. Long... but you can FForward etc.

Josh

 

[slowtwitch]

When it came time for me to build a new garage, I initially wanted a stick built structure. But, after some of the quotes I got for the foundation, those hopes were quickly dashed. Then I researched the pole barn thing. I had a 30'x32' barn built. It cost me $14,300. This included the concrete floor. The job was completed in three days.

Here is a shot just before the pour...

and after...

I couldn't be happier with the results