I'm planning an 18 x 24 pole barn in my backyard for the spring. From what I can glean from my town code online what I want to build is well within the limits (lot coverage, maximum height, setbacks, etc...), but I have an appointment with the zoning official to go over specifics. The barn will be used mostly for OPE storage and as a place to work on equipment/cars out of the rain. Nothing fancy. The pole construction is pretty straightforward-I'll be using 6x6x12 posts sunk 36" deep, spaced 8' apart, and trimmed to a finish height of 8'-6" above ground. The 6x6s will be notched at the top to accept 4x6 beams which will be bolted. A 2x6 nailer will be lag bolted into the top of each post and screwed to the beams. A floor framed with 2x12x18s spaced 16" OC will rest on top of the pole framework. I ran a calculation on #2 Doug Fir 2x12s and came up with a max span of 17'-11", so my 17'-1" span between the beams should be fine. This is where it gets tricky.
Basically what I want is a second floor on my barn. Half of it will be used for dry, secure, out-of-season storage for clothes, seasonal decorations, and other items currently clogging up the basement and other areas of the house. The other half will be a "man cave" of sorts where the guys can retreat during family/friends get-togethers. Again, nothing fancy-just a place I can throw an old couch, hang my deer heads up, maybe build one of those hockey stick bars eventually, and pretty much do all the stuff I wish I could do with my basement but I can't since it's currently a family room/play room. I've been fooling around with some gambrel roof framing ideas and came across someone who had built the same size barn but used a combination of ridge and rafter and truss building techniques to maximize the space above. It had been posted on another forum but the guy doesn't seem to be around anymore. I studied the pictures he posted and came up with this:
I'd like someone who knows a lot more about truss design than me to critique it and tell me what they think. This guy had spaced his 24" OC and lived in Michigan, so the roof will see more snow in one winter than mine (NJ) will in five years, but like I said, he hasn't posted in over two years so it could have caved in for all I know. FWIW the plan would be to space these 24" OC, then nail purlins 24" OC and apply ribbed metal roofing (the entire building will be metal). Basically I just need to know if this will be strong enough. It's not really a truss in that I'm not trying to support a long span with it. All it needs to do is hold up the roof, the white stuff that falls on it, and not blow off in high winds...
Basically what I want is a second floor on my barn. Half of it will be used for dry, secure, out-of-season storage for clothes, seasonal decorations, and other items currently clogging up the basement and other areas of the house. The other half will be a "man cave" of sorts where the guys can retreat during family/friends get-togethers. Again, nothing fancy-just a place I can throw an old couch, hang my deer heads up, maybe build one of those hockey stick bars eventually, and pretty much do all the stuff I wish I could do with my basement but I can't since it's currently a family room/play room. I've been fooling around with some gambrel roof framing ideas and came across someone who had built the same size barn but used a combination of ridge and rafter and truss building techniques to maximize the space above. It had been posted on another forum but the guy doesn't seem to be around anymore. I studied the pictures he posted and came up with this:
I'd like someone who knows a lot more about truss design than me to critique it and tell me what they think. This guy had spaced his 24" OC and lived in Michigan, so the roof will see more snow in one winter than mine (NJ) will in five years, but like I said, he hasn't posted in over two years so it could have caved in for all I know. FWIW the plan would be to space these 24" OC, then nail purlins 24" OC and apply ribbed metal roofing (the entire building will be metal). Basically I just need to know if this will be strong enough. It's not really a truss in that I'm not trying to support a long span with it. All it needs to do is hold up the roof, the white stuff that falls on it, and not blow off in high winds...