Pole barn question

[dw1]

We built our house 21 years ago, 2 years ago I (My wife) decided to replace our deck with a concrete patio and covered porch, I tore the old deck down, the 6x6 posts were 3' in the ground and were a bear to get out but they were as solid as can be, there was ample concrete under and all around the posts.
My pole barn that was just built, the posts are approx 48" in the ground, they are sitting on about a 6" cookie that was poured the day before, I am sure they will last my lifetime, now I am finishing the interior walls of my PB, I have studded the walls and R13 insulation in them up to the double 2x12 headers that run around the barn, what should I put in between the 2x12's ?????
I have can foamed all the gaps at the bottom of the metal (floor) and at the wainscoating edge, insulated my O/H doors and all gaps at the 6x6 posts
The more I read about insulating, the more it makes my head hurt

 

[the duck]

"Contrary to popular gripes construction here isnt any worse than elsewhere, plan ~$40/ft2 finished and heated and unless you get bent over hard you'll be fine."

justanengineer:
I'm in northern NY too and would love to find $40/sqft., finished and heated. I've lived in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Illinois, and I found all of those states more affordable than NY - cheaper for utilities, gasoline, real estate, taxes, groceries, the whole spectrum of expenses. If you've know of a contractor in the Albany area that will build for $40/sq.ft., finished and heated, please share their contact information.
Thanks for your time,
Matt

 

[DougWil]

My pole barn that was just built, the posts are approx 48" in the ground, they are sitting on about a 6" cookie that was poured the day before, I am sure they will last my lifetime, now I am finishing the interior walls of my PB, I have studded the walls and R13 insulation in them up to the double 2x12 headers that run around the barn, what should I put in between the 2x12's ?????

I always find it funny that a building's lifespan should have some correlation to the owner's remaining lifespan.
If you die tomorrow is it OK if the building falls down the next day?

I would cut a block of rigid close celled foam like EPS, nice fit, tap up in place and screw from one 2x, through the foam to the other 2x sandwiching the foam between.
The idea is to stop air infiltration and insulate.

Fill any remaining space with fiberglass, just don't over compact it.

 

[justanengineer]

I'm in northern NY too and would love to find $40/sqft., finished and heated. I've lived in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Illinois, and I found all of those states more affordable than NY - cheaper for utilities, gasoline, real estate, taxes, groceries, the whole spectrum of expenses. If you've know of a contractor in the Albany area that will build for $40/sq.ft., finished and heated, please share their contact information.

Hi Matt, off the top of my head unfortunately I only know a total of two folks in the greater Albany area so likely cant come up with a contractor for you. I too have traveled quite a bit, grew up down in the Catskills and just moved back to NY from Indiana (Watertown area now) at the beginning of the year. I've only actually lived in NY 3 years total in the past 15 so know the costs elsewhere and youre correct, life is cheaper elsewhere but IMHO not to the extent most make it out to be. My wife's favorite analogy is that the grocery store costs more but we buy cheaply mostly from local farmers and going out is definitely quite a bit cheaper here too. Thats another discussion for another thread tho.

My wife and I are in the process of planning a build too as most properties we've seen are a combination of ridiculously priced (150% of appraised value being common) and not what we would like. I bought Home Designer by Chief Architect and am working with several local contractors (not builders) to get the best value for the money. The plan is 2k ft2 house and 1k ft2 attached garage, we've gotten $70/ft2 estimates for a real solid build to our floor plan/spec, finished but mid-line finishing throughout. I'm hoping to get down to the $50/ft2 range by finishing the kitchen, baths, flooring, and other minor things myself while also getting high quality, the latter being the challenge.

 

[mtwaterguy]

Hi Matt, off the top of my head unfortunately I only know a total of two folks in the greater Albany area so likely cant come up with a contractor for you. I too have traveled quite a bit, grew up down in the Catskills and just moved back to NY from Indiana (Watertown area now) at the beginning of the year. I've only actually lived in NY 3 years total in the past 15 so know the costs elsewhere and youre correct, life is cheaper elsewhere but IMHO not to the extent most make it out to be. My wife's favorite analogy is that the grocery store costs more but we buy cheaply mostly from local farmers and going out is definitely quite a bit cheaper here too. Thats another discussion for another thread tho.

My wife and I are in the process of planning a build too as most properties we've seen are a combination of ridiculously priced (150% of appraised value being common) and not what we would like. I bought Home Designer by Chief Architect and am working with several local contractors (not builders) to get the best value for the money. The plan is 2k ft2 house and 1k ft2 attached garage, we've gotten $70/ft2 estimates for a real solid build to our floor plan/spec, finished but mid-line finishing throughout. I'm hoping to get down to the $50/ft2 range by finishing the kitchen, baths, flooring, and other minor things myself while also getting high quality, the latter being the challenge.

Wouldn't it have been better to just say " OOOPS, you caught me on that one, sorry to have wasted your time", instead of two more paragraphs of off topic dribble ?

 

[the duck]

Justanengineer: Thanks for your response - I know what you mean in terms of price structure relative to where you live and in what context, i.e. midwest vs. the south, vs. northeast etc. I think I may be able to get in the ballpark of $50/sqft, but maybe only by going the pole barn route. I am getting estimates from stick builders as well, but I think they're going to come in quite a bit higher. In either scenario the finishing work will be significant additions to the total: insulation, sheetrock, plumbing, heating (tapping into existing sources) - it just adds up and gets frustrating when you see what started out as a relatively simple plan get more and more costly...
Thanks for your time,
Matt

 

[Ironhorse74]

So I would think if you had "pick of the forest" like they probably did in the 1840s and on, you could put something very moisture resistant like white oak in the ground. There are wooden ships still floating around that use live oak, sort of a close cousin to white oak, whereas one made from red oak, even though just across on the color-wheel, would fall apart very fast.

Fast forward to today and buying a white oak 4x4 or 6x6, 16 feet long would put most of us in the poorhouse. The treated SPF lumber is a lot more readily available but has some limitations.

Similar issues for not timber or balloon framing. There just is not that quantity of straight, close grained timber around that mortals can afford. Forests are harvested on a "fast" timetable (~30 years) rather than having the pick of acres of timber that was unmolested except by nature, up to that point in time.

The argument for your pick of the forest, is that they didn't threat the posts back then. A modern piece of fir properly treated will be fine. By all means if you want to spend the money on perma posts, don't let me stop you.

 

[Pwrgeek]

I always find it funny that a building's lifespan should have some correlation to the owner's remaining lifespan.

If you die tomorrow is it OK if the building falls down the next day?



I would cut a block of rigid close celled foam like EPS, nice fit, tap up in place and screw from one 2x, through the foam to the other 2x sandwiching the foam between.

The idea is to stop air infiltration and insulate.



Fill any remaining space with fiberglass, just don't over compact it.

My design philosophy on my building has a lot to do with my lifespan. I'm in my 30s so barring accident I will be using this thing for about the next 35-40 years. That's why I'm building for it to last that long. If I were in my 50s where money was tighter facing retirement and useful life (to me) was shorter I would probably be cheaping out on some things (lower quality hardware and construction) that I am not now. Basically I could care less if the thing falls in flat on the day of my funeral. If my kids show an interest then by then they will be maintaining it and that won't happen otherwise it is just something to be sitting there after I'm gone that no one will really care about.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bcoke]

Hey Duck I think you would be missing out on a great builder if you do not give Henry Brown a call .....his H&G Construction corp, Whitehall ny, ph 518-499-1933 is a small or big builder second generation....his workmanship is extremely high quality and he builds for at least 100 years and more.......He is very reasonable with his pricing and most of all will LISTEN to what you want give you any and all options. His aim is to please and he never misses that mark! Great guy and crew, no I am not an employee just a customer who hired him to build a 36X40 monitor barn with attic......after getting a referral for him from another one of his customers. When it became time to build our dream house 3500 sq feet and attached 3 car garage with full attic there was no question of ever using anyone else.......He will do what you want from shell to turnkey and anything in between!!!!So please give him call you have nothing to lose you can use my name Robert Boyd........and see my barn and house if you need to........good luck bcoke

 

[bcoke]

Opps just remembered I put in radient floor heat and highly recommend it , just something you need to do before slab[running pex tubing] can always finish at a later date......nothing beats a warm floor when below zero outside...........Bcoke

 

[the duck]

Thanks Bcoke,
I appreciate the recommendation, and I'll definitely give him a call. So far I've got leads on two recommended pole barn outfits and one stick builder. I've also gotten local recommendations for stick builders from people who have lived here all their lives, and am pursuing quotes from those builders as well. I've had radiant heat in a house before and loved it, but I'm also concerned about escalating my budget. I'm operating on a tight budget, so extras feel pretty hard to sign-off on. Any idea how much cost it adds to your concrete bill in a 30'x40' slab?
Thanks again for the recommendation! - Matt

 

[readhead]

Installed cost of floor heat is higher than any other kind of heat. Everybody talks about how great it feels but no one talks about the cost to run it. Over the last several years we have gone back to buildings we built that had infloor heat and installed unit heaters and abandoned the infloor heat because it was just to expensive to operate. That's not counting the number of times we have gone back to cut the concrete to repair a tube because someone drilled through it.

 

[bcoke]

Matt I pm'd you HGI construction's phone 802-236-4124 and his e-mail [email protected] and hope you can connect......I really think that a closed in barn sans electric can be had for 40-50 dollars a square foot by you and the builder sharping your pencils and decent but not the highest end materials......Yes you should map your radiant tubing so no "drill throughs occure"........the only cost to the slab is the pex tubing and instillation of same...........1000 square tubing kits cost @ 990$ this will inclue the tubing, manifolds ,test fittings just NOT the heat source and circulators...............or just the tubing will be 5-6 hundred dollars...............as far as operating costs that in my opinion is directly related to insulation and and yes I forgot to add in the under slab insulation which I feel you should have anyway and the source of energy LP, Nat gas, oil, wood, electric solar etc. I know we all suffer from sticker shock but I found that internet shopping for materials can save you a lot of money ..........of course a hot dawg heater may be the cheapest way to heat so you have a lot going on inyour head,,,,,,,,...I usually start with a list what i would want [dream list lotto win etc] than pare it down to what i need to serve my purpose............good kuck and this is really the fun part.........Bobbycoke

 

[UpstateNY]

Duck,

Contact these guys.

http://www.santellilumber.com/news_and_views.html