would you buy a used poultry barn?

[JamesW84]

I was planning to build a workshop next spring. I was thinking around 40x48, bigger if i could afford. Those packages look to be around 13k and up if you install yourself. I was cruising craigslist and found a guy selling material from a used poultry barn:

Recycled poultry house materials, build your own barn/shop/garage. free delivery to KS, AR, or MO. Packages include steel trusses, lumber, sheet metal for all sides and roof, ridge cap, corner caps, and wind braces. Trusses come with 6' leg, extending the leg to your desired height will be up to you. Many people use steel pipe or c-channel. I provide material to enclose 12' walls but you must extend the legs yourself. Materials are used but are in good condition.
If you would like to buy a package please call or text and I will calculate your building for you. I will delivery the below packages for free. I have listed some 32 and 40 feet wide buildings. I also have materials for 43' wide buildings. Also have foam board insulation, wiring, fans, heaters, vents, 36" entry doors.
32x40x12 $3100
32x60x12 $3800
40x40x12 $3100
40x50x12 $3800
40x60x12 $4500
40x70x12 $5200
40x80x12 $5900
40x90x12 $6600
40x100x12 $7300

I was goung to go 16 ft walls and maybe a loft/mezzanine on one side later, but that was more or less planning on a pole barn with trusses down all the way to the wall.

This could be sketchy, and i would still need a few things, raise it up higher on the sides, iand a door. Still, seems like a good deal? I will try to provide the pics from the ad
http://images.craigslist.org/00O0O_kyETbfuTWEc_600x450.jpg
http://images.craigslist.org/00Q0Q_2YgzIRugH0X_600x450.jpg

what do you think the cost would be to raise the walls on the side? I want the option of a 14 ft overhead door. Thinking about a one or two foot stem wall

 

[Professur]

So ... you want a ************ workshop?

 

[drivesitfar]

James: i'm all for recycling old wood and tools, but that might be more labor than you want to spend time on to make that work. for one you want to work inside the finished product and i really doubt you'll ever get the smell out of the wood without a lot of planing and staining or painting.

if you were going to use the chicken wood for another barn to put animals in then maybe not such a bad idea.

materials are not the major expense on a project. time or labor is and your time is worth something so pick up side jobs if you need to and buy new or clean old material is what i'd do.

also welcome to the group and hope you stick around to show us your finished garage filling up with tools or cars.

cheers

 

[captain14]

Welcome to GJ. Someone else asked that same question within the last Month.

Use the search function for used chicken houses or a variation and look at the responses. I am sure there are health issues with being inside that type of building for any extended period of time.

 

[rancherbill]

I'd be on that deal very quickly.

Smell is hard to get rid of. I'd pressure wash all the interior surfaces and re-paint them all while they are on the ground. For a couple of hundred dollars in paint and a days work you save $8,000. Stay away from the foam unless it can be entirely covered.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me, as long as you DON'T plan on raising chickens or other fowl in it. For a storage building it would be fine.
I'd expect to do some extra work due to used materials. Also expect nails and nail holes.
I wouldn't use that steel for the exterior of an insulated/finished interior shed. But I wouldn't have an concerns with using the steel for interior walls with some character.

 

[rsanter]

Sounds like a great deal....however

I would want to know the condition of the stuff.
I would also look,to see if you will be allowed to use it. Some places will require a permit and engineering drawings and such. With these you will. It be able to do that.

To raise it up I think I would have a block footing wall done and place the building on that. Then I would use wood or metal framing to fill the walls in and then attach steel siding

Bob

 

[JamesW84]

James:

materials are not the major expense on a project. time or labor is and your time is worth something so pick up side jobs if you need to and buy new or clean old material is what i'd do.

Thanks guys. Looks like a mixed bag. This would be for a workshop with some storage. the major items would be the trusses and exterior metal.


This quote seems inaccurate to me. Installation looks to run half of a kit, and that is not counting concrete, or finishing.

I thought about searching, but was in a hurry. Sorry. I will search now

 

[dirtyboots]

No I would not buy a used poultry barn, or parts from a poultry barn, to answer your question. I agree that a person could invest a few hundred to spray / seal / paint the parts, and probably make it acceptable for use, and that would be a huge savings.

It's just my opinion not based on any actual experience that most of the time and especially on CL if there is a deal and it's not immediately snapped up, it's probably not that great of a deal. Price point aside I baled hay at a pig and chicken farm in the summer in TN, and there isn't much in my mind that one could do to any item that spent time in one of those barns to ever clean them sufficiently. If you do move forward I would invest in paying a company with the proper equipment to clean the parts.

#chickenaids

 

[texas webb]

Does it come from a poultry operation affected by the bird flu?

 

[BDT/NWMN]

Some of those make do projects don't always yield the results that are sought...

You are dealing with used material, so there will be fastener holes in the panels.. The trusses have a 6' leg, so your original plans would be retro fitted from the start..

Myself, if considering this purchase, would take a second person along to help look this material over in person...

 

[toymn6366]

out of everybody that commented I would like to know if any of y'all have ever been around or even in a chicken house most newer ones are built with metal trusses and are probably cleaner then your shops. we use one of our old chicken houses as a shop with the front part with a poured floor and the back as storage with the floor still dirt

 

[Stuart in MN]

I worked on chicken farms when I was a teenager, and the barns were pretty filthy. 100,000 chickens on a dirt floor, there wasn't much you could do to keep them clean.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

out of everybody that commented I would like to know if any of y'all have ever been around or even in a chicken house most newer ones are built with metal trusses and are probably cleaner then your shops. we use one of our old chicken houses as a shop with the front part with a poured floor and the back as storage with the floor still dirt

metal trusses is what I pictured when the ad mentioned 6'legs on the trusses that could be extended with pipe or c channel..

 

[engineer2]

Chicken barns in some areas are required by law to be replaced every 5 to 7 years (IIRC) because they become so contaminated by chicken poop and rodents.

 

[kbs2244]

This a time of need vs. money question.
If you have the needed cheap labor the ideal action would be to dismantle the building, spread the stuff out over a field for a year to let the sun and rain clean it off, then reassemble.
If you cannot afford the time it will be cheaper to buy new materials.

 

[bobemmerich]

The cleaning and repair of the used materials might not be worth the expense. I understand budget. I'm on a tight one myself. Shop around, I'm sure there's alternatives.
Also, one poster mentioned Avian Flu. This is a big question???? Was it??