Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays. With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday or Saturday segment. If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.
Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com
DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Forget about quoting me anything, I had no idea you were in MN. MEANDERING IN METHOW
DEAR MEANDERING: Yes, we are “in” MN. We are also in ND, SD, ID, WA, OR, PA, NM, TX…..Have you ever ordered anything from Amazon.com? Amazon.com happens to be based in Seattle, however they ship from both their own warehouses all over America, as well as from third party fulfillment centers.
Think of Hansen Pole Buildings as being the Amazon.com exclusively for post frame & pole buildings. We ship from locations in all 50 states (including Omak and Wenatchee) – our home office just happens to be on the MN/SD border. Truth be told, our home “base” is in South Dakota, which really “is neither here nor there” when we service all 50 states as if they were all in our “own backyard”. We have pole buildings in every state in America, most of them in the Pacific Northwest (a ton of them in WA), which just happens to be prime country for pole buildings.
Chances are good, wherever someone needs a pole building, we are going to be shipping the majority of the building components from locations nearby the building site, within 100 miles or less.
Just like Amazon.com, we are logistical wizards.
DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have an existing 40′ x 56′ x 12 pole barn. I am wanting to build a 28′ x 40′ x 8′ living quarters in the rear of building. There is no house wrap or insulation now. What is the best way to air seal and insulate the living quarters? A local contractor suggested 2″ of open cell spray, and then fiberglass over that. Will spray foam eventually rot the metal? Could I use a vapor/air barrier over the metal, and then use fiberglass. I guess I would have to remove the exterior metal in order to install house wrap?
I also read where I could install Roxul stone wool insulation directly over the metal, and put plastic over that. Then dryall.
Please help…..THANKS! WAITING IN WEST FRANKFORT
DEAR WAITING: I’d remove the wall steel in the area you want to convert to a living quarters, placing a high quality housewrap over the framing and putting the wall steel back on – use inside closure strips at the top and bottom of the wall panels as well as above any doors and above and below any windows.
I’d recommend the use of BIBs insulation in the walls, rather than batts – it fills all of the voids and results in a higher R value and better system performance.
The spray foam is unlikely to rot the steel, however it is a very expensive solution.
