What? Have I gone out of my mind?
No, not at all. We’ve always had a good relationship with Morton Buildings. They are the largest post frame (pole) builder in America, but all they do is build. We’ve had them refer clients to us who are looking only for building kits.
I ‘net surf a lot – I am by nature a curious guy and I want to know what is going on in the world. And I am not the only one!
One of the Hansen Pole Buildings Designers, Rick, sent me a link to on online forum he came across: https://www.dieselplace.com/forum/4-other-topics/69-shop-talk/101469-whats-most-affordable-type-brand-building.html
Here was what a poster wrote (spelling/grammar uncorrected from original post):
“Oh …. Morton Buildings rock……….. We have had one since 91…. it still looks like new. We had to replace a piece of steel do to a snowmobile trailer flying into it during a wind storm, and the new piece of steel matched the 10 year old piece exactly when the fly crap was taken into consideration.
Mortons rock there build qualty, materials, and efficency seem 1st rate. Dad said if he ever had to do it again, or put on an addition, (like we have talked about) he would have morton come back and do it.
they may or may not be the most affordable, but they did an awesome job on ours and I would highly recomend them to anyone.”
My thought was, “Cool, someone who really loves their building!”
The next poster wrote:
Ive seen two many of their rooves collapse under snow becuse they only use half the trusses they should and half the roof perlins which also means their metal only gets half as many screws as it needs….. o wait they are still stuck in the 18’th century as they still nail their steelfast.”
The second poster is the one I will take Morton’s defense on. The poster may very well be suffering from the Dunning Kruger Effect (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2015/01/dunning-kruger-effect/)
With currently nearly 100,000 people having read the article, it is by far the most read of any I have written: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2011/06/pole-barn-truss-spacing/ You might also want to read my article in Structural Building Components magazine: https://www.sbcmag.info/article/2011/it-isnt-your-grandpas-barn-tips-technicians-designing-post-frame-trusses
The quantity of trusses being provided for any given pole building have absolutely nothing to do with the ability of a building to support a given snow load. Morton’s designs incorporate larger, stronger trusses – spaced further apart!
Knowing the engineering staff at Morton Buildings, with a high degree of certainty, I can assure any reader the load carrying capacity is equal to, or better, than the loads the trusses were designed to carry. And the quantity of screws (or, forbid) or nail fasteners in a roof have nothing to do with snow load capacity! (Read why not to nail on steel here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2014/05/nailing-steel-roofing/)
More often than not, roof collapses from snow are due to snowfalls which are greater than the Building Code requirements. This becomes even a greater concern with agriculturally exempt buildings: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2011/12/exempt-agricultural-buildings/
Decide for yourself, but I am still in support of Morton Buildings, if someone wants a turnkey operation and is willing to pay for it.
Just because you had good luck with them, does not everybody has. I bought one in the early 80s. The roof leaked in several places. One place was around a nail hole where the nail was driven in crooked and it created a large hole. Another place was around the skylights and still another along a seam. They fixed one of the leaks, but not the others.
I bought another Morton building in the late 80s. After some years the roof paint started flaking off. I called a morton rep.
He told me that they would replace the panels on the roof. When I kept inquiring about when, I got a letter from Morton saying that Acid rain had caused the problem and I would have to pay for labor. My earlier pole barn had no “acid” rain damage. They did not care and would not honor the warranty. Would not buy another for ANY reason.