Foam boards—rigid insulation boards—can be used to insulate almost any part of your pole barn, from the roof down to the foundation. They provide good thermal resistance. Foam board insulation sheathing reduces heat conduction through structural elements, such as wood wall girts and roof purlins. There are some who would feel the best application of […]

One of my favorites is when new clients want to climate control their building and also choose to use sliding barn doors. If you are unfamiliar with sliding doors, they are typically made from 1-1/2” thick steel or aluminum members which are screwed together at joints and then sheathed with steel siding. The doors are […]

A reflective radiant barrier inhibits heat transfer by thermal radiation. It does not necessarily protect against heat transfer by conduction or convection.  Why do you need to know about reflective radiant barriers?  It could mean thousands of dollars saved over the years for heating/cooling, in what you choose for not only roofing materials, but more […]

For clients who are concerned about column rot, decay or insect attack of pressure preservative treated wood columns there are some solutions. One of them is a product patented in 1994 by Homework Design, Inc., called Plasti-sleeve®. Now in use in tens of thousands of buildings nationwide, Plasti-sleeves® are the original wood column protection beyond […]

When I first entered the post frame industry over three decades ago, most pole buildings were barns. Having a climate controlled building  (heating and cooling) was rarely a consideration. Modern pole buildings, serve a plethora of purposes from homes to offices, retail space to churches and everything in between. HVAC (heating, ventilating and air condition) […]

Bonus Points Steep roof slopes on many homes of the past decade have brought about a resurgence in designing for a bonus room. With a steep enough roof slope, a “room” can be created in the middle of the attic.  The height must be tall enough to be able to make the minimum ceiling height […]

Strive for a higher standing in life? For many people the way to stand taller is to include a loft in their new building. What exactly is a loft? It is a building upper story or floor directly under the roof. In many cases it is roughly synonymous with “attic”, however an attic typically constitutes […]

If you had a chance to think over the weekend of why we don’t check Design Criteria for you (see Friday’s Blog), the obvious reason would be “we just don’t know where your building site is”.  This is the “down and dirty” answer. Ultimately the more specific question clients ask me is, “will you pull […]

Last October Mr. W of Park County Colorado ordered a new pole building kit package from Hansen Buildings. Just like every quotation or Invoice we prepare, it lists specifically the “Design Criteria” for his specific building. Included in this were: The Building Code and edition (every three years a new edition of the code is […]

I recently posted a blog entitled, “Why a Materials List is Usually Not a Good Thing”. One of the senior Building Designers at Hansen Buildings, Jim, wrote to me this response: “Love this Blog, but you must do a follow up…cover the language “as needed” on the HPB quote and what that means in the […]

Back in the day (ok I will date myself – 1984), I was what I pleasantly referred to as a slum lord. While far from actually being a slum, I owned a four-plex in a nice neighborhood in Salem, Oregon. While out of state on a much needed vacation, I received a call from my […]

For those of you who are not Building Officials, stop laughing, I am serious. Building Officials have a job – to protect those who use structures (which include buildings). In Chapter 1 of the IBC (International Building Code), under Purpose of the code, it states, “This code is intended to provide minimum requirements to safeguard […]

Yesterday I talked a bit about wood species, and hinted a more pertinent issue than which species lumber is used on a building, is that wood used should be kiln dried. For both technical and performance reasons, drying or seasoning wood is required when making glued wood products such as laminated beams, plywood, particleboard, furniture […]

In the United States, there are four prevailing species of timber which is used for framing lumber. Douglas Fir-Larch – which includes Douglas Fir and Western Larch (Tamarack). Prevalent along the West Coast, it is also known as Oregon Pine or Red Fir. Hem-Fir – another western lumber species group which includes California Red Fir, […]

I’m a member of several discussion groups on LinkedIn. One of them involves lumber dealers and one of the other group members posed the question, “What do other dealers do when a customer demands a detailed quote, then price-shops the quote to competing lumber dealers?” The best response I read was from Pat Smith, “I […]

As I said yesterday, in life, most everything is given some type classification whether it’s objective, such as motor vehicle operators’ licenses (automobile, commercial, motorcycle, etc.), or subjective, such as social status (wealthy, middle class, poor). Then there are those who are in “a class all by themselves.” My wife seems to think I fit […]

In life, most everything is given some type classification whether it’s objective, such as motor vehicle operators’ licenses (automobile, commercial, motorcycle, etc.), or subjective, such as social status (wealthy, middle class, poor). Then there are those who are in “a class all by themselves.” Buildings, like much of everything else, are classified, as well. There […]

One thing we have always done at Hansen Buildings, is to guarantee we have the best price, every day on any complete building kit package with equal or better features. We don’t sell materials; we provide complete buildings – all the pieces necessary to construct the building, per our plans, unless otherwise noted. Pretty straight […]

In order to follow the deflection criteria of the International Building Codes, other than for fairly small wall column spacings with low wind speeds, pole building wall girts need to be installed in a “bookshelf” fashion. What even is “deflection criteria”? Dictionary.com defines deflection as, “the deviation of the indicator of an instrument from the position taken as zero.” In layperson’s terms, when […]

Just over nine months ago, I embarked upon what has turned out to be a fascinating journey – writing this blog. Originally I thought 100 or maybe 150 posts down the pike, I’d be entirely out of subjects to write about. Seriously – how is it anyone can find so much to write about pole […]

One of the least understood and least consistently defined terms in the pole building (post frame) industry, is eave height. I’ve seen this measurement variously starting at grade, top of concrete floor, bottom of pressure treated splash plank and ending at bottom of roof trusses, top of eave girt, bottom of roofing at outside of […]

Having grown up the son of a framing contractor, then working framing for my father and uncles as a teen, I take for granted everyone knows what trusses are. When my first daughter, Annie, was just a wee tyke, she used to fold napkins into triangles – she told me she was, “building trusses”, like […]

As mentioned in a recent post (last Wednesday), recently while ‘net surfing, I stumbled across some interesting reading on a website for a hybrid steel frame – wood girts and purlins building. The same website also had the benefits and/or disadvantages of all steel buildings. Again, I’ll present their information and then either agree or […]

We’ve seen prices of materials creeping up fairly steadily for the past year, and according to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), the era of cheap construction materials may be slipping away. The price index for construction costs input — a weighted average of all materials used in construction, plus items consumed by contractors, […]

By guest blogger J.A.Hansen, owner of Hansen Buildings Where I left you yesterday was watching an inferno blazing away at 1800 degrees, 3 feet from a wood framed firewall.  This carefully monitored firewall test was carried out in a UL testing facility under strict conditions to see if a structurally independent wall made of wood […]