What’s the Stink? One popular, although expensive, method of insulating pole buildings is with spray foam insulation. Besides cost, spray foam can also bring with it problems in the form of lingering odors.  These odors are coming from a catalyst in the foam, or from foam which is off-ratio, not mixed well or sprayed too […]

And I Thought I Was Fast Sunday, October 27, 1996 was a special day for my pole building construction company. Bob Vila’s Home Again was airing at 10 a.m. Pacific. Beginning at 9:30, live on the same network, we set a world record for a “fastest building”,  the fastest site-constructed two car garage, completing the […]

Many people have literally built their own pole buildings – from digging the holes, until the last screw is driven. Some do portions of the work themselves and hire a builder to drive the nails, while others employ a general contractor to do everything for them. Most adore their new buildings. Some are deeply disillusioned. […]

When I opened my first business, back in 1981 (yes, I am dating myself), my first regular repeat client was a fireman from Woodburn, Oregon. He was a great person to deal with, always paid his bills on time, and never complained. I’d nearly forgotten about him, until I heard the following saga from a […]

It may not be possible to put a price on love, but the square footage and location of where the love story takes place is a different story. Many couples take their potential partner’s “digs” (which includes the garage/shop and any other pole building) into account before entering into a relationship, according to a new study, […]

Wood. It Doesn’t Melt The steel/wood steel/wood debate, as far as building structure, seems never ending. The “all steel” building manufacturers highly tout the resistance of their heavy steel frames against fire. But just maybe, the all steel buildings are not everything they are promoted to be. I’m a member of several discussion groups on […]

“Except where erected on solid rock or otherwise protected from frost, foundation walls, piers and other permanent supports of buildings and structures larger than 400 square feet in area or 10 feet in height shall extend below the frost line of the locality, and spread footings of adequate size shall be provided where necessary to […]

In a misguided effort to make things “easier” for potential building owners and builders, some Building Departments have prescriptive requirements for non-engineered pole buildings. This means if someone walks in the Building Department door and wants to construct a pole building, as long as the building owner (or builder) agrees to build to match the […]

Clients ask me, “What is the difference between your engineered and non-engineered buildings”? In the case of Hansen Buildings, the only difference is the engineered buildings have been reviewed by a professional engineer, who is registered in the state where the building is to be constructed. This review is for structural adequacy.  And, following the […]

I live in a lake side home, in the mountains. Typically it snows here in the winter. We are not talking a few flakes or a few inches….we are talking about feet of snow. My garage is adjacent to the stairs leading down to the house, from our parking lot. The garage has a 7/12 […]

One of the joys of what I do is I get to learn new things every day. I’ve often thought to myself, the day I stop learning, is the day I am dead. In today’s lesson….one of our clients has taken his engineer sealed plans to his Building Department to obtain a building permit. The […]

One of our Building Designers asked me the other day if a 10% “shrink factor” should be used when advising how much concrete it takes to pour a concrete slab on grade. This particular Building Designer “in a previous life” had been a building contractor.  It had been his practice to always order 10% more […]

Fiberglass insulation is difficult to write about. In my opinion just about everyone knows about this topic or how the product works. There just isn’t much sizzle to the topic. I would hate to work for an advertising agency or public relations firm having to write about this stuff on a weekly or monthly basis! […]

Wind forces acting on relatively lightweight buildings can apply significant uplift forces to the foundation system. Post-frame (pole) buildings are relatively light buildings which typically feature several large wall openings. When I ask folks what they think the greatest pressure on their building is, invariably they answer with either “snow” or “wind trying to push […]

This is not like Where’s Waldo?, or Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? The relationship of the top of a concrete slab inside your new pole building, to the grade surrounding the building is critical not only during construction, but also in the lifetime of performance of your building. Hansen Pole Buildings services […]

Collateral loads are additional dead loads hung from the building, such as sprinkler systems; drop ceilings, HVAC equipment, lighting etc. These are the loads which are most often overlooked or neglected in the design of a new pole building. Many times, it is just no one having made the client aware. Most building sales people […]

Yes I know, it is white (at least it starts out that way). From a design standpoint there are lots of things to know about snow loads. Cautionary Warning: The information contained herein is fairly technical in nature. We use ALL of this information in the design of your new Hansen Pole Building. Some clients […]

When considering a new building, end users often debate whether to use an all steel or wood framed pole building. Steel has the perception of strength and endurance. Research and independent studies show pole buildings have several advantages over all steel. Wood is unquestionably the most environmentally friendly building material on earth. It has better […]

With the latest technological advancements, innovations, and commercially viable implementation of thin-film solar roofing technology, we can now benefit from solar roofing products which offer revolutionary simplicity. Thin-film solar panels are light-weight, easy to install and can last a long time, requiring no penetrations to your roof. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. One of the […]

An increasing number of new pole building owners consider installing solar roofing panels in order to harness solar energy and generate electricity for their new buildings. The traditional approach was based on installing heavy crystalline solar panels on top of an asphalt shingle roof. Shingles are an oil based roofing system with a relatively short […]

A request we receive frequently is for skylights to be installed in the steel covered roofs of our pole buildings. My first thoughts go back to a building I worked inside of over the winter of 1980-81. About 20 years old, the building had a steel roof with numerous fiberglass (actually Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic or […]

One of the most asked for and least understood option for a pole building is designing for an attic “bonus room”. A bonus room is exactly what it sounds like – it is extra space, a “bonus”. For sake of simplicity, let’s think about this in the realm of only a gable style roof. A […]

Often our clients are comparing the costs of a post frame building against those of an all steel building. Pole (post frame) buildings with pressure preservative treated wood columns embedded in the ground include the design of the foundation in the building plans. Provided engineered building plans have been ordered, no other engineering is needed […]

If I had a nickel for every time a client has asked me the question, “Can I walk on my steel roof”? I would have several rolls of nickels! My initial thought is always one of, why would anyone want to walk on their roof to begin with? But the answer to the question is […]

Yesterday, I was contacted by one of our clients who invested in a new Hansen Pole Building back in 2008. While his inquiry was about re-roofing his building using shingles, the real issue is – his steel roof is leaking! Properly installed, a threw-screwed steel roof should never, ever leak. So, what exactly would be […]