Mike the Pole Barn Guru’s World When I began this blog back in June of 2011, I surmised getting to a total of 100 articles would be a stretch, but yet a worthy goal. Well, I have surprised even myself… welcome to article number 1500! What amazes even me – how many possible topics have […]

Today the Pole Barn Guru discusses post treatment, the use of screws instead of nails, and what type of structure we are looking at. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can you please tell me is there a blog post/article on some type of coating or treatment to put on 6×6 posts for wet holes, high water […]

Pole Barns and Tornados (Excerpts from a July 21, 2018 Jeffersonville, Indiana News and Tribune article by Jenna Esarey are incorporated in this article) “NEW MIDDLETOWN — With Bobcats, ATVs and chainsaws, many residents of New Middletown spent their Saturday cleaning up after an EF-1 tornado cut a swath through homes, barns and cornfields Friday […]

Why Build the Roof Before Walls? Sometimes I can get so deep into a forest I cannot see trees – I miss things which should be otherwise obvious. For whatever reason a client contacted his Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer, rather than first contacting Technical Support. Building Designer Gregg aptly forwarded client’s request directly to our […]

Brick Ledge on a Post Frame (Pole) Building Whilst it would not be my personal preference for finish on a post frame building, there are instances when either aesthetics (trying to match other existing structures), local Planning Departments or HOAs (Home Owner Associations) mandate use of brick or stone exteriors. Whether for a wainscot or […]

Insulating a Room in an Unheated Pole Barn Regular readers of this column recognize insulation as being a hot (pun intended) topic of discussion – not just entire buildings, but also of a room or rooms in an unheated pole barn. Reader RICHARD in WOODSTOCK writes: “I have a 50 x 75 pole barn with […]

This week the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about properly treated posts, building on hillside locations, and an option to build with post frame. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: According to most of the answers on the Internet, if I bury the posts for my deck they will rot away and the whole thing will come […]

Poor Pole Barn Plans Lead to Poor Results There are a plethora of places people can go to buy a pole barn kit package with plans – Hansen Pole Buildings (I’d like to believe there is a reason we are the industry’s leader), a few online resellers, nearly every lumberyard in America, as well as […]

Single-Pane Windows When I was first in the post frame (pole barn) building industry almost 40 years ago windows were hardly ever a chosen option, and when they were, they were always single-pane windows. Why? Because the buildings were probably never going to be climate controlled and the single-pane windows were cheap. And, as we […]

Almost Round Pen Our eldest daughter Bailey, as a professional horse trainer, has spent a great deal of her life with horses in round pens. Generally round pens are unprotected in the great outdoors, leading to them not being able to be used in inclement weather. Personally, experience has shown it is far more economical […]

Decks and Exterior Balconies of Post Frame Buildings Post frame buildings and residential construction have finally met and the marriage happily looks to be a long term one! Along with this marriage, post frame has to familiarize itself with structural areas which were previously unfamiliar. Amongst these are decks and exterior balconies. The 2018 IBC […]

I this weeks blog, the Pole Barn Guru talks about, rebuilding a pole barn, ideal post spacing and a frost wall. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello, I recently disassembled a 36 x 100 pole barn and am rebuilding it at my house. It was covered with 2″ reinforced paper faced roll pole barn insulation with […]

Today we’d like to revisit the “Evolution of The Pole Barn Guru and his Building Philosophy” In my early years, tremendous quality was not necessarily the strong point. It was the ability to offer a very reasonably priced building and deliver it quickly. My buildings were pretty much the same as everyone else I competed […]

What to Do With an Old Dollar General® Pole Barn In the fall of 2016 the town of Reading, MI purchased the pole barn which had previously been the home of a Dollar General® store. The original plan was to convert the pole barn into a new city hall, but, after seeing the estimated price […]

Continued from yesterday’s Part I on overhead door R-values… Are the reported R-values even accurate? There’s another potential problem with the R-values reported by garage-door manufacturers: even if one accepts the fact the advertised R-values represent center-of-panel values rather than whole-door values, the numbers are still higher than most insulation experts believe are possible. Several manufacturers report […]

High R-value Overhead Doors for Post Frame Buildings When my lovely bride and I had our post frame building home constructed, energy efficiency was important for us. At the time Hansen Pole Buildings was ordering our overhead doors through my friend David Vance, owner of Rainer Building Products in Western Washington. I approached David with […]

Today the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about frost protected shallow foundations, repainting metal buildings and a kit in Hawaii. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: What type of frost foundation would you use if planning on doing a finished space in part of the building? ERIC in WINTERSET DEAR ERIC: I’d do a Frost Protected Shallow […]

What Size Posts Does My Building Need and How Deep Should They Be? Reader ANONYMOUS in BENTON writes: “1. If my building has 16 posts and posts are 12 feet apart do I need 4×6’s or 6×6’s? 2. If the plan shows 16 feet above grade how much do I need underground? 3. If the […]

Vinyl Gable Vents for Pole Barns Attic venting for post frame (pole barn) buildings is a challenge which can be resolved by the use of vinyl gable vents. Reader KEN in BERRYTON writes: “I have a pole barn with the ribbed siding, 3/4″ high ribs at 9″ spacing, with two smaller ribs in-between at 3″ […]

A Real Life Case for Pole Barn Bollards My long-time readers will remember my expounding upon why bollards should be strategically placed around post frame (pole barn) buildings where big things might hit them and go boom. In the event my earlier article did not thoroughly sink in, here is a real life example of […]

Splashwood™ Reader MIKE in ORLANDO writes: “Dear Pole Barn Guru, I bought a 38×42 Pole Barn kit from a reputable supplier. The posts are 8″ x 8″ – but do not have the AWPA markings that you describe in your Blog. These posts have a tag stapled to the end that says “SPLASHWOOD, Saltwater Splash […]

Today’s blog discusses double skirt boards, siding options and foundation plans. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: The pole building garage at the house I bought has two skirt boards. Can I remove the interior board to remove the dirt easier and put quikrete in its place. There is a 5” gap between the wall and the […]

My Pole Barn is a Sauna in Summer- and needs ventilation! “Hey there Pole Barn Guru, got a question about ventilation. Just bought a house with a pole barn on the property. I believe it’s only about a year old. 30 x 32.  It has no soffits or windows, only a standard garage door and […]

Why It Is Essential to Supervise Professional Installers In an ideal dream world, one would be able to hire a professional installer and know the job would be done right, without the need for hands on supervision. RYAN in ELLENSBURG recently contracted out the roof steel installation of his new Hansen Pole Building kit package […]

Isolating Pole Barn Poles From Concrete Slabs The fear factor – comes up again and again in construction. Today’s fear is a concrete slab being poured against the poles (columns) of an existing pole barn will cause the columns to decay. “We have a 25 year old pole barn with 12 main 8×8 poles sunk […]