Progress in Technology: Dirt Late Model Auto Racing I am not as mechanically challenged as my lovely bride would have people believe. Modern technology has taken some things to the point where the average person just cannot do the work. Personal case in point, here is the story: I have been riding motorcycles since not […]

Should I Hire a Local Engineer and Work With a Lumber Yard? Let’s hope not. Here is the email which triggered this article: “Hello,  I am building a 50×60 pole building with 22′ eaves. I’m shopping right now to either hire a local PE to design the structure and work with my local lumber yard to […]

Solutions! The Key to a Successful Post Frame Building When one considers the tremendous number of individual components and the thousands of people who touch these pieces from concept to jobsite, it is amazing anything ever gets built! I ran some numbers once – tracked the rough path of all of the parts for a […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I would like to see if there is a product out there for the back of my barn. My barn is set up with two stall doors. The back door allows the horses to go into their pastures 24/7. I currently have tin on wooden doors and this cuts them up […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Will I have problem with moisture in the wall if I nail drywall to the gerts and leave the 6×6 poles exposed? I may put a stove for heat in it while I am in it occasionally. I have insulted the roof. Concrete floor. JAMES in NEW ALBANY DEAR JAMES: Provided […]

Hansen Pole Buildings’ Managing Partner Eric had messaged me this morning to ask if I had ever heard of FRT lumber for roof trusses.  While I had never (in my days in the truss industry) manufactured any trusses using Dricon® Fire Retardant Treated (FRT) wood, I am familiar with it. Whether you’re using plywood or lumber, […]

More and more consumers are seeing the practicality, unique architectural and energy savings advantages as well as cost savings from a post frame home. This includes loyal reader Brian who writes: Hello, my wife and I are considering building a post frame home. We contacted a designer who actually had plans for a home that […]

Reader JUSTIN in MONROE writes: “Hello. Hopefully an easily answered question? I have built a 52×30 post frame, steel siding and roof. Walls have Tyvek between steel and girts. Roof is steel directly on purlins with no barrier of any kind. It has a concrete slab and I plan to periodically heat it during winter […]

This is construction, things happen. The true mark of how any particular project goes is not everything going perfectly without a hitch, it is the ability to solve challenges when they arise. The scenario below is one which I have never had a DIY person do (shout out to all of you who are putting […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hey Guru! I’m getting ready to build a pole barn and I will have to remove a tree. The tree is basically right in the middle of what the floor will be. I will be putting a concrete floor in and was wondering do I have to completely remove the stump […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I would like to rip off my current roof of trusses that are made of 2x4s 2 feet on center with new one of mono-pitched trusses that are every 4-ft or less on center. The roofing material on top of the new trusses would be a SIP panel of some sort. […]

Reader BRAD in SEATTLE writes: “My 30×48 pole building is about 25 years old, and the roof looks in need of paint. Some small scratches and corroded patches near the gutter rail. I have pressure washed with pretreating bleach solution. That removed the green pollen/algae patches around the roof. I live in the Seattle area.  I wonder about […]

No Columns for Overhead Doors There are a few clients out there who leave parts of one or more walls open, with the idea of enclosing them at a later date. Most often this is done with the idea of being able to save money, however it is not always much of a money saver, […]

Thoughts on a Floor:   Brought to you by reader ANDREW in LEBANON: “Hi! I am looking at purchasing a post frame building to use as a new home. We are well on our way with being under contract for the land and one of your recommended builders is meeting me at the site this […]

Re-purposing buildings is a popular American past time, as evidenced by the proliferation of big box lumber stores across the country. Here is a story about a new owner of an existing Hansen Pole Buildings’ horse barn, who is contemplating it becoming a home. Tim writes: “Hello, I just purchased a property that has a […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have home plans for a stick build but, am interested in the savings of a Pole Home. I was wondering if you can help me incorporate our design into a pole design. Thanks ROGER DEAR ROGER: In a word – YES. Keep in mind, what we do is the structural […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: We live in Pacific county in Washington state and wondering what size of truss pole we would be looking at needing for a 60 ft truss. We are in a wind exposure “C” and trusses will be on 12′ centers. The building we are planning will be 60’w x 48’d with […]

Purlin Questions for the Engineering Department For those readers just joining us, go back to Tuesday through Friday’s blogs to catch up to the following story… Our client (after discussing possible corrections with one or more builders) poses this: “I have two questions I’d like to ask of the engineering dept. 1.) Is there an […]

The Straight and Narrow of Fascia:  Building Disaster Part III Look at the board on the far right. The one which resembles the coastline of New Jersey. It is what is known as a fascia board and it is pretty important it be straight. Why? Because not only do vinyl soffit panels attach to the underside […]

There ARE some truly excellent builders… This just isn’t one of them. In our last episode, the ‘builder’ had botched the shearwalls. A minor issue compared to what comes next. This building was designed to have enclosed overhangs on all four sides.  On the endwalls the roof purlins project over the top of the end […]

Sometimes There Are Just Not Words to Express…  Building Disaster How horrifically a build can be botched.   In a scene from 2013’s box office flop The Lone Ranger – Tonto (played by Johnny Depp) and the Lone Ranger (played by Armie Hammer) the heroes get themselves buried in the sand up to their necks. […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Could you tell me the pitch of the roof…for small pole barn…..front wall is 10 foot high…back wall is 8 foot high…rafter span is 13 feet. HERBERT in HAMPTON DEAR HERBERT: Roof slopes are expressed as the number of inches of rise per 12 inches of run. 24 inches of rise […]

The photo you are witnessing happens to be an example of a poor installation job done by a “professional” builder. I use the term professional here in quotes, because anyone who is being paid a sum of money (or perhaps receiving a horse in trade) in exchange for providing a service could be deemed as […]

When it comes to pole barns (or more appropriately post frame buildings) most people’s first thought is they are going to have steel siding. There are numerous alternatives to steel siding, amongst them being vinyl. According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), vinyl (including vinyl-covered aluminum) was the most common principal siding […]

This article was triggered by an article I read recently by Karen L. Chandler at www.readingeagle.com in regards to a post frame building in Perry County, PA., excerpted below: “In other business, attorney Zachary A. Morey of Hoffert & Konis PC of Reading asked the supervisors to consider allowing an addition to Peter Lombardi’s pole […]