Information for this article includes contributions from a recent article by Val Van Meter in The Winchester Star. “With snow melting from the record-breaking winter storm, Clarke County is collecting information on the damage it has left behind. At that time, the information will be sent to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. The state […]

No, I did not hit my head on anything. My general opinion of Planning Departments is they are happiest when a property owner’s ability to use their property as they best see fit is highly restricted. Changes to Hutchinson, Minnesota city codes allowing larger garages on some residential lots gained unanimous recommendations from the Planning […]

Please just say in ain’t true….. https://www.mulligansrun.com/ourbarn.php I’ve ranted more than once about what I will term as “blow away” carports. These buildings are not permanent structures in any sense of the term, and due to their small footprint, are generally exempt from the requirement of acquiring a Building Permit. For those who have just […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” […]

I swore I would never golf. My Dad was a scratch golfer. And when I was in architecture school, they told me to be a good architect I would need to learn to golf. I quit school. Seriously. Aww…but lust will do strange things to a man. I met a woman (she is now my […]

There are five key things dairy cows need – good air quality, a dry comfortable resting place, access to good feed and water and solid footing. Sadly, when construction time comes, sacrifices often get made which are less than ideal for the cow. Any changes which need to be made should be based upon what is […]

Reverberation Room in a Pole Barn Nestled away in the outskirts of Menomonie, WI stands a secluded century-old barn surrounded by more than 100 acres of farmland. Instead of sheltering livestock, feed and farm equipment, the barn houses drums, guitars and other instruments and recording gear which lines the old, wooden walls. Drummer John Richardson, […]

Pressure Treating Beyond CCA My friend Sharon Thatcher is the editor of Rural Builder magazine. This article, written by her, was published in the December edition of Rural Builder and is so well done, I felt it was well worth sharing. It’s been nearly 12 years since new measures were put in place to help […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” […]

Many high schools offer to their students Vocational Education classes. In the case of Logan Elm High School of Circleville, Ohio – instructor Gary Mitchel’s  vocational industrial maintenance class builds pole barns. Mitchel’s students have now completed ten pole buildings for local residents over the past five and a half years. You can read more […]

My long time readers have heard the stories of my framing contractor father and uncles. My dad was the oldest, and I cannot begin to count the number of times he spoke highly of his younger brother Gil’s abilities to walk up nearly anything. Dad would tell stories of Gil walking up beams set at […]

In the days of my youth, my father and uncles were the largest (and best) framing contractors in the Spokane, Washington area. There was a time when (at least to the builders concerned) a particular field inspector was coming off as being arbitrary in his enforcement of the Building Code. The situation got to be […]

Skylights in steel roofs, whether FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic), Polycarbonate or Lexan pose enough structural problems to warrant not using them. Here is another reason, which I had not considered, but there is a valuable safety reason presented in this article by Gregory Havel appeared January 11, 2016 in Fire Engineering®. Skylights on the roof […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” […]

Welcome to part three of our three part series on determining the most effective building weather resistant barriers. Let’s take a look at the best weather resistant barrier choices: BETTER CHOICES While the textured housewraps listed above do a good job of keeping water off the sheathing and from entering the house, if you want more […]

Welcome to part two of our three part series on determining the most effective building weather resistant barriers. Let’s take a look at a few weather resistant barrier choices: WHAT NOT TO USE Don’t skimp on the weather resistant barrier “WRB”—either the product you use or the care you take to install it. Any WRB […]

How to Determine the Most Effective Weather Resistant Barrier for a Building With more and more post frame (pole) buildings being used for residences, offices and other conditioned buildings – weather barriers (think Housewraps) have become a hot topic. Matt Risinger wrote the article below for the Journal of Light Construction, and whilst it is […]

High profile folks with lots of photos of their pole barns online make for easy targets. Gus Van Sant has always marched to the beat of his own drummer, mixing unconventional movies like “Even Cowgirls Get The Blues,” “Drugstore Cowboy” and “My Own Private Idaho” in with more commercial fare like “Good Will Hunting,” “Finding Forrester” […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” […]

Building Officials Are Your Friend Back in 1972 the late Jim Croce recorded and released the song, “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”. As recorded, the refrain goes like this: “You don’t tug on superman’s cape You don’t spit into the wind You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger And you don’t mess […]

Gross Misrepresentation? Okay, so the title is a play on words – which you shall come to see shortly. Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Dave Gross (get it) has been discussing a post frame building kit package with a client in Washington state. The client has also gotten a quote from a company from San Antonio, […]

Why I Truly Love Competitor’s Websites When my bride and I were first married, we did the bulk of our grocery shopping at the closest supermarket – an Albertson’s. Not long afterwards, a Safeway was built across the street. My wife commented upon how this must have upset Albertson’s. To the contrary, I replied, healthy […]

One of the most surprising things about steel is that it has an expansion coefficient nearly equal to that of modern concrete. If this were not so, it would cause problems because of additional longitudinal and perpendicular stresses as the temperature changed following setting. Although rebar has ribs which bind it mechanically to the concrete, it […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” […]

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays & Saturdays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with […]