A Wind Uplift Story This idiom is most usually associated with trying to revive interest in a hopeless issue. Those of you gentle readers with former spouses in your lives may very well have some understanding of this issue. Well, sometimes there actually IS a dead horse….. Many years ago, my future ex-wife and I […]

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” […]

This is more about the amount of detail which is incorporated into the Hansen Pole Buildings’ Construction Manual, than it is about the installation of outside closures, read below, and then I will explain why. “Place a Ridge Cap piece centered on building peak. Make a pencil mark at lower edges at both building ends, […]

Adding on to a Concrete Block Building It was Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rick who came up with the money question today. He wanted to know if I had ever attached a single sloping post frame (pole) building shed roof, to the eave side of a concrete block building. Whether concrete block, tilt up, stick […]

There are lots of little pieces involved when it comes to the assembly of a pole building, which the average lay person would have little or no knowledge of. Some of them don’t make a difference until the lack of them (or their failure to perform) becomes apparent. One of these unsung heroes is the […]

We, in the industry, have always known intuitively of the superior lifespan of steel roofing, as opposed to other material types. Now there are studies which back up what we already knew. Researchers from the Metal Construction Association (MCA) hosted an educational session sharing the results of the association’s breakthrough study on the service life […]

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” […]

One of my loyal readers asked this question in regards to a previous blog post: “We have a pole barn/shed which is 50 X96 plus an additional 16 leant-to tied to posts which creates a total building size of 66 X96. Question is, Can I take out the knee braces on the side with the […]

First the disclaimer – the photo is NOT of a Hansen Pole Building. It was provided and constructed by a small firm in Southern Missouri.  How small are they? Small enough to not have a website! And, according to the Better Business Bureau (of which they are not members), the business is under a year […]

Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Mike Houska has been working with a client from a rural area near the Great Smoky Mountains. Mike sent this to Hansen Pole Buildings’ co-owner Eric, “See attached quote for xxx@xxxx.com. I had sent previous quote with end shed, overhangs, & windows but he then sent a competitor’s quote without those options. […]

I enjoy informed clients. The best ones  have done their homework with their Planning (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/01/planning-department-3/) and Building Departments (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/01/building-department-checklist/) before they began shopping. Then there are those who know just enough to be dangerous: “When we built 6 yrs ago, the contractor was stunned with how our snow load impacted his cost. 2ft footings with […]

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” […]

Engineer Kirk Grundahl recently wrote the following which appeared in the Construction Magazine Network: “A truss collapse can be devastating, not only to the immediate health of those on the job site, but to the installers’ confidence going forward. Training a crew in proper bracing techniques in a way that gets them past the negative […]

“ATTENTION: Now YOU Can Discover What They Don’t Want You To Know!” “Secrets of Pole Barn Warranties Revealed” Would you seriously want to purchase a new “big-ticket” product without a warranty? Just think about it for a moment…would you order a new car or truck without a warranty? Of course not. You wouldn’t even consider […]

Here are the words of Ginnie’s husband – someone who understands: “Aaaargh! We’re never moving again! What we thought was going to be an easy melding of two households into one, has proved to be a nightmare times two. Remember that 40′ x 60′ pole barn on the farm that I was bragging about, the […]

“Wanted – Pole Barn Builder, Carpenter, and skilled handyman to help me rebuild this 20+ year old pole barn that was recently taken down. It is 65′ x 100′. I need to lay it out, put in the holes, pour the concrete pole piers, and erect all the superstructure (including 65′ wide trusses), and the […]

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’m an old guy (at least to my kids) – I turn 58 on Monday. Myself and my childhood cronies all grew up riding bicycles everywhere, and none of us wore cycle helmets. Also, none of us, or anyone we knew, was damaged by crashing a bike and not having worn a helmet. Cycle helmets […]

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” […]

It didn’t take me long to figure out a building is basically just a structural framework with control layers. Yeah, there’s also electrical, plumbing, mechanical systems, and finishes, but the heart of a building is the stuff which holds it up and which moderates the flows of heat, air, and moisture between in and out. […]

I don’t watch much television. Other than it having limited entertainment value, we live in the sticks – so satellite or cable are really our only choices for any sort of reception. Being frequently on the road, and being busy people, we just can’t justify the expense. So, when I found images of the Food […]

In 1990, I had sold my first business – M & W Building Supply Company of Canby, Oregon and had retired to the city of my birth Spokane, Washington. At the time of my return, Spokane County had enacted an ordinance which greatly restricted the ability of home owners to use their own property as […]

Post frame (pole) buildings are unique in their ability to be constructed without having to pour a concrete slab floor. Often clients will opt to design their buildings without this floor, with the intention of saving money by pouring the floor at a later date. There are some times when this becomes a case of […]

Please, Don’t Let This be You I’ve preached for years about thoroughly checking out anyone or business thoroughly before committing to a large investment. Here is how to check out pole building suppliers: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/01/pole-building-suppliers/ And builders: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/07/contractor-6/ Apparently not everyone who is looking for a building contacts us, or at the least follows my advice. […]

It seems I am always reading – looking for new content to entertain, inform and enlighten the loyal readers of this column. One of the columns I read is “Ask The Builder” where readers send their questions to Tim Carter looking for advice – much like my Monday, “Ask the Pole Barn Guru” column. Recently, […]