Daylighting  Windows are more than just a building’s eyes to the world. Properly located they can also save on your pole building’s utility bills as well as increasing comfort and productivity.  Daylighting is the use of nature’s sunshine, rather than bulbs, to light interior spaces. Many variables need to be considered to maximize the benefits. […]

More than a fair number of pole building kits end up having side sheds added to one or more sides or ends – after the fact. Now this all may sound like a pretty simple process, just plant another row of poles along what will be the new low side of the shed, throw up […]

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” […]

Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rick has been working with a client who has a nose for knowledge – and I thank both of them for sharing information with me, so I can pay it forward. This particular client is weighing the use of Perma Columns against the more traditional design solution for post frame (pole […]

Stairs – One step at a time… When I was working for Coeur d’Alene Truss in the 1970’s, I would physically go measure buildings (when requested) to make sure the building being framed, matched the plans which had been provided for the truss takeoff. One of my favorite framing crews only asked me out to […]

If Ignorance is Bliss….. Then these folks are truly happy. From a July 21, 2015 article in the Salina (KS) Journal by Tim Horan, “City approves exterior plaza for field house”……. Salina Mayor Jon Blanchard said he wants the appearance of the field house to be unique. “It is going to be a building designed […]

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” […]

MSDS In the olden days, we were taught to look both ways before we went out in the street to play for the quarter dad offered us. Basically, we had personal responsibility – if we did something stupid, it was our own fault. MSDS is the Material Safety Data Sheet which actually is more than […]

Build to Match the Pole Building Plans Picture this, if you will….. A monitor style post frame (pole) building. The center portion is 24 feet wide by 48 feet long with a 24 foot eave height. On each side of the center is a 12 foot wide “wing”. The right wing is a roof only […]

Your Package is a Considerable Amount More! “I like your package a lot but it seems to be a considerable amount more than my other quotes. I have attached the one I received from 84 Lumber. A couple of things are a little different but the bottom line is considerably less. Please let me know […]

The beauty of what I do is I get to learn lots and lots of new stuff. And then I get to share it with my readers – which is even more fun! Today’s bright shiny new thing is the reverse gable porch. First, let us define what a reverse gable is. Picture this, if […]

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’ll never be mistaken for either Jamie Hyneman or Adam Savage of the Discovery Channel’s popular and long running series MythBusters, however I can occasionally do some debunking of urban (and rural) legends. I do have to admit, watching MythBusters can become addicting – especially when it can be tuned in on Netflix and watched […]

Trivia Time at Hansen Pole Buildings My children have often accused their father of knowing more worthless trivia than anyone else on the planet. Having stumbled across an occasional television game show, I have to say the title certainly long belongs to others than me. However from time to time I do know some weird […]

Every Hansen Pole Building Kit Package comes with building plans which are drafted by a real live human being! They are then reviewed not once, but twice, by upper level team members – who catch just about every errant line. To insure the final building plans are correct (usually it is an issue of “no, […]

Apparently this is my week for learning brand new stuff, and as luck usually has it, when I get to learn – it is bushel baskets full! A Hansen Pole Buildings client is constructing a post frame building home in Clallum County, Washington. In discussions with the local Building Officials, he was advised he would […]

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” […]

Dear Readers: For those of you missing the past two days, or yesterday’s blog at most, please back up a day or two to bring you up to speed for my response to a seemingly heated rejoinder by Mike Burkholder of Ohio Timberland Products to a blog I wrote.  This is published in it’s entirety. […]

If you didn’t read my blog yesterday – I suggest you may want to flip back and read that one first – so you know where I am coming from …. And Now a Word from…..  The following is a word-for-word comment on my article of June 17, 2015, which was received June 23:  “Dear […]

A Day Which Will Live in Infamy Most United States citizens who have at least taken a high school U.S. History class will recognize this line from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Dec. 8, 1941 speech given to a joint session of Congress. For those of you who need a quick refresher: https://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p=dec.+7+1941+roosevelt%27s+speech I know I […]

New Guides to Wood Construction in High Wind Areas My long time readers will probably recognize the name Dr. Frank Woeste, as he has appeared in a plethora of my articles. When it comes to wood design, and especially post frame buildings, Frank is at the top of the game. For the curious, here is […]

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” […]

When Sometimes Submitting all the Right Stuff, Is not Enough I recently wrote about the lack of challenges involving acquiring a Building Permit in some jurisdictions: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2015/06/building-permit-4/. The process can be as simple as no process at all (you can build anything you want without a permit) to as difficult as feeling signing over your […]

When an Overhang Maybe Isn’t an Overhang Recently Hansen Pole Buildings Designer Doug forwarded to me a quote one of our clients had received from a pole building company located about a four-hour drive from our offices in Browns Valley, MN. To both Doug and myself, the quote appeared to be highly lacking in important […]

Once Upon a Time My nearly four year old grandson Colton overnighted with Grandma and Poppa last night. Colton is Jake’s son (you might remember Jake from various pole building adventures such as https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2012/07/construction-time-2/). Colton likes Papa Mike just a little, so we got into some serious pre-bedtime reading and like every good story, they […]