Humor me here – do a Google, Yahoo or Bing search for either “Free Pole Barn Plans” or “Free Pole Building Plans”. Up should come a million or so choices. With all of those possibilities, it has to be a great way to go….right? To begin with, keep in mind free pole barn plans are […]

Standard & Btr and #2 Graded Lumber Are Not the Same Although I had a couple of years’ experience in the prefabricated metal connector plated truss industry, my first opportunity to truly “fly solo” was when I was hired, at the end of August 1979 to manage the truss plant at what was then Lucas […]

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 NOT to Measure 5-1/2 Inches for a 2×6 My lovely bride is an RN (Registered Nurse) by training and profession. In medicine 100mg is 100mg, not 87.5mg and someone’s heart rate might be 80, not “somewhere between 80 and 120”. Wrapping her head around why a 2×6 is 1-1/2 inches by 5-1/2 inches just […]

Why True Pole Barn Price Shoppers are Never Satisfied I’ve learned a few things in my close to 40 years as a business owner or manager. One of the most important is, there is always some other provider who is willing to sacrifice quality and/or service to sell at a lower price. If everyone was […]

Screwing a Pole Building Together In 2001 I was working for a Northern Idaho pole building construction company. One of my clients was a building contractor from Moscow, Idaho. It seems he had a client he was building a home for in California, and needed a 5000 square foot pole building erected on the site, […]

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” […]

As a college teenager, the first “house” I owned was a single wide manufactured (aka mobile) home. It served its purpose at the time, as it was an economical starter home. I did some minor remodels to it – adding a coat closet by the front door and putting in air conditioning, but nothing as […]

Contrary to popular belief, Lorem Ipsum is not simply random text. It has roots in a piece of classical Latin literature from 45 BC, making it over 2000 years old. Richard McClintock, a Latin professor at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, looked up one of the more obscure Latin words, consectetur, from a Lorem Ipsum passage, […]

When my first born daughter Annie was alive, her favorite ride at Disneyland® was the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She and I spent an entire rainy evening riding it over-and-over as there were no lines and it was just a matter of getting from the exit back to the entrance to start all over again. […]

If it is On the Internet, It Must be True The internet is a great and wonderful place, a highway with a plethora of information rapidly available on nearly any subject. And for me, it has been my livelihood for the past dozen years. On the ‘net can be found websites like Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), or […]

My Truss Framing Does Not Match the Plans Every good set of pole building plans should have at least one page upon which is drawn a “cut through” view or cross section of the building. To read about what should be depicted on this page: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2011/10/pole-building-plans-101-interior-section-elevation/ or actually view an example at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/sample-plans.htm. One of […]

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” […]

The Importance of Temporary Truss Bracing Back in my early days in the prefabricated metal connector plated truss industry, one of my clients was the congregations of a church along Highway 95 in Hayden, Idaho. The project was for an entirely new building, with the work being done by primarily volunteer help, under the supervision […]

Did You Know Wood is Not a Renewable Resource? Yeah, I know. Anyone can basically put forth just about any statement they want and craft a defense to it which someone will believe! Of course this one was put forth in www.steelframing.org in one of their four times a year online issues of Framework. Reporting […]

Getting a quote on a sectional garage door? Or having one or more of them included either as part of a complete pole building kit package, or being provided by a builder? Chances are good they are not telling you this story…… About a decade ago, we had provided a pretty good sized (60’ x […]

Proper ventilation is one of the most overlooked, if not entirely ignored features when it comes to pole building. I’ve written about ventilation previously, read more at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2014/02/pole-building-ventilation/) For many pole builders and pole building kit providers, their idea of a ridge vent is to just omit the closed cell form fitted closures which should […]

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” […]

Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Building Officials Building Officials…..these words alone spark fear in the hearts of some folks, although they shouldn’t. Your local Building Inspector or Plans checker is there to help make certain the next building project undertaken by you, your neighbors or friends is Code compliant – protecting the safety of […]

National Lampoon’s Vacation In the iconic 1983 movie National Lampoon’s Vacation, the Griswold family plans a trip to Wally World to see Marty Moose Just like the Griswold’s plans, sometimes best laid plans for buildings don’t come out just as anticipated. Wrong turns are made, dimensions sometimes go astray. Face it. In life, stuff happens. […]

Common Sense – It Isn’t Common Any More As reported in the West Frankfort, Illinois Daily American, in an article posted November 12, 2014 by Leigh M. Caldwell: “The much-discussed ordinance establishing codes for mobile homes, modular homes, portable buildings and pole barns will go back before city commissioners tonight for a vote. West Frankfort’s […]

Here’s How I Did It The full title of the book is, “Here’s How I Did It! World’s Top Experts Share Their Stories, Insights and Perspectives” by Raam Anand. It is available at Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Heres-How-Did-Insights-Perspectives-ebook/dp/B00OUVDFL6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1415731572&sr=8-2&keywords=Here%27s+How+I+Did+It As Mike the Pole Barn Guru, I’m highly flattered to have been selected to author a chapter in Volume II […]

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” […]

Michael Perry is a Wisconsin author, humorist and intermittent pig farmer. Below I have excerpted from his November 10, 2014 article in the Wisconsin State Journal, “Weather just might call for a torpedo heater”. For more about Michael Perry’s work see www.sneezingcow.com “Nothing captures the changing seasons like that moment when your cousin the carpenter […]

When the Requests Are Interesting My encouragement to potential clients is to share with us your troubles and your goals – and let us structurally design for you the best solution which is a marriage between wants, needs, budget and available space. Finding happiness in a new building, is much akin to success at finding […]