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 or Saturday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with […]

Tuesday afternoon I had to get from Cape May, New Jersey to Lewes, Delaware. The choices were a very long circuitous drive, or to take the ferry. Being from the Pacific Northwest, I am used to ferries, they take millions of passengers annually on a myriad of routes across the Puget Sound. I am also […]

My regular “day job” is as Technical Director for Hansen Pole Buildings. This is a fancy title for, “the guy who solves problems when things go astray”. DIYers are frankly hilarious, as they come holding hat-in-hand saying things like, “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve done wrong, it has to be the worst mistake ever!” In […]

For those who have been hiding under rocks, or do not have internet access (in which case you are not reading this article), Groupon (derived from “group coupon”) swept onto the scene in November 2008. Groupon offers one “Groupon” per day in each of the markets it serves. The Groupon works as an assurance contract […]

I was blessed to have been a member of the then American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) Structural Committee back in the latter half of the 1980s. Blessed because there were many brilliant engineers on the committee who were very focused on moving what had been “pole barns” into the Code conforming “post frame” buildings. […]

New!  The Pole Barn Guru’s mailbox is overflowing with questions.  Due to high demand, he is answering questions on Saturdays as well as Mondays. 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 […]

New!  The Pole Barn Guru’s mailbox is overflowing with questions.  Due to high demand, he is answering questions on Saturdays as well as Mondays. 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 […]

Much of the year I am a “road warrior” – spending two weeks out of every month on planes, trains and automobiles, the next two back at home. Our youngest daughter (now a college sophomore) has threatened more than once to stop by the house when I am away and paste my photo on a […]

The recent National Frame Building Association (NFBA) 2014 Frame Building Expo was a reunion event for me with several long-time friends. One of these is Ferg Evans. In the 1990’s I was elected to the first of five terms I was to serve on the Board of Directors for the Machine Stress Rated Lumber Producers […]

The original Hansen Pole Buildings column encasement design, had the pressure preservative columns placed to the base of an augured hole. Pre-mix concrete was then poured around the lower 16-18 inches of the column to form a bottom collar. The bond strength between concrete and wood was sufficient to enable the assembly to resist both […]

I’ve been buying products from Weyerhaeuser since I got out of college in 1977. Weyerhaeuser has always been cutting edge – coming up with unique ideas and products. I know I freaked out the owner of the lumber yard where I managed a prefabricated metal connector plated truss plant for, when in 1980 I ordered […]

New!  The Pole Barn Guru’s mailbox is overflowing with questions.  Due to high demand, he is answering questions on Saturdays as well as Mondays. 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 […]

New!  The Pole Barn Guru’s mailbox is overflowing with questions.  Due to high demand, he is answering questions on Saturdays as well as Mondays. 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 […]

When I was a “newbie” to the pole building industry, pretty much everyone was nailing steel roofing and siding using ring shank nails with a neoprene washer beneath the head. In theory it was all great and wonderful. In reality there were some issues: No matter how expert the hammer swinger was, there is no […]

Having spent two decades directly involved in the prefabricated metal connector plated roof truss industry (with titles running from just above the janitor, to owner of two plants) steel truss plates have always fascinated me. From Pro-Footer® comes the UP-Lift plate, which is an ingenious adaptation of truss plate technology. They are designed to help […]

FootingPad™ Composite Footing System In the late 1980’s I was a member of the Board of Directors for the National Frame Building Association (NFBA). Serving along with me was Glen George. The recent 2014 National Frame Building Expo held in Nashville, TN, was like old home week for me, as I reunited with several people […]

Kynar® One word says it all – Kynar®. I could extol the aesthetic reasons to use Kynar® painted steel for longer than anyone would be willing to listen. Polyvinylidene fluoride is acknowledged as the premium resin for coil coatings. Popularly known by its original trade name Kynar®, is a PVDF resin-based coating or finish, a […]

New!  The Pole Barn Guru’s mailbox is overflowing with questions.  Due to high demand, he is answering questions on Saturdays as well as Mondays. 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 […]

New!  The Pole Barn Guru’s mailbox is overflowing with questions.  Due to high demand, he is answering questions on Saturdays as well as Mondays. 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 […]

In today’s marketplace, most pole buildings are roofed and sided with silicon-modified polyester paint or SMP. SMPs create a middle ground between PVDFs (Polyvinylidene Fluorides) and polyesters. Also known as silicone-protected and siliconized polyesters, SMPs use polymerized silicone to improve polyester’s chalk performance and gloss retention. Companies initially experimented with varying levels of silicone, and […]

Red, white, blue, green, gold, beige and brown. When I was first in the pole building industry, these were the color choices. While they may sound rather limited, given the palette of availabilities today – it was a huge improvement over the original color – bare galvanized! These early colors had a commonality – they […]

Thermal Insulation for Wood-finish Look Ceilings New from Prodex® Construction Solutions is a rustic style insulation for interior decoration. One of the fastest and safest ways to add a touch of seduction to pole buildings of any type or style using interior decoration involves adding comfortable environments, new textures and contrasts. Rustic decoration elements are […]

Government Gone Wild It never ceases to amaze me how politics does (or does not) work. Here is an ongoing, real life story involving a Hansen Pole Buildings client in Illinois. From an article by Sarah Hayden in the April 22, 2014 Moline, Illinois Dispatch/Argus: “Trustees on Monday also took an emergency vote an unauthorized […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I’m very interested in doing business with you, I just have a few questions. I originally asked for a quote of a pole barn of 200×50 I believe it was, my question is, can your buildings be added on to? Would we be able to start with something much smaller and […]

I have a serious case of “like” for The Home Depot®. When my children were little, every time we got near one, they would start to chant (in unison), “Home Depot…..Home Depot”. Yesterday morning I was in The Home Depot® at Grand Junction, Colorado. It was a special moment, when a gentleman came up to […]