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 for yours to come up on a future Monday or Saturday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.

Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:Hello, I see you are head quartered in Browns Valley MN, but do not have any Certified Builders in your home state. Why is this?

Thanks. READY TO BUILD IN MN

DEAR READY: As Browns Valley is a border town, we are actually physically located in South Dakota – which is neither actually here nor there. Strangely enough, we provide more pole building kit packages the further we get away from our office – areas like Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New York and Pennsylvania have always been among the states where we seemingly deliver the most buildings.

The why? Most future building owners in Minnesota (and South Dakota) seem to be more than capable of constructing their own buildings and prefer to do the work themselves. Whether you hire a builder or do the work yourself varies greatly from region to region. Hansen Buildings designs custom kits for the average homeowner to construct their own building. Our expertise is in getting you exactly the building you want and need, and not a “standard” or “canned” kit. We are not contractors in any state. If you are not so inclined, and need a builder, your Hansen Building Designer can assist you in finding one.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:I am now considering using road base gravel for the flooring, packing it tight with a plate compacter. I am told that our property taxes depend on flooring and if cement it is considered a “permanent” structure and taxed by its square footage, finished or not. If dirt or gravel it is simply an agricultural building and not taxed the same way.

Are there any recommendations for using road base gravel flooring like this ?? MEANDERING IN MONTANA

DEAR MEANDERING: I’d never make my choice of floor based upon whether or not I had to pay taxes on it or not. It should be based upon what is going to provide the most satisfactory surface – which is usually going to be a concrete slab on grade poured over a compacted base and a quality vapor barrier.

In the event the choice ends up being road base gravel, I’d recommend having the top of the gravel even with the bottom of the pressure treated splash plank – because odds are good the concrete slab is eventually going to be desired.