Home >> Menards

Tag Archives: Menards

Don’t Use Metal Building Insulation

When Good Information Gets into the Wrong Hands

When I want something done right, I go to an expert. I’ve got a friend working on re-restoration of my 1950 Chevy pickup truck right now. My friend happens to have taught auto restoration at a college for several years. When I talk with him about my truck, I hope I sound half as intelligent when I talk to people about their pole buildings. He really knows his “pooh”.

I actually do know more than just a passing amount about post frame construction and what does and does not work. Unlike some folks.

Please read on:

One of our clients had gotten some information from Menard’s on what was referred to as R-8 vinyl insulation – reported (by our client) to seemingly be used to insulate non-insulated overhead doors. To find out why this would NOT be a good idea: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2012/12/insulated-overhead-doors/).

Our client’s intent was to use this product to insulate the walls of his new pole building.

The client’s Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rick forwarded to me the information they were provided by the folks at Menard’s (https://www.menards.com/msds/110522_001.pdf). The product turned out to be exactly what I guessed it actually was – Metal Building Insulation!

I’ve railed about Metal Building Insulation being used to insulate buildings with steel roofing and/or siding previously https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2011/11/metal-building-insulation-in-pole-buildings-part-i/. But, it sounds like it is due to be brought up again.

The product description from Guardian Building Products (www.GuardianBP.com) sounds like some pretty great stuff! It, “Reduces Energy Costs, Helps Control Condensation, Improves Noise Control, Provides Enhanced Light Reflectance and Can Be Left Exposed”!

The nifty little table gives available products by R-value, thickness and width. What the average consumer will not understand is the recovered R-values of these products are guaranteed prior to installation! There is even a small asterisk following R-Value on the table which leads to a very fine print footnote: Preinstalled values.

In the “Technical Data” box, it references Fire hazard Classification with three asterisks leading to another small footnote, “Excludes white vinyl faced fiberglass” – which is what most Metal Building Insulation is!

Oh…and don’t let this footnote slide by: “NOTE: Condensation blanket is NOT sold as a thermal barrier. The insulating value of the product is negligible and should NOT be utilized in conditioned or semi-conditioned buildings where thermal performance of any degree is required.”

As my Mother used to say, “…’Nuff said…” until the next time I hear someone wants to use metal building insulation under their wall steel!

This entry was posted in Insulation and tagged Menards, condensation blanket, R-value, wall steel insulation on May 15, 2015 by admin.

How to Vet Pole Building Suppliers

How to Properly Vet Pole Building Suppliers

Whether planning a single car garage or a post frame (pole) building larger than an acre, your hard earned money is going to be invested in it. Even if you decide a Hansen Pole Building is not the right fit for you, it is important to both the industry and me personally for no one to be either scammed, or to get less in quality or service than expected.

I’ve explained how to check out pole building contractors previously: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/07/contractor-6/

When bringing new team members on board, I encourage them right up front to check us out thoroughly. The methods they have used to find out about us, are the same ones you can use to check out other pole building suppliers.

WEBSITE

This is 2023 and the internet has been used commercially for over two decades, do you actually want to do business with a company which does not have a website? Even an unprofessional website is a harbinger of potential pitfalls. Poor grammar, misspellings and bad punctuation are not signs of a business which will be paying attention to important details – yours!

If there is not a physical business address listed on the website – RUN!!! There is a reason they are hiding from you (and possibly lots of other people). If there is a physical address – Google it and see if it looks like a real business.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Look for the business on Facebook. You can tell a lot about any business by their social media presence.

Do they have videos posted on YouTube? How about photos on Pinterest?

INTERNET

Type in the name of the business in a Google, Yahoo or Bing search and start reading. When you search for Hansen Pole Buildings there are not just one or two links listed – there are hundreds!

Type in the name of the business and “complaints” or “reviews” and read them. I recently looked up a business which also supplies pole building kit packages and found over 1,000 complaints on a single website – and not a single one of them showed as being resolved!

Type in the phone number or numbers listed on the company website in any search engine. This often will bring up other businesses which may be affiliated with the same number. Check them out too – while the record may be “clean” in one place, if it is dirty somewhere else, the problems could become yours.

CONNECT

Call the numbers on the website and send email. If you don’t at least hear back, in some fashion – “Houston, we have a problem!”

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU and NATIONAL FRAME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION

www.BBB.org allows consumers to see if a business is an accredited member, as well as a complaint history. Every business which truly respects its clients should be a BBB member.

National Frame Builders Association (NFBA) members care about their industry, they make a financial commitment to support advancements in research and technology.

You can read more about both of these at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/10/post-frame-2/

Considering the average pole building kit package is well over a $40,000 investment, if it takes an hour to properly vet pole building suppliers and you do not get ripped off – it may very well be the most money you have ever made per hour!

This entry was posted in Pole Building How To Guides and tagged Lowes, Menards, pole barn kit supplier, pole barn supplier on January 21, 2015 by admin.

My VersaTube Pole Building Collapsed!

I’ve previously expressed concerns about light gauge “carport” type buildings (read more at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/05/carports/).

(My advance apologies for the misleading title, it was used by the complainee below – VersaTube® buildings are NOT pole buildings!!)

Whilst doing some ‘net surfing, I recently came across this posting at www.pissedcustomer.com:

“I purchased a metal frame building from Versa Tube, which their engineers designed for the area of Minnesota I live in. The building collapsed!

I purchased a VersaTube metal frame building from Menards in Hermantown, Minnesota. The building was designed by the engineers at VersaTube, for the area of Minnesota I live in. The building was 32′ wide X 36′ long and 12.5′ tall. I purchased the building in September 2013 and it was built that same month.

On Febraury 21, 2014 only 6 months after the construction of the building, it collapsed during a snowfall. The warranty states “The VersaTube Product Pledge What exactly is a Product Pledge? It’s quite simple . .

. the Pledge is our way of showing that we’re proud of our products and the level of quality that they represent. Your building will go through an extensive inspection process prior to leaving our plant, but if any component should not meet your expectations, we’ll be glad to replace the part at no charge within 30 days of purchase. The only criteria that must be met is that you bought the building from VersaTube, the damage wasn’t caused by customer modifications or mishandling, and that the building was erected within 4 months of purchase.

This section of the Pledge applies to any of the materials supplied with our building kits for one year from the date of purchase. The second part of the VersaTube Product Pledge provides a 20 year structural warranty on all framing components of our buildings from the date of purchase. Of course, the defect can’t be caused by customer modifications or negligence, an unanticipated Act of God or nature, an accident, or any type of internal or external impact. Improper assembly or installation may also void the warranty.

The customer is responsible for performing standard building maintenance and inspections on a regular basis. We reserve the right to repair or replace any part that might not meet expectations. VersaTube is proud to put our name on the buildings we manufacture for our customers and stand behind their quality with our industry leading Product Pledge.” I have contacted VersaTube, and they are not willing to honor the Warranty. VersaTube told me that I should file a claim with my homeowners’ insurance company.

The building was designed by VersaTube Engineers for the part of the country I live in before I ever built it. Now they are saying that it has been an abnormally snowy winter and because of this, they don’t have to honor the warranty. We have not broken any snowfall records in Saginaw, Minnesota this year. These buildings should not be sold to customers in Minnesota or other states that get snowfall.

VersaTube uses Homeowners Insurance as a copout to honor their warranty. I paid 6300.00 for the metal frame from Menards.

Menards tells me that all warranty issues go directly thru VersaTube.”

From The Pole Barn Guru:

This is my humble opinion only:

Building owner – should have taken one look at this “thing” and realized there was no way it would ever withstand any significant amount of snow. Unless registered engineer sealed drawings for the design loads where the building was to be located were provided with the building purchase this, “their engineers designed for the area of Minnesota I live in”, was merely a poor assumption upon the part of the buyer.

Menards® – once again just me, I would personally have a very difficult time selling a building to a client which I did not have total faith in its ability to adequately carry the climactic loads where it would be located.

This is a case of, if it looks cheap, and the price is cheap, maybe it IS cheap! Want an affordable, permanent building which WILL stand up to the elements – then a pole building is probably the solution! And yes, you can get engineer sealed drawings plus full calculations on any pole building from Hansen Buildings.

This entry was posted in Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Planning, Rebuilding Structures, Building Styles and Designs and tagged pole building, carports, Menards on August 12, 2014 by admin.