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The Advantages of Post Frame Construction

The Advantages of Post Frame Construction

My friend Randy Chaffee wrote this and it is deserving of being shared.

Let’s dive into post frame (Pole Barn) construction. It’s a game-changer when it comes to durability, cost-effectiveness and speed. Forget the old days of just housing livestock or farm equipment. Today’s post frame structures are the go-to for workshops, retail spaces, horse and hobby barns, commercial and industrial…. and don’t forget the increasingly popular Barndominium.

So, why is everyone raving about it? First off, it’s fast. These buildings historically go up much quicker than traditional stick-built which can lead to savings on time and labor costs. And the design flexibility? It’s incredible! Without those pesky interior load-bearing walls, you can tweak and customize the space to your heart’s content.

You want to talk strength? Well today’s Post-Frame buildings are rock solid. When properly engineered, using treated solid sawn posts or engineered laminated columns, you can rest assured your building will meet the demands of both snow and wind loads. Today we have so many alternative foundation options for consideration that it’s easy to find the right combination of quality and price to fit your needs and budget.

So we can build strong, quickly and at an advantageous cost, but can we have an aesthetically pleasing building as well? That my friends is a resounding YES!

Porches and dormers are so easily accomplished. Decorative garage doors or beautiful Cross Buck sliders with or without windows create an amazing look. Add a cupola or two or three….. Spectacular! Horse barn? Line the sides with Dutch Doors to complete the look.

…and windows! Many options to let the light shine in. What about the newest craze…transoms up high between the poles! Such a unique look.

What about roofing options. Never in my 4+ decades have we seen the explosion of options as we have seen over the past few short years. So many patterns to choose from. Long life paint systems in standard or textured finish combined with long life fasteners make for a beautiful and sustainable building for decades. Standing seam, painted or stone coated shingles? So many options. Don’t worry about moisture… add a high quality synthetic underlayment or bubble foil for added protection.

Don’t forget siding. We now have board and baton, Dutch lap and so much more. It’s almost limitless what we can come up with. Dream it and a quality builder can likely make it happen.

Like the 1988 “this is not your father’s Oldsmobile” commercials, we are in an era where we can say “this is not your father’s pole barn”.

Let’s build Post-Frame my friends!

This entry was posted in Pole Building How To Guides, floorplans, Pole Barn Planning, Trusses, Building Interior, Budget, Uncategorized, Pole Barn Questions, Columns, Pole Barn Design, Pole Barn Homes, Roofing Materials, Barndominium, Constructing a Pole Building, Shouse and tagged , , , , , on by .

Will ICC Adopt a Pole-frame Appendix?

Will ICC Adopt a Pole-frame Appendix?

Reader MATT in PIERRE writes: “Is there any possibility that the ICC will adopt an appendix related to pole-frame buildings. We require engineering in our local jurisdiction at this time and it would be much simpler for customers who want to build a pole-barn if there was a way to construct these buildings without engineering. They do have an appendix for straw bale houses, of which I have seen exactly 0. Thank you!”

 

Kudos to your jurisdiction to require site specific, engineer sealed plans for pole (post) frame buildings. In my humble opinion, all post frame buildings should be engineered. This protects current and future building owners, building occupants and relieves building departments from potential liability issues. Engineering is actually an affordable investment, not an expense, and a good engineer will save their clients more from efficient use of materials, than what they were paid.

In a direct answer to your question – it would be highly unlikely, as our industry (unlike stick frame) is highly non-standardized and how buildings are built is as different as are those who construct them. There are also huge regional differences in construction techniques.

Columns can be embedded or mounted using ICC-ESR approved brackets to foundation walls, thickened edge slabs or piers. Common spacing of columns can range from every four feet to as great as 16 foot centers. Columns themselves can be round, solid sawn timbers, laminated (either by nails or actual glulams). Trusses can be built on site or prefabricated, attached to headers between columns (truss carriers) or aligned directly with columns and spaced from two to 16 feet or more on center.

Besides lack of standardization, post frame construction far exceeds building dimensional limitations as outlined in current model building codes (especially International Residential Code).

This entry was posted in Columns, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Building Department, Barndominium, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Footings, Budget, Professional Engineer and tagged , , , , on by .

Posts, Trusses and Costs, Slab Thermal Movement, and a Name

This Wednesday the Pole Barn Guru answers reader questions about use of one’s own posts, metal vs wood trusses, and cost of trusses, sealer for slab thermal movement, and what the proper name of a garage, storage, and living quarters would be.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: The barn is to be built in 78594. 60x40x15 with 12′ side extensions.
1. I want to use my own posts for the frame.
2. What trusses can be obtained (metal vs wood) for the roof?
3. What would the trusses cost for the barn in material? LESLIE in SEBASTIAN

DEAR LESLIE: In answer to your questions…

1) Why would you want to use your own posts, when we have available and affordable stronger glulaminated columns than anywhere else in America? https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2024/04/new-hansen-pole-building-roof-supporting-columns/

2) Having spent well over four decades deeply involved with prefabricated wood trusses, I have some direct experience. As far as cost – because we manufacture wood trusses in our plant and ship them with your lumber, they are more cost effective than steel trusses. Our steel trusses are manufactured in Tennessee, so you have two sets of freight costs. If freight was not a factor, it is probably a toss up for costs.

Wood trusses are subject to very strict quality control standards. Every span, of each and every order, must have quality control reports to document correct size, grade and species of lumber as well as correct thickness and dimensions of steel connector plates. Random third-party quality control inspections are done, to verify trusses being produced meet or exceed what is specified on engineer sealed truss drawings. Steel trusses, somehow have escaped this level of quality control (even though Building Codes specify third party inspections must be done).

3) We only provide trusses along with our complete building packages, please call Brenner at (605)432-8981 Monday morning to further discuss your building wants and needs.

 

Screeding ConcreteDEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am getting ready to pour a concrete slab in my 24’x30′ pole barn. I calculated the thermal contraction along the 30′ length to be just over 1/8″. Would it be a good idea to install a foam sill sealer type material onto the inside of the grade boards to accommodate any thermal movement of the slab? DAVID in WESTFIELD

DEAR DAVID: I would be placing R-10 rigid insulation vertically (at least down two feet), attached to inside of my pressure preservative treated splash, with top of insulation even with where top of slab will be. As far as thermal movement goes, this is why expansion joints are placed at 24 to 30 times thickness of slab. As an example a nominal four inch slab (3-1/2 inch actual), should have expansion joints every seven to eight feet.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: O great pole barn genius, what would I want to store an RV, also be at least a 2 car garage, and workshop, with a couple finished rooms for living quarters? What’s that beast called, and what should I budget for it low/high in KY? KIM in PAYNEVILLE

DEAR KIM: Thank you for your oh so kind words, I am humbled. As far as naming it – yours would be my first choice, some would call it a barndominium (especially if it has a kitchen and bathroom), others a shop house. Fully engineered post frame, modest tastes, DIY, budget roughly $75-85 per sft for conditioned spaces, $35 for all others. Does not include land, site prep, utilities, permits. Your Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer, Brenner Carlson will be reaching out to you to provide some firm numbers.

This entry was posted in Building Interior, Shouse, Budget, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Constructing a Pole Building, RV Storage, Pole Barn Planning, Barndominium, Trusses, Concrete, Shouse and tagged , , , , , , , on by .

Can Trees Cause Uneven Floors in My Post Frame Building?

Can Trees Cause Uneven Floors in My Post Frame Building?

Tree roots can extend to soil beneath your post frame building and cause shifting leading to uneven flooring. A tree is far larger than what you can see. There is an entire extensive root system below grade, one extending for yards. Though roots are out of sight, they shouldn’t be out of mind.

Roots naturally grow towards water and soil nutrients. Something as simple as a cracked plumbing pipe near your post frame building can cause water to seep into soil. This causes roots to gravitate accordingly.

Contrary to popular belief, these roots themselves don’t cause direct damage. Roots typically don’t have enough strength to split concrete unless there is pre-existing damage. Rather roots disrupt soil conditions. A root can consume soil’s moisture and nutrients. This leads to loose soil, less able to support your building’s weight. Soil requires moisture to retain solidity. Without it, soil becomes less compact.

Degree a tree root can inflict damage depends largely on soil conditions. Soil containing heavy concentrations of clay compacts more easily, making it harder for roots to push through it. Soil consisting primarily of gravel and loose dirt, is less compact, making it easy for roots to navigate through. Soil with heavy sand composition is also really vulnerable since sand is moisture-dependent for retaining its solidity.

If you notice uneven or sloped flooring, a foundation repair expert should perform an evaluation to determine cause. If a tree on your property is close to your post frame building, then it may very well be your culprit. If so, then this tree may need to be removed. When we say removed, we mean uprooted. It is not enough to just cut tree and leave stump behind; as this means roots also remain. If roots remain, offending tree may be able to resprout.

Even if your floor is fine, should you be concerned if you have a tree? Multiple factors are in play, such as soil condition previously mentioned. Tree species matters as well. Some species grow longer root systems than others. Examples of trees with non-invasive roots include:

· Sugar, silver, and Norway maples
· Willow trees
· Oak trees
· Ash trees

These trees have shallow roots, usually extending only four to eight-inches below ground. Don’t forget, though, distance matters as well. Trees should be planted no closer than 20 feet within your building, though even this rule isn’t ironclad. Once again, it depends on tree species. When in doubt, err on caution’s side, as this is an area you can proactively control.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized, Lumber, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Pole Barn Structure, Concrete, Building Drainage, Barndominium and tagged , , , , on by .

13 Can Be Very Fortunate

13 Can Be Very Fortunate

Thank you for participating (hopefully) in my past dozen articles about our “NEW” Hansen Pole Building. If not, I would greatly to encourage you to peruse them. I believe you will find them useful in being able to know you are getting greatest value for your hard-earned building dollars.

In just a moment, I will peel back a curtain to reveal an overly well kept secret….. Hansen Pole Buildings has been automatically giving a background FIVE (5) % DISCOUNT for rectangular buildings with economical width and length dimensions.

But 1st, please humor me about 13. Our youngest daughter Allison, doesn’t get much press from me, certainly not by intention. Allison’s birthday happens to be November 13 and as an athlete (we did something like eight years of some combination of club or school volleyball and basketball) she always wanted and usually got #13.

I had always had an ideal Friday the 13th was unlucky due to it being tied to Knights Templar eradication on Friday, October 13, 1307. Before I wrote further, I wanted to confirm my belief. It appears there are both Norse and Christian associations long predating 1307.

My new thing learned for today.

Now your turn…..

Lumber comes in two foot multiples and steel roofing and siding three foot. Meaning multiples of six or 12 feet would be one’s most efficient combination.

In our system widths of 12’, 18’, 24’, 30’, 36’, 42’, 48’, 54’ and 60’ are most cost effective. For lengths, 24’, 36’, 48’, 60’, etc., providing building length is no greater than three times building width. Heights – even number multiples of two feet (10’, 12’, 14’, etc.).

Why? They can go rapidly through our system – everyone who touches your project can do so more expediently. This drastically saves on drafting time, circumventing other shapes and/or dimensions.

Now you can have some custom features – windows, doors, wainscot, eave lights, sidewall eave and/or endwall extended overhangs, ceiling loaded trusses, ceiling joists.

I lay awake at night with ideas popping into my head. Last night it was, “given our new, stronger columns, how greatly is price affected?”

I took a 42’ x 60’ building, steel roofed and sided. Ground Snow load (Pg) of 60 psf (pounds per square foot), Roof truss top chord live load (TCLL) of 40 psf. Roof truss top and bottom chord dead loads both five psf. 115 mph design wind speed, Exposure C, 4/12 roof slope. Up to and including 20 foot eave height, each two feet of height added under 34 cents per cubic foot of space (or under 68 cents per square foot). Any ‘penalties’ for taller eave heights, at least to 20 foot tall, within this design load set, appear to have disappeared.

No one else can fully engineer buildings like a NEW Hansen Pole Building, because they do not have materials readily available to our exacting quality and strength standards. Call 1.866.200.9657 TODAY to participate in “The Ultimate Post-Frame Building Experience”.

And, don’t forget to watch for our next article!

This entry was posted in Building Styles and Designs, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Columns, Pole Barn Homes, Barndominium, Pole Barn Design and tagged , , , , on by .

Exactly Identical and 20% Less

Exactly Identical and 20% Less

There is always someone willing to sacrifice quality and/or service to get to a lower price. I have seen it over and over again for decades now.

Price shoppers, or deal hunters, seem to be most interested in the lowest price. Unlike value shoppers who are willing to pay more in favor of an increased sense of value, deal hunters will only pay less and are willing to accept less.

I had an interaction recently with a potential client from rural North Dakota, who is looking to invest in a new post-frame building for a garage/shop. He had received a quote for a similar dimension building from a large vendor who advertises they will save customers big money and their price was quite a bit lower.

In my humble opinion, this client really wanted to do business with us – he was a value shopper, not a price shopper. He did offer to share his quote with me and I found it to be interesting, as it was a multi-page list of materials, rather than stating possibly important things such as building dimensions, design loads, etc.

My goal has always been to assist clients to help them avoid making choices they will regret forever.

Below is my response to this client:

Thank you for your patience while I have gone through xxxx quote. Here are some things I noticed:

xxxx building is not engineered and there is no stated design wind speed or exposure, both of which are critical for adequate structural design.

xxxx is furnishing nailed up columns, with 22′ ones being spliced. I did destructive testing of steel plate reinforced nail-lam columns at Oregon State University. Didn’t work out as well as I had hoped – as the center member takes twice as much load as outer plies (due to nails from both sides going into center member) and failed every time.

They do not furnish posts for either side of entry doors

Their quote included OSB under roof steel, however screws do not hold in OSB and a 1″ screw would penetrate only 1/2″ into blocking between trusses, if added.

Their quote did not include wall OSB or housewrap.

Entry doors – builder grade, primed only, in wood jambs, as opposed to insulated commercial steel, in steel jambs, factory finish painted.

We used to buy overhead doors from Clopay (parent company of Ideal). Ideal doors typically have very low cycle springs and use nylon hinges as opposed to steel.

Our buildings utilize double trusses aligned with interior sidewall columns, to avoid the possibility of a single truss failing and pulling the balance of the roof down with it.

Ventilation should be intake at eaves, exhaust at ridge for best airflow. Endwall soffits should be non-vented and there should be no gable vents.

There is no Z trim on xxxx quote between wainscot and steel panels above.

Delivery not included from xxxx.

Attached quote is how I would want my own building…..

Commercial wall girts for insulation (2×8 on eave sidewalls), framing is included to be drywall ready. https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/09/11-reasons-post-frame-commercial-girted-walls-are-best-for-drywall/

Trusses with raised heels, so ceiling insulation will be full depth from wall-to-wall https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/07/raised-heel-trusses/

Raised panel (not industrial looking ones xxxx quoted) insulated WIND-RATED overhead doors https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/12/wind-load-rated-garage-doors/

Roof steel with an Integral Condensation Control https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2020/09/integral-condensation-control-2/

Besides fully engineered plans, showing location and connection of every component, you get our 500+ page step-by-step construction manual and unlimited free technical support from people who have actually built post frame buildings.

Will this potential client actually order his new building from Hansen Pole Buildings? There is a distinct possibility and if his choice is to invest elsewhere, at least he has hopefully gained enough insight to make an informed decision.

This entry was posted in Trusses, Budget, Insulation, Pole Barn Questions, Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Building Contractor and tagged , , , , , , , on by .

Restore or Rebuild?

Restore or Rebuild?

While it was not a post frame building, back in 1990 I began restoration (and adding onto) my family’s then over 80 year-old hillside lake cabin. If it was not for our sentimental attachment and some amazing existing stonework, it would have been far less expensive to have nuked it all and started from scratch (as more than one of our neighbors did with their cabins).

Reader CADE in GARLAND writes:

“I have an old gable barn 40×48 that my wife and I would love to “restore”. There are foundation issues on eave sides as well as bottom plates have started to rot. There are 14′ wide bays on each side and center section is 20′ wide. 6×6 posts spaced every 8′ oc and 2×6 purlins every 16″ oc. Wondering if I could keep the center section as is or add cross support as needed and turn the barn into a monitor style by basically removing the two sides and adding either mono trusses connected to the existing 6×6’s or double 2×10’s attached to each side of each 6×6 that would be 16′ wide or larger to get me away from the old footing and be able to place new posts in ground or on new footing? Maybe it’s best to jack barn up and re frame eave walls and repair foundation. We would love to hear any advice or ideas you might have. Thanks! I appreciate your website and all the information you put out by the way! Attached is a similar size barn that would be pretty close to what we are thinking of doing. Thanks again.”


Mike the Pole Barn Guru writes:
Thank you for your very kind words, they are greatly appreciated.

Now I have not seen actual photos of your old gable barn, however when I start to hear “foundation issues” it obviously raises concerns. You could do all sorts of things with what you have, however if you economically and practically should, might be an entirely different story. Before digging in further, my best advice would be to make an investment into having a qualified professional engineer do an actual physical assessment to determine what is or is not structurally salvageable and to give you a better feel as to if you should restore or restart.

Unless old barns have historical significance, it is often best to give them a well-deserved burial and start over with a fully engineered post frame replacement.

This entry was posted in Professional Engineer, Pole Barn Design and tagged , , , , on by .

A Baker’s Dozen Post Frame Home Myths Part III

A Baker’s Dozen Post-Frame Home Myths (#8 – #13)

MYTH #8. THERE ARE NO FOOTERS IN POST FRAMES

Without having footers to protect concrete slabs on grade from freezing, there is a potential your concrete slab can move or heave around edges in cold weather. In turn, this can shift interior walls, resulting in damage to drywall finishes and trim.

If you do go with post-frame construction, you will have to add footers to stay in IRC (International Residential Code) compliance. This will add cost back into your home’s total price.

Fully-engineered post frame homes are 100% Building Code Compliant and most typically have properly pressure preservative treated columns embedded in ground with both concrete footings and bottom collars. Alternatively your home can be mounted to steel brackets set in concrete piers.

Either of these are designed to extend to or below frost lines or are frost protected by use of insulation. Footers themselves do not protect a concrete slab from freezing and heaving, using rigid insulation around slab perimeters is required for either stick frame or post frame in Climate Zones 3 and greater). With fully engineered post-frame, there is no need to incorporate thickened slab edges or continuous concrete footings and foundations.

MYTH #9. POST-FRAMES WILL HAVE LARGER SPANS BETWEEN ROOF TRUSSES

This is an issue because they’ll have to be filled in before you can hang drywall. If you hang drywall “as is,” it will all sag over time, causing structural damage (and a pain in your wallet). Adding this extra framing afterwards will add to total price tag again.

While some post-frame homes do have trusses spaced every two feet, most cost effectively your fully engineered post-frame home will have double trusses every 10 to 12 feet. If you desire to insulate at ceiling lines, ceiling joists are placed every two feet to adequately support drywall. This combination of double trusses and ceiling joists will still be less expensive than conventional stick framing’s trusses every two feet with structural headers required in walls. By widely spacing trusses, it allows for greater flexibility in locating doors and windows in exterior walls.

MYTH #10. POST-FRAME HOME TRUSSES HAVE VERY LIMITED SPANS

Prefabricated metal-plate connected wood trusses can easily span 80 to 100 feet without need for interior columns. Very rarely will spans greater than these ever be needed for a post-frame home.

IRC Section 802.10.2.1 further limits truss spans for stick-frame construction to a maximum of 36 feet and building lengths to 60 feet (measured perpendicular to truss span). Fully engineered post-frame homes do not have these limitations.

MYTH #11. EXTRA FRAMING BETWEEN POSTS WILL BE NEEDED

Comment from a stick frame builder: as opposed to traditional wall building, with post-frame you’ll have to build walls between posts. This is an added cost to an already built post-frame building shell.

Chances are this builder has never built (or probably seen) a fully engineered post frame building with bookshelf girts every two feet. All exterior wall framing is taken care of at initial installation, you get a deeper insulation cavity and a better surface to drywall. 

MYTH #12. INSULATION COSTS ARE HIGHER

Your post-frame home will require more wall insulation because post-frame walls are thicker than typical two-by-four construction. Therefore, insulation cost will be higher to fill this cavity.

Proper insulation systems are an investment, not a cost. Would you really want an energy bill based off of R-13 insulation in a two-by-four exterior wall? Engineered post-frame construction allows for thicker insulation cavities – reducing your energy costs for your home’s lifespan.

MYTH #13. POST-FRAME CONSTRUCTION IS TYPICALLY NOT USED WITH BASEMENTS.

Post frame construction is not very conducive when building on a basement, as basement walls will be made from poured concrete. Trying to adapt post-frame construction to a basement will end up with higher costs than traditional home building techniques. Bottom line: If you want a home with a basement, post frame construction is not your best choice.

Fully engineered post-frame homes can easily be engineered to attach to a concrete basement foundation, ICFs or even incorporated into a Permanent Wood Foundation, at similar or lower costs than stick frame.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized, Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Structure, Trusses and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on by .

What to do When the Old Post Frame Garage Has Issues

What to do When the Old Post Frame Garage Has Issues

Welcome back from Tuesday’s posting. As you may recall, when my great-grandfather W.R. McDowell built his two-car Model A garage pre-World War II, it was 16 feet wide by 20 feet deep. This garage was supported by eight cedar poles on minimal footings.

Well….sure enough some of those cedar post footing settled. Some settled more than others, resulting 50 years later in what was appearing to be some sort of carnival fun house. Wood floor parking surface was up and down and the stick framed walls above had developed a serious lean.

By 1946, my great grandparents (W.R. being 74 and Mary Elenis 66) found hiking up and down stairs to be not as much to their liking (much like Mr. Lillequist 10 years before). They sold their cabin to their son Boyd and his wife Jerene.

44 years later, in 1990, Boyd and Jerene had reached their 80s. Having spent my summers at Newman Lake and having developed a strong affinity for it – they gifted this cabin to me, my wife and our young daughter Bailey.

I had recently sold my first business, in Oregon, and returned to Spokane. My intention was to remodel our cabin, so it could become our primary residence. To start with, something had to be done with its garage. Even had it remained structurally sound, while two Model A cars may have fit in it comfortably,  we needed more width and depth for two more modern vehicles.

My solution – build a new 22 foot wide by 24 foot deep post frame garage around what was there.

First step was to tear down the old garage to parking deck level.

A couple of trees were too close for comfort and had to be forcibly removed.

Once offending trees were removed, pressure preservative treated posts were set around outside of the existing floor (and a few through holes chainsaw cut through the floor).

After posts were in place, the old floor was removed and framing began. Being it was early December, in Northeast Washington State – we got to deal with snow.


In order to support weight of a concrete slab and vehicles 14 feet above ground, 2×14 #2 Douglas Fir floor joists were placed 12 inches on center, with 2×8 Tongue & Groove decking over top. Raised heel bonus room attic trusses with a 7/12 slope were utilized, in order to allow for a home office space above parking level.

On Super Bowl Sunday Eve of 1991 near tragedy struck our still under construction project. On Friday, our electrician had energized power. When wiring had been run, he had neglected to install protective steel plates at crucial points where sheetrock screws might penetrate wiring. One screw hit a wire in an attic space and smoldered for a day. Around midnight, one of our neighbors got up to get a drink of water and noticed flames coming out of our garage. Their quick thinking and fast response from our local fire department saved this building, with only minimal fire damage, but everything was coated with black soot.

Profuse quantities of Kilz™ were used, however a smoke smell still persisted. We added temperature controlled powered vents in attic spaces, with corresponding air intakes, in order to exhaust burn odors on warm days.


Note: smoke stains on siding above overhead doors and cutouts in endwall for ventilators.

As you may recall – there was some significant grade change at this site. Space below garage floor level, was utilized to create a studio apartment with over 400 square feet of space (current owners rent it out as an AirBNB https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/665906592425731485?source_impression_id=p3_1667315547_%2BXfm5XMqvopowtF%2B).

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, About The Pole Barn Guru, Constructing a Pole Building, Steel Roofing & Siding and tagged , , , , , , , on by .

A Post Frame Building at Newman Lake

A Post Frame Building at Newman Lake

In this mid-1980’s photo, from left-to-right are Margaret and Frank Rostead (Frank was best man when my Grandparents were married in 1933), my grandmother Jerene McDowell (b. 1910– d.2006) and a Model A garage built by Grandma Jerene’s father – W.C. McDowell.
Back to our story after some brief history….
Newman Lake is in Northeast Washington State, roughly some 20 miles East Northeast of downtown Spokane and just West of Idaho. It is Eastern Washington’s largest natural lake. Early area inhabitants were Indians who roamed this lake and hillsides for berries and game.
Later traders from Hudson’s Bay company constructed gardens at Newman Lake.
Before 1880’s, each summer, Newman Lake’s shady shores were covered with Indian encampments. Indians picked huckleberries, dried them and made them into pemmican for winter. Camas root was dried and ground into flour. Their main diet was meat – deer, peasant, grouse, rabbit and fish. Venison portions were jerked and dried for winter use.
These Indians returned each summer for many years, after white settlers began moving in.
Slipper Point (named when a white lady lost her slipper at a gathering there) is at an end to a long gradual ridge. Indians used this as a playground and a place to race. One time, at a gathering there, they were having their contests in archery and races. During one race, from ridge top to Slipper Point, a running Indian ran into a partially fallen, slivered and splintered tree.
A long splinter ran him through and killed him. Indians immediately stopped their games and left, thinking evil spirits had placed this splintered tree in their way to chase them away. Those who came back, refused to stay overnight.

William Newman, was from England. At 20, he sailed from Liverpool to New York City in 1858. After having served for five years with US Army’s 9th Infantry, Newman was selected as one of a 25 man Boundary Commission escort, in Washington Territory, where he first saw what later became Newman Lake.

Newman then settled on and farmed an area bordering Newman Lake’s southern portion, until passing in 1887. Just after 1880, white men began homesteading in this area.

Pioneers caught trout in nearby Liberty Lake and transplanted them to Newman. A federal government fish tank railroad car was parked at Moab, on Northern Pacific’s main line. In 1887, residents carried carp to Newman Lake in buckets.
Excursion trains from Spokane ran to Moab, where busses and stages took passengers three miles across split log roads to Newman Lake, where guests could stay at one of four busy hotels.
Early 1900’s found surveyors carving up lake front lots to sell to those wanting to build summer cabins. One such interested party was a Swede – Mr. Swanson. Swanson spent a summer camping in different locations all around Newman Lake. He told his good friend Olof Lilliequist he had found an exact perfect location.
When Swanson went to purchase his lot, he found his friend had purchased every lot along what became known as Swede Bay for $500, including Swanson’s lot. Swanson ended up paying Lillequist $500 for his lot!

Lillequist set out to build his cabin (to be named “Terrace Lodge”), immediately adjacent to his friend Swanson (but higher up his steeply sloped lot). He hired an alcoholic stone mason from Spokane – under a condition of sobriety! In 1909 a flat area was carved out and cornerstones were laid for a 36 foot wide by 20 foot deep cabin. Trenches for two foot thick native stone walls were dug – and stone set starting five feet below grade, with no mortar, and allowed to settle for two years before being grouted in.

Lillequist eventually tired of trips up and down stairs from cabin to beach. He built another cabin– this time shoreline and west of Terrace Lodge. In July 1936, he sold Terrace Lodge to my Great-Grandparents, William C. and Mary Elenis McDowell – grocers in nearby Greenacres.
Here it comes….
Despite a treacherous, winding and steeply sloping dirt access road, McDowell wanted to drive his Model A and park it in a garage when he came to Newman Lake.
A small, flat parking area had been carved out uphill from Terrace Lodge. W.C. poured a concrete wall along this parking area’s downhill, North edge and proceeded to attach a post frame “stilt” garage to it. This two car garage was designed for Model A’s – so was 16 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Eight cedar trees we set on stone pads – two rows of four at 10 and 20 feet from the parking lot. This made for logs from eight to 12 feet in height, due to steep grade!
These logs (poles)were X braced to each other using full dimension, rough, green 2×4 from Eller’s Sawmill. Log tops were trimmed even, and 3 ply rough 2×8 beams were placed from concrete wall, across logs at 10’ to logs at 20’. Three layers of 2×12 decking then ran across beams – at 45 degrees both directions, then straight with building depth on top.
On top of this deck, walls were stick framed, trusses built by hand, 1×4 purlins placed and aluminum roofing was nailed on. Doors were eight foot wide bi-passing sliding barn doors.
These doors had been removed by my youth.
Come back Thursday to find out what happens to our post frame stilt garage.

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Information on Codes and Shouses

Information on Codes and Shouses

I have to admit it was rather flattering to have Southwest Iowa’s Planning Council reach out to me regarding information on Codes and Shouses recently.

“Hello. My name is Ashley and I’m a community development specialist with Southwest Iowa Planning Council out of Atlantic, IA. I am currently working on some Zoning and Building codes for smaller towns and they want to include zones and/or building codes for shouses. Since this is relatively new to this area, within city limits at least, I was curious what issues your company has come across regarding codes and if you had any sample codes from communities that you would be willing to share with me?”

Mike the Pole Barn Guru responds:

Thank you for reaching out to us. We have provided hundreds of post frame shouses and barndominiums in nearly every state. Good news for you (and these jurisdictions) is this project will involve very little extra efforts beyond what is currently in place.

Use of terms such as “pole barn”, “pole building” or “post frame” home, barndominium, shouse or shop/house oftentimes cause permitting waters to become clouded – yet they need not be.

From a Zoning/Planning standpoint – shouses (I will use this as an all encompassing term) should be treated no differently than any other code compliant structural system. Any existing requirements for setbacks, footprint requirements, heights, living area to garage/shop ratios, siding and/or roofing materials, color restrictions, etc., should remain the same as currently adopted. What is important is to not place restrictions upon shouses not existing for other dwellings, as this could end up leading to costly and protracted legal battles.

Currently adopted Building Codes (IRC, IBC, IECC) do not have to be amended for shouses.

In “Effective Use of the International Residential Code”:

Paragraph 4:

“It is important to understand that the IRC contains coverage for what is conventional and common in residential construction practice. While the IRC will provide all of the needed coverage for most residential construction, it might not address construction practices and systems that are atypical or rarely encountered in the industry.”

IRC R301.1.3 Engineered design.

“When a building of otherwise conventional construction contains structural elements exceeding the limits of Section R301 or otherwise not conforming to this code, these elements shall be designed in accordance with accepted engineering practice. The extent of such design need only demonstrate compliance of nonconventional elements with other applicable provisions and shall be compatible with the performance of the conventional framed system. Engineered design in accordance with the International Building Code is permitted for all buildings and structures, and parts thereof, included in the scope of this code.”

In summary (and in my humble opinion), any shouse outside of IRC prescriptive requirements, should be designed and have structural plans signed by a Registered Design Professional (architect or engineer) to meet or exceed jurisdictional climactic conditions.

Please feel free (or direct any jurisdiction) to reach out to me directly with any questions or concerns.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Pole Barn Planning, Shouse, Shouse, Professional Engineer, Pole Barn Homes and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on by .

Uneven Ground, Granting Wishes, and Recommendations

This Wednesday the Pole Barn Guru discusses foundation for a uneven ground with 4-5′ “fall” in the back, granting three wishes, and recommendations for building/footing/slab.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hey thank you for time. I am wanting to build a 50×100′ shop. I have uneven ground and about a 4-5′ fall in the back. What is the best foundation for a post frame building for that situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated! ANDREW in APPLING

DEAR ANDREW: I would go with an ecology block (read more here https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/04/ecology-blocks/) retaining wall several feet beyond my building footprint. Then backfill with suitable fill compacted in no less than six inch lifts. This would allow for construction on a flat level site with embedded columns.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Please grant me 3 wishes o guru, you are better than a genie!!! Do you have a crew put the building together? Do they put the grounding strap on the ground and on the building? Do you have pictures of the workshops? KEITH in PORT CHARLOTTE

DEAR KEITH: Thank you for making me smile! I will answer as many questions as you need answers for.

We are not building contractors. Currently (and for the foreseeable future) there is a nationwide shortage of building erectors. Many high quality erectors are booked out into 2023. We would strongly encourage you to consider erecting your own building shell.

For those without the time or inclination, we have an extensive independent Builder Network covering the contiguous 48 states (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/find-a-builder/). We can assist you in getting erection labor pricing as well as introducing you to potential builders.

A CAUTION in regards to ANY erector: If an erector tells you they can begin quickly it is generally either a big red flag, or there is a chance you are being price gouged. ALWAYS THOROUGHLY VET ANY CONTRACTOR https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/04/vetting-building-contractor/
Your electrician will (should) properly ground your building.

Please click on any of these photos at https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/gallery/ to open gallery to more photos in same categories.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: If I’m a belt and suspenders overkill kinda guy, what’s your recommendation on a pole barn construction/footings/slab. I would like to use steel instead of 4×4 posts if that isn’t a bad idea. JOHN in LITTLE ROCK

DEAR JOHN: 4×4 posts would not be adequate for even a very small post frame building. I would avoid steel due to its unforgiving nature (everything has to be spot on), challenges of thermal conductivity and connections between structural steel and wood. My preference (in my ideal dream world) would be glulaminated columns, embedded in ground, with a mono-poured concrete footing/bottom collar. This would provide greatest strength and reliability at an affordable price point.

This entry was posted in Footings, Lumber, Insulation, Columns, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Planning, Building Contractor, Concrete and tagged , , , , , , , , , , on by .

You Can’t Build it Here Part II

You Can’t Build It Here Part II

If you missed part I, go back two days to find it.

Continuing on…

Post frame homes can save thousands of dollars in excavation, footing and foundation forming and concrete costs inherent to stick framing. This is due to use of isolated widely spaced wood columns either embedded or placed into brackets on concrete piers.  Post frame construction allows greater flexibility of design for wide door and window openings without requiring structural headers. It has fewer framing members touching both exterior and interior surfaces, reducing thermal transference issues. Deep wall cavities and use of raised heel trusses provide for an ability to super insulate. Material use is minimized by elimination of redundant members so often found in stud walls. Add to this – an average physically capable person, who can and will read instructions, can successfully erect their own beautiful home!

Today’s fully engineered post frame homes are not your grandfather’s pole barn. Although steel siding and roofing will prove to be more cost effective and durable than any other cladding materials – any exterior surfacing is possible. As an example, one of our clients is building on Lake Havasu, Arizona with a concrete tile roof and stucco for exterior wall finishes.

There are jurisdictions sadly attempting to prevent ‘pole barn houses’ in their neighborhoods. Scenarios usually go something like this – a potential homeowner inquires to their local building permit issuing authority and asks, “Can I build a pole barn home here”? Too often (in my opinion one time is too often) they are told flatly no. Most of these who do move forward, automatically default to an easy route and stick frame.

What is not being asked by these potential post frame home owners is, “Can you provide your written ordinance prohibiting fully engineered post-frame homes”?

Use of terms such as “pole barn” or “pole building” home, barndominium, shouse or shop/house oftentimes cause permitting waters to become clouded. Presenting as a “fully engineered post-frame home” dramatically decreases initial resistance.

My personal experience is well over 90% of these jurisdictions have no such written ordinance. And if it is not in writing, and duly approved by an elected governing body, then it does not exist. When pointed out no written prohibiting ordinance exists, this has always resulted in approval.

In those rare instances where an adopted written statute does appear, I have often appealed to legal counsel for the jurisdiction. I kindly explain, in trying to rule out a 100% Code conforming structural building system, they are attempting unlawfully to restrict free trade and this could result in a protracted (and expensive) legal battle they cannot win. Municipalities do not want to have to explain to their constituents how good money was thrown after bad. For me, in all but a single instance, this has resulted in approval to move forward.

Other courses of action would include taking this issue to the jurisdiction’s governing body (City/town counsel or county commissioners) and requesting their statue be overturned or amended. This can prove to be a lengthy process as the wheel of progress moves slowly.

Now my one single (and ongoing) challenge – Madison County, Illinois. In their Ordinance #: 2020-02 “Ordinance authorizing a text amendment to Chapter 93 of the Madison County Code of Ordinances”:

93.025 “R-1” THROUGH “R-4” SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS

(F) “R-1”, “R-2”, “R-3”, and “R-4” Permitted uses.

     (5) Single-family dwelling, frame construction only.

Madison County’s Planning and Zoning Department’s position is “frame” means stick frame only. I have reached out to Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office and as there is no pending actual permit application, they feel there is no compelling reason to address this issue.

Planning and Zoning Departments can regulate things such as setbacks, building footprints, heights, siding and roofing materials, even colors! However it is unlawful to preclude any Code approved, engineered structural building system.

In my humble opinion, we will see entire subdivisions filled with post-frame homes, as affordable housing becomes less and less affordable.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Homes, Post Frame Home, Building Styles and Designs, Barndominium, Building Department, Shouse, Shouse, Pole Buildings History, Pole Barn Structure and tagged , , , , , , , , on by .

5 Reasons to Use Post Frame Construction in Sustainable Architecture

Green building concepts are not a new trend, and so our planet can breathe a sigh of relief, there is increasing pressure on construction industries to go for green initiatives and use sustainable building materials having greater strength and stability. Post-frame construction is proving to be a huge asset to a building industry demanding delivery of high-quality sustainable architecture with good value.    

So what makes post-frame construction an ideal solution for green building concepts?

Growing Role of Post-Frame Construction in Sustainable Architecture

Sustainable architecture aims to design and construct socially beneficial, eco-friendly structures. Sustainable structures may cost more upfront but they pay off immediately. These buildings have a smaller carbon footprint and their environmental impact is also much less. Post-frame construction provides great benefits when combined with clever designing, well-supervised construction and high-precision execution.

Here are five reasons why post-frame construction is perhaps a best alternative when it comes to sustainable architecture:

 

  • Makes Use of Natural Materials able to be Recycled at End of Life

Traditional construction materials are environmentally harmful but post-frame construction involves use of eco-friendly materials being equally strong, reliable, and durable. Also, post-frame components used in each building are made of wood and steel so they can be easily recycled.  

This ensures responsible management of waste with materials recovery and scrap recycling. Recycling construction waste not only boosts a brand’s public image but the company also receives government incentives for its recycling efforts.   

Requires Less Construction Materials

Post-frame construction requires fewer building materials to achieve required load capacities. This is because post-frame structures are supported by few large-sized columns  spaced far apart instead of installing many smaller supports. Post-frame design requires fewer materials meaning less waste and less environmental impact.

 

  • Reduces Use of Energy  

Post-frames are made from wood and it requires very little energy to convert wood to timber. This is because embodied energy in timber used for construction is low. In fact, it is lowest of most sustainable building materials.

 

  • Ensures Energy-Efficiency with Excellent Insulation

A timber frame provides more insulation space as compared to brick and mortar buildings and ensures superior air infiltration. Its natural thermal insulation properties require less power for heating and cooling, meaning less use of fossil fuels.

 

  • Lasts Longer Even With Little to no Maintenance

Building materials used for construction of post-frame buildings make a structure so strong it can easily last beyond 50 years with little to no maintenance. Traditional architecture puts all weight on walls constructed on flooring supported by a continuous foundation. So, if any component is compromised, the entire architecture is at risk.  

Post-frame construction is very different and so it does not crack or collapse when the structure is stressed. Timber columns flex and roof trusses attached to the post-frame keep it from separating from balance of the structure.

Post-frame construction is low-cost, eco-friendly, sustainable, uses fewer materials, consumes less energy, offers great insulation, is easy to work on, does not limit design concepts and build time is quick. All of these reasons make post-frame construction the best choice for green building concepts.

Also, with buyers becoming increasingly eco-conscious these days, sustainable architecture has become a new industry norm. Post-frames are one of many sustainable building methods. There are several other ways builders can go green and win buyers, post-frame possibly being best.  

Author Bio: Erich Lawson is passionate about environment saving through effective recycling techniques and modern innovations. He works with Compactor Management Company and writes on a variety of topics related to recycling, including tips and advice on how balers, compactors and shredders can be used to reduce industrial waste. He loves helping businesses understand how to lower their monthly garbage bills and increase revenue from recycling.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, Pole Building Comparisons, Roofing Materials, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Steel Roofing & Siding, Pole Building Siding, Trusses and tagged , , , , , on by .

Pole Barn Videos from Peru

I Went to Peru and All I Brought Back For You Is Pole Barn Videos

I’ve been working at reducing my “bucket list” of places to go and things to see and do. My list priorities include places where being physically able proves essential. A visit in Machu Picchu was way towards top of my list, due to extreme altitude and lots of hiking involved. Of course if you are going to make an effort to travel to visit Peru, might as well make it a best adventure. My trip included Lake Titicaca, flying over Nazca Lines, Ballestas Islands and downhill sand skiing (more about sand skiing later in this article).

In order to acclimatize to high altitude, I flew from Lima to Cusco (roughly 11,000 feet above sea level) for day two in country. I had a guided tour of this Peruvian Andes’ city, once Incan Empire capital. Near Plaza de Armas  (old city central square) was Mercado Central de San Pedro de Cusco (“San Pedro Market”). Cusco’s main market and part of Cusco’s lifeblood. Founded in 1925, this market was designed by Frenchman Gustav Eiffel (yes, same Eiffel who designed a tower you might have heard about) and occupies about three city blocks. It’s a huge market where locals and visitors alike can find almost anything they’re after.

Approaching this huge steel roofed building, I had no idea of its structural composition. Once inside, I immediately recognized it as a post frame (pole) building! Cusco location has a high probability of earthquakes. So much so as no churches have high steeples or bell towers, for earthquakes knocked early ones all down! Well, this 94 year-old pole barn has survived all manner of tremblors, without being worse for wear.

Towards one end are vendors selling things like souvenirs, clothing, fabrics, cooking utensils, jewelry and more, but food proves to be a main reason to come here. All of Cusco’s flavors, and Peru in general can be found, from exotic fruits and vegetables, herbs and spices, cheese, sweets and more. It’s a great place to sample lots of different things, and expose your taste buds to flavors you won’t find elsewhere in this world, or even in Peru.

Further along – a large market section dedicated to food stalls. Looks of raw meat hanging from hooks and carcasses being diced up might shock some from a hygiene point of view but, as long as you eat from stalls where locals are frequenting you’ll be fine. After all, if a place was making locals sick, it wouldn’t be in business. Plenty looks appealing in San Pedro Market, and a lot doesn’t – but might surprise you. Do try sampling a few things outside of your comfort zone – it’s worth it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEJrTqJC_hU

Oh, I promised you sand skiing. Check this out: https://www.facebook.com/mike.momb/videos/10215796184671123/

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A Red Barn, Traditional Footings Not Needed, and Added Lighting

The Pole Barn Guru answers questions about a traditional red barn, footings, and additional lighting to outside of building.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello, We are looking to have a barn built by the Amish community, but are having trouble finding someone to contact. I see on your website you have had several things built by them and was wondering how we would get in touch with them or is that your company? We live in Northfield MN, our wedding venue, The Red Barn Farm was recently destroyed by a tornado and are looking to rebuild. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks HANNAH in NORTHFIELD

DEAR HANNAH: Sorry to hear of your barn’s destruction. Hansen Pole Buildings does not physically construct post frame buildings for anyone, anywhere. We can, however, design for you a Building Code conforming engineered barn to replace yours and provide complete plans, assembly instructions as well as all materials delivered to your site.  Now our post frame building kit packages are designed for an average DIYer to successfully assemble their own buildings – with almost universally better results than hiring a builder. We’ve had some Amish community building experiences, and my best recommendation would be to proceed with extreme caution: http://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/11/barn-raising/.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Do the medium bldgs.(40×40) require foundation footings or just a poured slab? JAY in MONEE

DEAR JAY: A beauty of post frame (pole) building construction would be not needing to have a continuous footing and foundation, thus saving thousands of dollars and countless hours of time.

Read more about these savings here: http://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/10/buildings-why-not-stick-frame-construction/.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hi, I’m wrapping up my pole barn, and I have to add an electric light outside the door for local code. What is the recommended way to penetrate the wall and mount the junction box without causing water penetration problems? JAMES in LEE

DEAR JAMES: I’m in favor of minimizing penetrations through a wonderful weather resistant surface – steel siding. Use a surface mount box (rather than recessed) to a “flat” of siding (between high ribs). Use generous amounts of caulking between box and steel siding and you should be all good. A suggested caulking for steel would be TITEBOND Metal Roof Translucent Sealant available through your local The Home Depot®.

 

 

 

This entry was posted in Concrete, Footings, Pole Barn Design, Pole Barn Structure and tagged , , , , on by .

Types of Construction, Sliding Doors, and Roof Vents

Today the Pole Barn Guru visits with readers about, types of construction, sliding doors, and roof vents.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello Mike – I am working with the NFBA on a study of the post frame (pole barn) building market in the US. Among our objectives is to understand what % of construction in a given geography, sector (residential, commercial, etc.) is post frame vs. other types of construction.

In order to do that, we need to define the major types of construction. So, the question I have is:

In addition to post-frame, what are the MAJOR types of (or methods for) building construction?

So far, it seems like there is:

  1. Post frame (pole barn)
  2. Stick frame (stud wall)
  3. Metal frame
  4. What else?

Any direction or insight you may have would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you have a direct phone line that I could call you on.

Thanks! BERT in CLEVELAND

DEAR BERT: Thank you for reaching out to me, am glad to assist.

#2 should be wood stud wall

#3 might be best divided into structural steel (“red iron”) or steel stud

Concrete tilt up (either precast or cast on site)
Block/masonry
ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms)
SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels)
Straw bale

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: All we are looking for is a total width of 8 foot steel sliding barn doors for our garage instead of standard garage door. Is that possible? BARB in DOVER

DEAR BARB: Possible? Most certainly, however unless you are going to make a serious investment in an opener(s) for your door(s) you will quickly grow tired of having to manually open and close them. For information on openers for sliding doors, please read: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2017/04/propel-electric-door-openers/

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I will be putting a plumbing vent through the roof after the building is up. Does Hansen have any recommendations or suggested methods for this? From what I’ve read, a boot and lots of silicone is the normal way. JAMES in LEBANON

DEAR JAMES: I’ve used these with great success and no caulking: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/09/dektite/ plus Justine can get you a price on them, if you provide quantity and diameter of the pipes. In the event you do feel the need to caulk a suggested caulking is TITEBOND Metal Roof Translucent Sealant available at The Home Depot®.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This entry was posted in Sliding Doors, Pole Barn Questions, Ventilation and tagged , , , on by .

Evolution of The Pole Barn Guru and his Building Philosophy

Today we’d like to revisit the “Evolution of The Pole Barn Guru and his Building Philosophy”

In my early years, tremendous quality was not necessarily the strong point. It was the ability to offer a very reasonably priced building and deliver it quickly. My buildings were pretty much the same as everyone else I competed against. Business grew and I started being able to hire employees. Jim Betonte left the steel roofing and siding industry and began a construction business which offered labor to people who wanted our building kits erected. In the mid-80’s M & W joined the National Frame Builders Association (NFBA) and started to become better educated on the “post frame” industry on the whole.

The real deal changer – in October 1985 I met Frank Woeste. Frank was an Agricultural Engineering professor at Virginia Tech and what he knew about pole buildings was staggering. In exchange for me traveling to Blacksburg, Virginia to teach one of his classes for a day, Frank gave me my first engineering design software for pole buildings and the printout of the programs in a computer program called “Basic”.

Frank motivated me to want to make better buildings and to know why it is they worked the way they did from an engineering standpoint. From

his program printout, I taught myself Basic programming and wrote more complex and varied programs than the ones which just calculated post, girt and purlin sizes.

My buildings gradually changed – steel stopped being fastened with ringshanked nails in 1982, using first galvanized, then later color matched screws. Green lumber was replaced by kiln dried lumber, much of it (especially larger sizes such as 2×6 and 2×8 with machine stress rated lumber). Utility graded skirt boards and 4×6 columns were upgraded to #2 and better. Pressure treated timbers were treated for structural in ground use, rather than “or refusal” (basically, in many cases, just coated with treating chemicals by the treatment plants).

By 1987 I had joined the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) and the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO). At the time, ICBO was writing the Uniform Building Code, which was adopted throughout much of the United States. The late 80’s were heady times for the ASAE as the structures committee I was a member of, was developing and putting into practice many of the standards now utilized for modern pole building structural design.

Frank Woeste and Don Bender (now a professor at Washington State University in Pullman), began holding commercial post frame design classes, which I first took as a student, and later assisted with. Often, the example buildings for the class were structures of mine.

While I owned M&W we received recognition from the State of Oregon for our donation of a building to earthquake ravaged Irkutsk, USSR. We were featured in newspapers such as the Capitol Press and magazines such as Frame Building Professional. We were also named as one of the 50 largest users of steel roofing and siding in the United States for the decade of the 1980’s. We were even featured on the morning national television program in South Korea!

In 1989, I was elected to a 3 year term on the board of directors for the National Frame Builders Association. To the best of my knowledge, I was the first board member from west of the Mississippi River.

After some 6600 building kits sold in 13 western states, Canada, Mexico and Saipan, I sold M & W Building Supply to Jim Betonte in 1990 and moved back to Spokane. My brother Mark had worked in sales for me at M & W and in 1991 he returned to Spokane as well. We formed Momb Building Systems and began constructing buildings in the Spokane area. Mark left the business in 1992 to return to school and the name was changed to Momb Steel Buildings. Business thrived and in 1993 Apex Roof Truss was begun to produce trusses and provide the lumber packages for our buildings.

Besides Washington, I became a registered contractor in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. At the height of business, we had as many as 35 crews building in six states. In one single county alone, we built over 200 buildings in a single year.

Mike The Pole Barn Guru Featured in Frame Building Professional Magazine

Further improvements to pole building design were made. In the early 90’s we added trims which were not regularly used along the I-5 corridor.  Base trim to keep rodents out, J Channel at tops of walls, overhead door jamb trim, trims on fascias and varges with overhangs, eavelight trims with sidelight panels) all of which made for a far more attractive finished product. The first big structural change was to notch the trusses into the columns to provide direct bearing, instead of attaching them to each side of the columns. Later, we physically doubled up the trusses nailing them face-to-face, instead of blocked apart. At the same time we went to joist hanging all roof purlins between the trusses, instead of placing them lapped over the top of the truss pairs.

This now allowed for the roof panels to be predrilled before installation, which kept all screw lines straight and greatly eliminated the potential for leaks.

At an Alumax testing facility east of Los Angeles, we constructed a full scale roof to test the shear strength of steel panels. Our testing resulted in some surprises. Initially we felt the weak link would be the framing under the steel. We were totally in error and surprised at the results.  Our assembly was done to match industry standards and included fastening the steel to the roof purlins using #10 x 1” screws every nine inches. As we placed horizontal loads into the roof, before ripples even appeared in the steel, the screw started to pull out of the framing. The pull out problem was solved by using 1-1/2” long screws.

The next problem was the steel began to slot beneath the screw grommets. The solution was to use larger diameter screws in the high stress areas (at the eave and ridge) and to place screws in this area on each side of each high rib, rather than along one side only. Only after all of the screw issues were solved, were we finally able to test the steel to failure.  The results showed some fairly significant values. The results of this test are published in the NFBA Post Frame Building Design Manual  https://bse.wisc.edu/bohnhoff/Publications/Copyrighted/NFBA_Design_Manual.pdf See Table 6.1 (assemblies 13 and 14).

After the test was completed, the Alumax design engineer, Merle Townsend designed a screw specifically to solve the weaknesses demonstrated by the test. Labeled as the “diaphragm” screw (https://lelandindustries.com/productpdfs/page%2001.pdf) this 1-1/2” part features a larger diameter shank than standard screws. A side benefit of this screw is that the larger diameter helps prevent the screw heads from twisting off during installation.

To this day, these screws remain a stable part of my building design, and have rarely (if at all) has this great improvement been equaled by any other pole building company.

Stay tuned for the final episode of “From Cradle to now…Mike the Pole Barn Guru” as he expands from four states…to fifty!

 

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To Learn More, A Roof Steel Replacement, and Ideal Height

An Engineer wants to Learn More, Roof Steel Replacement, and the ideal Building Height to Accommodate an RV!

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I’m a licensed engineer in KY. I would like to learn more about pole barn design. Do you have any references that you would recommend? James in KY

DEAR JAMES: The NFBA Post Frame Building Design manual is probably your best structural reference. https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/03/post-frame-building-3/

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello. I have a Hansen building I bought in 2005 as a kit. I am planning on installing a new roof on the higher 18′ 40×35 long section. The original roof over the vaulted ceiling has leaked since day one, as the contractor did a very poor job. I’m thinking of doing a snap lock standing seam type with no exposed fasteners. To my surprise two contractors have suggested pulling the existing sheeting and replacing the standing seam( 24 ga), but no underlayment.

I thought the screwed down panels provided shear strength and rigidity to the structure.

BRYAN

Construction MistakeDEAR BRYAN: Indeed, standing seam steel has no shear carrying capacity, as such it should always be installed over 5/8″ or thicker CDX plywood (not OSB). However, chances are your trusses are not designed to support the added weight of the plywood. Depending upon what the exact nature of the poor installation is, the solution might be as simple as replacing offending screws with longer, larger diameter parts (if original screws were merely poorly seated). If the screws were not predrilled (therefore causing screws to either barely hit or miss roof purlins entirely), then new 29 gauge through screwed steel with properly installed screws should solve the challenges (and be phenomenally less expensive).

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Looking to build a pole barn with 14ft height door for a RV. What would the overall height of the building be? Thanks JON in PERRYSBURG

DEAR JON: With a sliding door (not my recommendation) if your building has no endwall overhangs, then 15 foot eave height will work; with end overhangs 15’6” or 15’8” depending upon the dimension of the roof purlins.

Going to a sectional overhead door, allowing for an electric opener your eave height is most likely going to be 16’6”.

If you are planning on climate controlling the building and having a ceiling (smart choices), then the eave height will need to be further increased by the amount of roof truss heel height greater than the most common six inches.

 

 

Eave height is relatively inexpensive, don’t scrimp to try to save a few bucks and be sorry because you end up with a design solution which is less than ideal (aka a sliding door) or an overhead sectional door which will not accept an opener.

This entry was posted in Professional Engineer, RV Storage, Pole Barn Design, Roofing Materials, Pole Buildings History, Pole Building Doors and tagged , , , , , , on by .

Halloween Store Not a Pole Barn?

Narrowmindedness drives me literally crazy. Post frame (pole barn) buildings can look like absolutely any other building. The only differences being the structural system – post frame and saving a fair amount of hard earned money.
From the Marion, Indiana Chronicle Tribune February 21, 2018:
“The Marion City Council will review a rezoning request for 1427 W. 10th St. for a third time before voting.
Fireworks store owner Ron Vielee made the request, saying he wants to expand his reach from his current business at 1421 to include a new Halloween store and parking lot in the properties west of the his current store. The council voted to move the request to a third reading following a discussion at Tuesday’s meeting.
The request to rezone would classify the property as “General Business,” it is currently zoned as a residential. Vielee said he intends to purchase both this property and the adjacent property at 1423 W. 10th St. The 1423 property has already been rezoned, according to Sam Ramsey, advisory plan director.
A burnt house occupies the location at 1423 W. 10th St. Vielee said he will tear it down, once the sale goes through.
Council member Jim Brunner said he was appreciative of Vielee’s effort to tear down the vacant structure.
Vielee said he intends to make an offer to the owner of the 1427 property. In all, including demolition, purchasing the properties and building a new store, Vielee said he will invest nearly $300,000 into the community.
“The whole neighborhood is going to look better, for one,” he said. “It’s going to be nice. It’s not like I’m going to put up a pole barn.”
Vielee answered a number of questions from the council on his intentions and his businesses. The business owner said the Halloween store, much like fireworks store, would be open for about a month out of the year.
Council member Deb Cain noted when the fireworks store went in, the council granted a tax abatement. However, Cain said the business plan was for the store to be open year-round, selling Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations.
Vielee said that was true and also gave permission for the council to consider doing away with the tax abatement.
“If you want to just discard it and charge me full taxes, I’m fine with that,” he said.
Council member Alan Miller asked Ramsey what sort of businesses could take occupancy at the location if rezoned and Vielee’s business did not last.
“Pretty much anything you see up and down the bypass,” Ramsey said. “General Business is our broadest zoning districts in town.”
This would include tobacco stores, liquor stores and convenience stores.”
Considering new construction for virtually any sort of retail business? If you want a structure which is aesthetically pleasing, cost effective and goes up quickly, then post frame construction might just be your ticket to success. And yes, it may be called a “pole barn”.

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18 Foot Span Roof Purlins?

The Possibility of 18 Foot Span Roof Purlins?

Reader CHRIS writes:
“I have a building I want to build but I am not able to add the height I need on the side walls.  My plans are 24 deep by 30 wide with 8 foot walls.  Roof trusses would be 24 ft.  My problem comes from overhead power lines.  They are right in my way.  I really need 10 or more feet of ceiling.  The wall structure will be 2×4 residential style build with double top and bottom boards this should spread the weight out on the concrete well.

The span of the 1st section (north side), would need to be 18ft.   If I used a triple truss at 18 ft. and 2×8 purlins would I be able to get this to work.  I will be using a metal roof the 30 ft. wall will have a 16 ft. door and 9 ft. door Eve entry.  I know it’s not optimal.  But to get a lift inside the garage it will be a must to get this span.  Also my garage door will follow the roof line. In the 18 ft. area it will be hung from the purlins.  A winch will be used as an opener.  Also attached to the purlins but boxed to prevent movement.”

Mike the Pole Barn Guru writes:
In most jurisdictions you are not allowed to build under power lines – you need to be consulting with your local power company and your Building Official first. Even if it is allowed, you would be wise to have the lines relocated, or buried so as to not have a future issue. A live wire comes down on your nice new steel roof and poof!

Depending upon your roof load and wind load, it might be possible to span 18 feet between trusses with purlins, however they are probably going to need to be larger than 2×8. With the proper truss design, it might very well be able to carry the end of the purlins with a double truss.

What you are proposing is well outside of the prescriptive portions of the Building Codes, so whether stick framed or post frame (post frame will be far more economical) you should be utilizing the services of a RDP (Registered Design Professional – architect or engineer) in order to make sure you have a new building which is adequately designed to support the imposed loads.

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Best Construction Blog

Best Construction Blog?
For certain I know in my heart of hearts this blog is absolutely the best in the post frame (pole barn) building industry….no one, I repeat no one has penned over 1400 articles and answered over 2300 questions from readers in post frame building blogs, like I have.

Time to take it to another level.

This blog is one of only 17 world-wide to have been nominated and accepted as candidates for the 2018 Best Construction Blog competition.

This is ALL facets of the construction industry, not just our little niche of post frame.
I tend to be just a little bit on the competitive side, which is good – it has enabled me to do things like setting (and holding for over 20 years) the world record for the fastest pole building ever constructed (read a few snippets here:

https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/06/fastest-pole-building-ever-constructed/).
The best construction blog finalist is decided by a combination of popular vote and independent judging. This allows a fairer competition. The popular vote determines the short-list for the judging panel. While judges are free to consider all entries, they generally focus on the top six or seven bloggers.

This is where you, gentle reader, get to play a part in my success, or lack thereof. My goal has always been to be the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment. Hopefully my stories have combined enough wit and wisdoms to keep you coming back for more over the years.
I Need YOUR Help!

If you have enjoyed my musings, I would encourage you (and please your friends, neighbors, relatives and co-workers as well) to go to: https://constructionmarketingideas.com/voting-starts-for-2018-best-construction-blog-competition/ and cast your vote for this blog POLE BARN GURU (it is the 14th one from the top as they are listed alphabetically). Make sure to uncheck the boxes in front of any other blog.

Don’t be shy about helping this go viral – it needs enough votes to get it into the top few who will be independently judged.

Thank you gratefully!

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Residential Pole Barns

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 Planning Commission has drafted a couple of different versions of the ordinance over the past few months, garnering much discussion and public comment.

As for portable buildings and pole barns, the proposed ordinance would ban them from being used as residences. Anyone wanting to build a so-called pole barn house would have to meet the requirements for residential structures.”

residential-homeFor the benefit of the unenlightened in West Frankfort (or anywhere else in the United States), “pole barns” are actually more technically “post frame buildings” and their construction is covered as Code Conforming in the International Codes.

It could be unlawful, as well as possibly unethical, for a jurisdiction to deny a Code conforming structural building system. However, as best I have been able to ascertain, to place limitations upon types of roofing and/or siding as well as even colors is certainly within a jurisdiction’s area of control.

Now if you are one who is faced with these types of limitations – keep in mind the folks who have enacted them were either elected by you, or appointed to positions by the folks you elected!

Regardless of the type of building system, whether it be stick framed (stud walls), masonry, concrete, straw bale, or yes – even pole barns – if it falls under residential pole barns, the International Residential Code (IRC) requirements must be adhered to.

The September 2014 Rural Builder Magazine recently focused upon residential pole barns, including the cover story which was authored by yours truly! To read more visit: https://www.constructionmagnet.com/post-frame-technique/post-frame-comes-home-part-i-brave-new-world-of-the-pole-barn-house

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Guru: Where is Hansen Pole Buildings?

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: Forget about quoting me anything, I had no idea you were in MN. MEANDERING IN METHOW

DEAR MEANDERING: Yes, we are “in” MN.  We are also in ND, SD, ID, WA, OR, PA, NM, TX…..Have you ever ordered anything from Amazon.com? Amazon.com happens to be based in Seattle, however they ship from both their own warehouses all over America, as well as from third party fulfillment centers.

Think of Hansen Pole Buildings as being the Amazon.com exclusively for post frame & pole buildings. We ship from locations in all 50 states (including Omak and Wenatchee) – our home office just happens to be on the MN/SD border. Truth be told, our home “base” is in South Dakota, which really “is neither here nor there” when we service all 50 states as if they were all in our “own backyard”.  We have pole buildings in every state in America, most of them in the Pacific Northwest (a ton of them in WA), which just happens to be prime country for pole buildings.

Chances are good, wherever someone needs a pole building, we are going to be shipping the majority of the building components from locations nearby the building site, within 100 miles or less.

Just like Amazon.com, we are logistical wizards.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have an existing 40′ x 56′ x 12 pole barn. I am wanting to build a 28′ x 40′ x 8′ living quarters in the rear of building. There is no house wrap or insulation now. What is the best way to air seal and insulate the living quarters? A local contractor suggested 2″ of open cell spray, and then fiberglass over that. Will spray foam eventually rot the metal? Could I use a vapor/air barrier over the metal, and then use fiberglass. I guess I would have to remove the exterior metal in order to install house wrap?

I also read where I could install Roxul stone wool insulation directly over the metal, and put plastic over that. Then dryall.

Please help…..THANKS! WAITING IN WEST FRANKFORT

DEAR WAITING: I’d remove the wall steel in the area you want to convert to a living quarters, placing a high quality housewrap over the framing and putting the wall steel back on – use inside closure strips at the top and bottom of the wall panels as well as above any doors and above and below any windows.

I’d recommend the use of BIBs insulation in the walls, rather than batts – it fills all of the voids and results in a higher R value and better system performance.

The spray foam is unlikely to rot the steel, however it is a very expensive solution.

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Pole Barn vs. Post Frame Building

Just like Olympic boxing, in one corner is “pole barn” and in the other “post frame building”. Nothing too amazing about this….until one delves in and finds out they are actually two terms commonly used for the same thing.

red pole barnThe original pole barns, utilized round posts – basically trees, old power poles or similar. As they were round and they main structural supports, the term pole barn stuck.

I first began providing pole barn material kit packages over three decades ago. The first time I had ever heard the term “post frame building” was after I had stumbled upon the National Frame Builders Association (NFBA), over 25 years ago.

Even then, builders had deemed the term “pole barn” to have a negative connotation. It was felt pole barn relegated the industry to only farm buildings.

Today’s modern post frame building is anything but merely a farm building. Designed with cutting edge technology, it is widely regarded as the most efficient approach to most of today’s modern building requirements.  Pole barns can be anything any other “stick built” structure can be – and even more.  Anything from barns and arenas, to storage, sheds, airplane hangars, and yes, houses and churches too.  Take a look at some of the pictures on the Hansen Pole Buildings Website.  Can you tell what type of framing is used?

It is difficult to change general public knowledge and overall reactions when they hear the word “pole building.” You will often hear me say, “Pole Buildings fly under the radar.”  Just a few years ago, my wife and I were at a conference where the leaders encouraged us to “network”.  The goal was to go around the room, introduce yourself and state the name of your company. Then we were to share “what does or doesn’t work” for our company.  My wife and I soon huddled in the corner and decided we’d leave the word “pole” out of our name when we introduced ourselves.  Invariably, I’d barely eke out, “Hi, I’m Mike from Hansen Pole Buildings…” and was met with a confused stare, along with interrupting comments of “Pole…you mean like telephone poles?”  Um…no.  To date, we use both names for our company – depending on where we are and who we are talking to.

At Hansen Buildings, we examine trends for terms people use when doing internet searches. What really matters is not what we, or our industry, want to use as a moniker – it is the public. Hands down, the general population picks “pole barn”. Pole building is a distant second.

And what about “post frame”? After all of the efforts made by the industry and the NFBA, rarely does anyone search for a post frame building!  Take your pick, but whatever term you use, we know exactly what you are talking about.

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History of Pole Buildings: Part III Not Just Grandpa’s Barn Anymore

To wrap up the History of Pole Buildings, the following excerpt was taken from the National Frame Builder’s Association website,  www.nfba.org:

Post Frame Barn

Rural post frame barn building

Countless structures are now erected using post-frame methods, including strip malls, convenience stores, restaurants, office complexes, and many other types of retail, public, commercial and residential applications. Schools, churches, fire stations, airplane hangars, and many other kinds of structures may be erected using post-frame design.

Although for reasons of economy many post-frame buildings were and are externally finished using metal cladding, almost any exterior or interior wall, roof or ceiling finish material may be applied. A wide variety of materials never envisioned by industry forefathers are now routinely incorporated into post-frame design. So many types of materials may be used on the façade, one may easily mistake a post-frame structure for another kind of building. Today it makes little difference whether the building purchaser favors the aesthetics of wood siding, brick or stucco; virtually any look is available in post-frame. New concrete siding materials have even made it possible to build a post-frame building that looks like it was made of cement block, at a fraction of the cost. They are aesthetically pleasing and durable structures that are typically easier on the eye than most commercial buildings.

Since the framing in post-frame buildings can be spaced at modular distances to make finishing the interior a straight-forward process, the post frame building has found increased applications in office, retail, religious, public and recreational buildings. Greater awareness of the potential for post-frame buildings in residential housing has also developed. There are excellent examples of post-frame buildings with upper floors or lofts. Concrete floors are found in most commercial post-frame buildings. In some of these buildings, the posts are supported on a foundation wall or on the concrete slab, eliminating the need for the post embedment.

Pole buildings or “post frame” buildings have come a long way over the years.  They aren’t just “Grampa’s Old Barn” anymore.  Today just about any low rise building can be a pole barn.  Take a look around your neighborhood or even your local business community.  From houses to garages, churches, airplane hangars and shops or stores – a pole barn is a sturdy, and yet cost effective solution to your building needs. Long live the pole barn!

 

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History of Pole Buildings Part II: Who is Howard Doane?

To continue with my History of Pole Buildings, the following excerpt was taken from the National Frame Builder’s Association website,  www.nfba.org:

Pole Building Inventor Howard DoaneH. Howard Doane is credited with being the innovator who, in 1930, first combined the availability of poles and metal roof sheeting into a “modern” building concept. The founder of Doane’s Agricultural Service, Doane was looking for a way to reduce the cost of agricultural structures. He did not believe the traditional barns being built on farms could be economically justified. Doane believed that the “pole” building could provide the needed economy in construction and still have the necessary durability.

The Depression of the early 1930’s called for practical structures to be built on farms across the country. For Doane, it made good business sense to use a pole construction method, rather than build an extravagant structure that would outlast its usefulness on a farm.

He began to build barns that utilized round poles as the primary supporting member for the sidewalls and roof systems of the agricultural structures. These barns used red cedar poles as the primary structural support. Rafters were constructed every 2 feet, on which 1 inch of sheathing material was placed 12- to 18-in. apart. The sidewalls were covered with galvanized steel. This building method eliminated much of the structural material used in other methods, and best of all, it reduced costs.

Doane’s Agricultural Service’s farm manager, Bernon G. Perkins, has been credited with refining the evolution of the modern pole building from a temporary to long-lasting structure. Red cedar poles were used at the time, lending up to a decade or more of longevity to structures at that time. When red cedar poles became scarce in the mid-1930’s, Perkins used creosote-treated poles to provide the primary structural support. This extended a typical pole building’s life by some decades. By the early 1940’s, creosote-treated poles became the mainstay of the building concept.

Another mainstay of this ‘pole-barn’ building method was to use 2×4 lumber placed on edge as purlins. With this design change, pioneered by Perkins, it was possible to place the rafters and trusses from 4- to 12-ft. apart, making it possible for the roof to support the loads to which it would be subjected.

Ever the pioneer, Perkins had other ideas on improving the building method. He began to overlap the roof purlins, without cutting, by using 2×4 lumber direct from the yard with whatever length was available. This eliminated the extra handwork required to cut the purlins to size, saving time and money. The pole-building method proved to be an economical way to construct rural buildings.

During World War II, the U.S. government imposed a $1,500 limitation on the amount it could spend on constructing new barns. The pole barn building method, which eliminated up to two-thirds of the lumber needed by other systems, made the government’s guidelines attainable.

Doane’s Agricultural Service actually received a patent for the “pole building design concept” on June 6, 1953. However, rather than protect the patent, they widely publicized the concept and encouraged its use throughout the United States. Doane’s Agricultural Service made its pole barn building plans available worldwide to anyone interested in the concept. Perkins spoke to farmers all over the country on the benefits of pole-building construction. They listened.

Initially, the nation’s college and university personnel were hesitant to accept pole buildings. But doubts about the ability of the structures to withstand wind and snow loads were put to rest, as time proved the buildings’ capabilities. After scientific tests proved its superior performance, the academic community became an invaluable ally to the growing industry.

As the concept developed, the performance of post-frame buildings proved excellent. Structures with smaller columns and post-soil embedment depths less than those indicated by accepted design techniques at that time withstood high wind forces and snow loads. It was clear that post-frame buildings were transmitting loads in a manner unaccountable in previously used design processes. Academically-based researchers began to study the phenomenon to unlock the secret of its superior performance. They attributed the manner in which the frame interacted with trusses to absorb loads and resiliently return to its intended shape as “diaphragm interaction” or “diaphragm design.”

In the 1960s, post-frame structures began popping up on farms all over the country. The concept quickly spread beyond the farm into commercial and other applications. The method’s name also changed from pole construction to post-frame construction around this time, as round poles became less commonly used.  Post-frame was distinctly improved from the “pole buildings” of the past by use of rectangular solid-sawn posts and laminated columns.

The movement of the post-frame building into the commercial marketplace necessitated compliance with building codes. For many years, agricultural buildings in many rural areas were exempt from building code requirements. Since the design was not understood by building officials, and since no approved and recognized design procedure had previously existed, the suitability of the post-frame structure was often questioned before the end of the twentieth century.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Part Three, the final installment of The History of Pole Buildings.  How versatile really is a pole barn?  Come back and find out!

 

 

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History of Pole Buildings Part I- back to the cave man!

While many old barns exist, it was not until the last century that pole barns developed, first as farm buildings. The following is excerpted from the National Frame Builder’s Association website:  www.nfba.org:

The post-frame industry has grown steadily in North America, gaining more and more widespread application in the past 100 years. Yet, many people still wonder, “What is post-frame construction?”

Post-frame buildings are structurally efficient buildings composed primarily of:  trusses, purlins, girts, bracing and sheathing. The primary element of the design incorporates square posts or wood columns, which are typically embedded in the ground or surface-mounted to a concrete or masonry foundation.

The post-frame building concept is not new. Many pre-historic peoples throughout the world used posts embedded in the ground to fashion sturdy structures for residences and other uses. For centuries, buildings along shorelines and in low-lying areas have been built on poles to elevate the structures above the guideline and/or water hazard. In rural areas, poles were used to erect sheds or temporary structures in 19th-century America. In all these cases, the limited life-span of poles in contact with the ground made them unsuitable for use longer than a few years, except in very dry areas or when rot-resistant strains of wood were used.

However, two significant technological developments in the twentieth century allowed the post-frame building to develop into a viable, long-lived structural system. First, pressure-treated materials that provided excellent durability, particularly poles that were initially developed for the electrical industry, became available for the construction of buildings. Secondly, large, lightweight metal sheeting was produced that could span supports spaced several feet apart. What remained was for builders to optimally use the advantageous features of these two materials in what is now known as the post-frame or laminated column building.

The availability of pressure-treated wood permitted the replacement of a continuous concrete foundation in conventional buildings with a vertical structural member that carried the live roof and dead building loads directly to the ground below the frost line.

The availability of lightweight, formed, metal roofing material permitted the use of spaced roof decking. The strength of the roofing materials resulted in a significant portion of the lateral building loads being transmitted to the end walls, to reduce the load on the supporting posts. The availability of trusses for a wide variety of spans further enhances and aides in the development of the post-frame building. Whereas trusses in conventional light-frame buildings are generally spaced 2-ft. or less on-center on stud walls, trusses became readily available that permitted truss spacing of anywhere from 4 to 12 ft. in post-frame construction. Each of these features contributed to the evolution of the modern post-frame building and its increasing popularity.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Blog- Part Two of The History of Pole Buildings.   You will find out who is really responsible for getting the pole barn design started, and why it was so important in the 1930’s.

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Fastest Pole Building Ever Constructed

The Pole Barn Guru - Americas Fastest Pole Barn BuilderProbably the highlight of my career as a pole barn builder came October 30, 1996. On live television, in the 30 minutes prior to Bob Villa, Momb Steel Buildings set a world speed record, as we constructed a fully featured, two car garage, in a client’s limited access back yard. This was a Sunday morning, and everyone went all out. The City of Millwood blocked off a 20 square block area for parking and equipment. Spokane County arranged for a Building Inspector to work on Sunday. The television people even erected bleachers in our client’s backyard. We printed up a gross of long sleeve T Shirts with “World’s Fastest Pole Builder” on them, and they were so popular I didn’t even get one! One of the most fun parts of the whole experience was pumping concrete OVER the house (I am sure to the shock of our clients).

Prior to the event, the building crews which helped us were positive we could not construct it in under an hour. After the event, we took all of those who participated out for lunch. Instead of eating the free food, they all were drawing on napkins with carpenter pencils figuring out how “next time” we could shave off 5 seconds here, and ten seconds there… by doing things differently!

For a short time in 2000, I was a manufacturer’s representative for a company which manufactures glu-laminated columns for the post frame industry. Great product, but seriously lacked in distribution, and soon found myself back in the pole building business working for another contractor. During this time, I became intrigued with products being offered over the internet and felt this would be a prime place for pole building kits.

In 2000 I made probably the smartest and happiest decision of my life, I married my “bride” of now eleven years.  With her background and mine, I quickly envisioned a business structure so “out there”, even my bride thought I was nuts.  I wanted to sell pole buildings completely off the internet.  No bricks and mortar sales office, no lumberyard, truss plant or even in-house sales staff.  Just she and I, and maybe a few others to handle some of the paperwork.  After talking about it for two years, my idea became an exciting reality.  In 2002, Hansen Pole Buildings was born.  It quickly became a huge success, and today, we remain predominantly an internet based business, heavy on automation, technology and cutting edge business savvy.

In my now over 30 years in the industry, I’ve had buildings delivered and built in all 50 states, over 14,000 of them. Recent innovations have been many. With CCA pressure preservative treating being pretty much eliminated due to a settlement between the EPA and the CCA chemical producers, some alternative preservative chemical formulas were found to react with steel, when water was present. To combat the negative effects of this reaction, we’ve added a protective barrier between the pressure treated skirt boards and the steel base trim. This also has necessitated the use of stainless steel screws to attach steel to pressure treated lumber.

For clients concerned about the chemicals being used in treating, plastic sleeves are available to isolate the treated wood from the surround soils. Steel brackets have been developed to allow pole buildings to be constructed on top of concrete piers, foundation walls and slabs.

We’ve replaced paint on screws with powder coating, offering a finish which will outlive the steel panels (https://lelandindustries.com/productpdfs/page%2048.pdf). The screws themselves are now coated with superior finishes to resist corrosion.

The advent of the International Building Codes in 2000, caused significant changes to the way code conforming buildings are designed. Deflection criteria has made girts (horizontal wall framing) attached wide face to the wall columns not meet the more stringent deflection criteria. In response to this, we’ve designed most of our buildings with wall girts installed flat (like book shelves) to resist deflecting.

We are constantly upgrading and innovating our design solutions. As better products are developed, we look for ways to make construction faster, easier to install and more reliable in performance.  More than ever, we look for ways to produce eye pleasing buildings which are not hard on the budget.

I look forward to sharing the journey with you.

Mike Momb ~ The Pole Barn Guru

 

 

 

 

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Evolution of The Pole Barn Guru and his Building Philosophy

In my early years, tremendous quality was not necessarily the strong point. It was the ability to offer a very reasonably priced building and deliver it quickly. My buildings were pretty much the same as everyone else I competed against. Business grew and I started being able to hire employees. Jim Betonte left the steel roofing and siding industry and began a construction business which offered labor to people who wanted our building kits erected. In the mid-80’s M & W joined the National Frame Builders Association (NFBA) and started to become better educated on the “post frame” industry on the whole.

The real deal changer – in October 1985 I met Frank Woeste. Frank was an Agricultural Engineering professor at Virginia Tech and what he knew about pole buildings was staggering. In exchange for me traveling to Blacksburg, Virginia to teach one of his classes for a day, Frank gave me my first engineering design software for pole buildings and the printout of the programs in a computer program called “Basic”.

Frank motivated me to want to make better buildings and to know why it is they worked the way they did from an engineering standpoint. From

his program printout, I taught myself Basic programming and wrote more complex and varied programs than the ones which just calculated post, girt and purlin sizes.

My buildings gradually changed – steel stopped being fastened with ringshanked nails in 1982, using first galvanized, then later color matched screws. Green lumber was replaced by kiln dried lumber, much of it (especially larger sizes such as 2×6 and 2×8 with machine stress rated lumber). Utility graded skirt boards and 4×6 columns were upgraded to #2 and better. Pressure treated timbers were treated for structural in ground use, rather than “or refusal” (basically, in many cases, just coated with treating chemicals by the treatment plants).

By 1987 I had joined the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASAE) and the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO). At the time, ICBO was writing the Uniform Building Code, which was adopted throughout much of the United States. The late 80’s were heady times for the ASAE as the structures committee I was a member of, was developing and putting into practice many of the standards now utilized for modern pole building structural design.

Frank Woeste and Don Bender (now a professor at Washington State University in Pullman), began holding commercial post frame design classes, which I first took as a student, and later assisted with. Often, the example buildings for the class were structures of mine.

While I owned M&W we received recognition from the State of Oregon for our donation of a building to earthquake ravaged Irkutsk, USSR. We were featured in newspapers such as the Capitol Press and magazines such as Frame Building Professional. We were also named as one of the 50 largest users of steel roofing and siding in the United States for the decade of the 1980’s. We were even featured on the morning national television program in South Korea!

In 1989, I was elected to a 3 year term on the board of directors for the National Frame Builders Association. To the best of my knowledge, I was the first board member from west of the Mississippi River.

After some 6600 building kits sold in 13 western states, Canada, Mexico and Saipan, I sold M & W Building Supply to Jim Betonte in 1990 and moved back to Spokane. My brother Mark had worked in sales for me at M & W and in 1991 he returned to Spokane as well. We formed Momb Building Systems and began constructing buildings in the Spokane area. Mark left the business in 1992 to return to school and the name was changed to Momb Steel Buildings. Business thrived and in 1993 Apex Roof Truss was begun to produce trusses and provide the lumber packages for our buildings.

Besides Washington, I became a registered contractor in Oregon, Idaho and Montana. At the height of business, we had as many as 35 crews building in six states. In one single county alone, we built over 200 buildings in a single year.

Mike The Pole Barn Guru Featured in Frame Building Professional Magazine

Further improvements to pole building design were made. In the early 90’s we added trims which were not regularly used along the I-5 corridor.  Base trim to keep rodents out, J Channel at tops of walls, overhead door jamb trim, trims on fascias and varges with overhangs, eavelight trims with sidelight panels) all of which made for a far more attractive finished product. The first big structural change was to notch the trusses into the columns to provide direct bearing, instead of attaching them to each side of the columns. Later, we physically doubled up the trusses nailing them face-to-face, instead of blocked apart. At the same time we went to joist hanging all roof purlins between the trusses, instead of placing them lapped over the top of the truss pairs.

This now allowed for the roof panels to be predrilled before installation, which kept all screw lines straight and greatly eliminated the potential for leaks.

At an Alumax testing facility east of Los Angeles, we constructed a full scale roof to test the shear strength of steel panels. Our testing resulted in some surprises. Initially we felt the weak link would be the framing under the steel. We were totally in error and surprised at the results.  Our assembly was done to match industry standards and included fastening the steel to the roof purlins using #10 x 1” screws every nine inches. As we placed horizontal loads into the roof, before ripples even appeared in the steel, the screw started to pull out of the framing. The pull out problem was solved by using 1-1/2” long screws.

The next problem was the steel began to slot beneath the screw grommets. The solution was to use larger diameter screws in the high stress areas (at the eave and ridge) and to place screws in this area on each side of each high rib, rather than along one side only. Only after all of the screw issues were solved, were we finally able to test the steel to failure.  The results showed some fairly significant values. The results of this test are published in the NFBA Post Frame Building Design Manual  https://bse.wisc.edu/bohnhoff/Publications/Copyrighted/NFBA_Design_Manual.pdf See Table 6.1 (assemblies 13 and 14).

After the test was completed, the Alumax design engineer, Merle Townsend designed a screw specifically to solve the weaknesses demonstrated by the test. Labeled as the “diaphragm” screw (https://lelandindustries.com/productpdfs/page%2001.pdf) this 1-1/2” part features a larger diameter shank than standard screws. A side benefit of this screw is that the larger diameter helps prevent the screw heads from twisting off during installation.

To this day, these screws remain a stable part of my building design, and have rarely (if at all) has this great improvement been equaled by any other pole building company.

Stay tuned for the final episode of “From Cradle to now…Mike the Pole Barn Guru” as he expands from four states…to fifty!

 

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