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Fasteners in ACQ, Vapor Barriers, and Buildings in NC

This Wednesday the Pole Barn Guru answers reader questions about use of which fasteners are best to use in to ACQ treated columns, the need for a vapor barrier in Washington State, and Hansen Buildings in North Carolina.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Potential new customer here. Doing a small job on my own right now.

What should I use for attaching 2x material into uc4b posts? Is stainless steel required? Nails or screws? I was told by Fasten Master that their ACQ approved screws are only approved for uc4a.

Thanks in advance. CHAD

DEAR CHAD: ACQ is highly problematic as, if water is added to the connection, a chemical reaction is created literally “eating” steel. This was found to be a huge issue with deck construction. Code requirement would be for HDG (hot dipped galvanized) fasteners into pressure preservative treated lumber. We would recommend Simpson SDWS screws (it is what we provide for all of our buildings).

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Existing 4 year old pole building on property that we bought (building is heated living space ). Siding is T1-11 by prior owner. Here is the roof detail from top to bottom when we purchased it; metal roofing, MBI blanket, 2×6 purlins, purlin cavity filled with R-19 unfaced batt, 2×12 LVL rafters thru bolted to treated posts, sheetrock secured to bottom of purlins. First problem- not vented properly. Second problem- not enough insulation. We just changed the roof side ( per an engineer calcs ); removed the metal, removed the MBI blanket, added 2×4 sleepers flat 2′ on center running from eave to ridge, added 1/2 CDX, added asphalt shingles roofing, now there is venting over the top of the insulation from eave to ridge vent. Now to the inside space ( the building company said for a heated living space ) add 2×6 between the 2×12 LVL flush to the LVL bottom at 2′ OC then fill that void with a R30 batt, then install a new ceiling.1) Do you agree ?2) Do I need to remove the sheetrock, or can I cut a bunch of holes in it ?3) I plan to use TrussCore for the new ceiling finish, what do you suggest for a vapor barrier behind the TrussCore? I appreciate your thoughts in advance. PS. building is in western WA state. ALAN in STANWOOD

DEAR ALAN: Sounds like you bought into a real mess.

I don’t believe your proposed R-30 batts are going to come anywhere close to meeting Washington state’s energy code requirements: https://sbcc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-01/2021_WSEC_R_2ndEd_012524.pdf

I would remove sheetrock, it is putting unnecessary weight upon your roof system and could result in deflection issues. If purlins overly deflect, your asphalt shingle roof will have obvious dips between rafters.

You should not need a vapor barrier between ceiling finish and framing.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Why is North Carolina not included in your list of locations to ship a pole barn house? RODNEY in MURPHY

DEAR RODNEY: Hansen Pole Buildings has provided over 100 fully engineered custom designed post frame buildings to our clients in the Carolinas, (as well as every state). To the best of our knowledge, there is no excluded list of any United States location we would not ship a pole barn home to (Hawaii and Alaska barndominiums are shipped to Port of Tacoma for our clients to arrange barge or container transport).

This entry was posted in Columns, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Heating, Pole Barn Design, Roofing Materials, Constructing a Pole Building, Barndominium, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Building Siding, Ventilation, Lumber, Building Interior, Insulation and tagged ACQ treated lumber, Strong-Drive SDWS Timber Screws, North Carolina, insulation, vapor barrier on October 2, 2024 by Rick Ochs.

Boots on the Ground With Rick Carr

Boots On The Ground With Rick Carr

Long time Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rick Carr has a lengthy history in post frame construction – back to his early years where he worked assembling them for a living. Rick is one of those inquisitive sorts, he wants to know not only what a best design solution is, but also why.

Well, Rick is putting himself into a client’s shoes, so I will let him best tell his story and I will comment as needed.

Here is how it all began with a recent email from Rick to me:

“Hi Mike,

I don’t know if you are aware that I plan to get a Hansen building for a fishing cabin that I hope to start in July of this year.

I intend to build a 26 x 40 building using 34 foot trusses so that the trusses cantilever over an 8 foot deck. I am planning a crawl space so that the deck would be at the same level of the first floor or slightly below. Additionally, I intend to use radiant floor heating over the subfloor above the crawl space.

I am having challenges working out some of the details and getting conflicting information so I could have a series of questions for you as I learn more.

Today’s question is about building with construction screws versus nails and a nailing gun. I plan to buy some new tools for the project. I am looking at 20 V portable drill/driver packages. They tend to combine drills with impact drivers as a package.

My question is would you build up your walls using construction screws or nails?

And, do you know if the impact drivers that come in these packages are strong enough to drive the Strong-Drive® SDWS Timber screws, ledger locks, to attach the double trusses to the columns?

https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/12/connecting-trusses-not-dots/

PS, I could send the questions in a timely fashion if you wanted to do a series…..”

Mike the Pole Barn Guru responds:

I would use screws to assemble everything, as they are superior fasteners. When I did my last remodel on our home at Newman Lake, Washington, I used screws for everything. It might have added a few minutes overall to my work, however it was sure handy to be able to back out a few screws when I decided something wasn’t exactly to my liking.

https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/01/strong-drive-screws/

As to being able to drive a Strong-Drive® SDWS Timber Screw, I have successfully put them in using my regular old ¼” drill motor.

Read about Strong-Drive® SDWS Timber screws here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/12/simpson-strong-drive-sdws-timber-screw/.

I’d like for you to write about your entire process – what lead you to your decision to use post frame, and considerations in arriving at your design. More you can share, better it will be in helping others through this process.

Stay tuned, folks for more on Rick Carr’s building in future blogs.

This entry was posted in Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Fasteners, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design and tagged Strong-Drive SDWS Timber Screws, connecting trusses, impact driver, ledger locks, nailing gun on March 6, 2019 by admin.

Connecting Trusses Not Dots

This feature is probably not overly mentioned, however as most structural failures involve connections, it probably should be.

FEATURE: Double trusses notched into sidewall columns and connected with Strong-Drive® SDWS TIMBER Screws

BENEFIT: Trusses placed in a notch cannot slide down columns and Strong-Drive® SDWS TIMBER Screws resist uplift forces without a need for boring holes through columns.

WHAT OTHERS DO: A myriad of design solutions exist.

For trusses mounted every two or four feet upon truss carriers (headers between sidewall columns) attachment can be by toe-nail or engineered steel hangers to carriers. In some instances paddle blocks are inserted between carriers and trusses are nailed to these blocks.

With single trusses aligned with sidewall columns, trusses are most often placed into a notch cut into one side of columns. With nail or glu-laminated columns an interior column ply can be cut short to create an integral notch. Truss to column connections may include nails and/or bolts.

In designs with two single trusses, most often a truss is placed on each side of sidewall columns on top of bearing blocks. Bearing blocks may be nailed, lagged or bolted to column sides. Trusses are attached in same fashion as bearing blocks. Trusses are spaced apart along their length by paddle blocking installed between chords. Under extreme loading conditions trusses and their bearing blocks have been seen driven down sides of columns to rest upon building contents or even, the ground.

A variant on this places trusses closer together so they may be notched into sides of each column. This allows for elimination of bearing blocks and their associated challenges.

At Hansen Pole Buildings, we have trusses physically face-to-face nailed providing for a true load sharing between trusses. A notch is cut into one side of columns for trusses to bear. Attachment of trusses to columns is most often done by use of Strong-Drive SDWS Timber screws.

WHAT WE DID IN 1980: Lucas Plywood & Lumber placed a single truss upon each side of columns, on top of a nailed on bearing block. Trusses were attached to columns by means of a ¾” diameter, non-galvanized through bolt – entailing having to drill through nearly nine inches of wood and hoping to avoid steel connector plates at each truss heel.