Two Pole Barns, one new and one to renovate

[Ranger Rick]

I have been reading the posts of everyone building barns and houses for a long time and and want to thank Motorseven, Obed, Bindian and BoFuller and others for motivating me to take on these projects by myself. Your projects are great.
I finally have broken ground for a new pole barn/workshop and equipment storage. As soon as I get this built I can move my stuff into it and start renovation on the old barn. It has been a slow process to get started. I started planning to build a new pole barn back in May when I had to submit my plans to the National Park Service. We happen to live in a historic district and the NPS holds the conservation easement that says that they have to approve any new construction. A royal pain. After a couple of months later they said ok. Then plans had to be submitted to the county. They reviewed them and said that I needed to submit a truss plan from the truss builder. Then more review and finally a building permit. This week I started leveling the top of the hill were I am going to build my pole barn. It will be 30 x 40 with room for me to have a workshop and store some equipment. I plan to have a 10 ft ceiling. Here are the pictures of the area.

 

[creekbend]

Beautiful property. Best wishes.

 

[Ranger Rick]

A couple of more pictures of the property and old barn
New barn pad site

 

[Ranger Rick]

This past week just before Hurricane Sandy came to this part of the country I managed to get my post holes dug and the concrete footings poured. I plan to get back this weekend and hope to find out that everything has survived the storm and then I can get to work putting up some posts. I have a question. I figure that I should set a couple of corner posts and then pull a string between them to keep the other post straight in line. Should I just brace them all straight and then come back and backfill all the holes once I am sure they are in the right place or just go down the line and keeping them straight as I go? I am looking forward to getting out of the ground any suggestions will be appreciated if it makes the job easier. Rick

 

[deezler]

I would hold off on most back filling until you are certain all posts are exactly where you want them to be, and plumb. Let the braces provide the rigidity until you're certain everything is perfect. Make sure to measure the diagonals to get it square!

I like the old barn, it looks great.

 

[PoleBarnGuru]

Hopefully the batter boards have been left in place. If so, run stringlines 1-1/2" past the building line from batter board to batter board. This allows for posts to be set by placing a block of 2x4 between the post and the stringline. Plumb and brace all of the columns, then pour premix around the posts. Once the premix has set, then all of the braces can be removed, making your building far sturdier, as well as easier to work around.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Yes I had the batter boards still in place so I took your suggestion and offset the string from the post. That worked well. I managed to get two corner post in this afternoon. It took awhile to figure out how best to move the bottom of the post to get it lined up straight where I needed it.

The tractor and forks with a piece of chain works well to move the post to the hole and hold it up until I got it braced.



Hopefully it will go faster tomorrow now that I have done a couple.

 

[OrangeToys]

Are you doing all the work yourself? Im anxious to see it. I'd like to build mine.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Are you doing all the work yourself? Im anxious to see it. I'd like to build mine.

Yes I am. It may not be as fast as having a crew of workers come in and do it all in 3 days but I have the satisfaction of having done it all. I will try to get some help setting the rafters though.

 

[crbr]

Thanks for the pictures

 

[PoleBarnGuru]

Nail a 2x horizontally across each post, so when the post is stood in the hole, it "floats" six inches above the bottom. Once the post is "stood" in the hole, with a couple of temporary braces, it allows for the post to be adjusted at the base quite easily - merely by adjusting the location of the horizontal brace. It also allows the concrete backfill around the posts to flow beneath the base of the columns, making for a nice solid base which will resist both settling and uplift.

 

[Ranger Rick]

I am making some progress with putting in my posts. I figure I will get most of them done by tomorrow. The tractor is a big help holding the posts while I get them straight and back filled with concrete and dirt. Here are pictures from yesterday and today.

 

[Ranger Rick]

I will be getting the rest of the posts in the ground today and was going to start putting the girts on. It will be at least another week or two before I can get the roof trusses in and put up. How much bracing of the posts do I have to keep to keep the posts from bending as they dry out before the roof trusses go up? Some of the 2x4's that I got for girts are now being used as bracing. I was trying figure out how many of the 2x that I am using as braces I can use or whether I should leave them all until the roof trusses are up tying everything together. Thanks for your help. Rick

 

[Ranger Rick]

Making more progress on the barn. I got the 2 x 10's attached to the posts on one side of the barn. Most of the girts are attached to that side and the end of the barn. The weather men are calling for rain tonight into tomorrow morning so I covered up some areas to reduce the making of mud. I also put some gravel down just to keep the clay from sticking to my feet when it gets wet. I will put more down after I get the roof trusses up. My wife has given me the ok to put in a concrete floor instead of just gravel. yeah.
Here are some picture of what I have gotten done this week. Rick

 

[SHORT KID]

Good looking job so far. Never too much bracing until trusses are tied in. You will have to be up on top and moving around quite a bit to get it completed. If one gets in the way just move it or remove it. Much more comfortable working on a good steady frame and safer too! Keep up the nice work you will be proud in the end.

 

[PoleBuildingDesigner]

It sounds like you are coming along nicely with your building. Great looking property and appears to be sloping which creates challenges. If you need advise let me know, always happy to help.

 

[Ranger Rick]

I need some help. The trusses were delivered the other day and I am beginning to think ahead to the job of putting them up. One thing I have a question about is how to temporarily brace them until I get the purlins on and the permanent bracing on. The trusses will be going on 4 foot centers. Should I cut some 4 foot 2x4's to connect a truss to the previous truss and then after I get a few up start putting some 16 foot purlins on along with other permanent bracing. Any help that anyone can give will be greatly appreciated. Rick

 

[Diamondpilot]

To lift trusses I made a 12' pole out of a piece of 3" I Beam with a welded hook on one end. Its attached to a quick attach plate and I use my FEL to lift them. Simply walk the truss in next to the poles then position the tractor to lift it.

I have used it on 14' walls so your 10' should be no issue.

Chris

 

[Ranger Rick]

To lift trusses I made a 12' pole out of a piece of 3" I Beam with a welded hook on one end. Its attached to a quick attach plate and I use my FEL to lift them. Simply walk the truss in next to the poles then position the tractor to lift it.

I have used it on 14' walls so your 10' should be no issue.

Chris

I was going to attach a 10 foot 4x4 or 4x6 to my forks with a hook at the end and use that to pick up the trusses. The truss spec sheet says they weigh only 175 lbs. Do you think that this is strong enough? Rick

 

[schweizer]

I was going to attach a 10 foot 4x4 or 4x6 to my forks with a hook at the end and use that to pick up the trusses. The truss spec sheet says they weigh only 175 lbs. Do you think that this is strong enough? Rick

I did something similar. Sort of quick-n-dirty Rube Goldberg crane setup but it worked for hoisting beams 16' high when building my barn (separate thread here on TBN).
A 4x4 will snap without a chain/cable to hold it diagonally. Here are a few pics.