Stable / hay storage build

[Mike476]

Made it home recently for three weeks. Drove the 1600 kms (1000 miles) in one day, didn't want to spend too much time on the road. It was a busy three weeks but I can't honestly remember enjoying time with my family more. My wife and two daughters were right there with me when they weren't working, great sense of accomplishment. Proper thing though, they're the horse people I just get to play around doing this sort of thing ;o)

I'm no master carpenter by any means, had the help of a lot of friends too, particularly when it came to swinging trusses, shingling the roof etc. Wouldn't have got it done without their help.

Day 1 at home I had to move the old hay storage shed I had built, my daughter got the chance to put a couple of hours on our new MF 1660 I had delivered my first day home. With the shed moved I had to knock a couple of maples down that were right where we wanted the building. Hated doing it, we try to keep as many of the mature trees on the property that we can.

Once they were down I cut them into lengths for milling, cleared the brush and had a friend come with his hoe to pull the stumps. Once the stumps were pulled we cleaned up all the roots.

Day 2 I had three loads of sand delivered, levelled it with the tractor, compacted it and started laying block. I wanted the building to be large enough for four 10X12 stalls and storage for a years worth of hay for our 4 horses. Decided on a 28 X 40, 10 foot wall on block style construction. Pressure treated 6x6 sill on a course of inverted starter coarse shingles to keep it from touching the concrete.

 

[Mike476]

The next few days were sent framing. My wife and I had milled enough full dimension 2x4 to frame with a few years prior, I used PT's 2x6 ripped to a full 4 inch width for the sill. Short walls first.



Then we got started on the long walls

 

[Mike476]

Started the sheathing next.



Trusses came but were of the wrong type (didn't order them with a tail) so I had to make some quick arrangements to get the right ones made up and delivered, screwed up my schedule. I had allowed for a day or two for weather in my planning but couldn't afford much more. It took four days for them to deliver the right trusses. Thankfully they were delivered on a Friday, had the 21 trusses placed on top of the walls that morning, had them up and all but two rows of sheathing on one side finished by nightfall that same day. Was a good day

 

[Mike476]

Got the roof shingled in time for 3-4 days of rain, focus shifted to making the four stalls inside. Sheathed the interior walls with 5/4 my wife and I had milled a couple of years earlier.



For the interior walls of the stalls we went with 2x6, linseed oiled and used drywall beading at edges to discourage the horses from chewing. Works well, I used it in our run-in shelter 15 years ago, still like the day I nailed it togerther.

 

[Mike476]

Didn't have time to make the four stall doors so we went with the strap style gates until I get home again at Xmas.

Built the exterior doors and hung them on Friday of the third week, took Saturday off and drove back to Ontario Sunday. My wife and daughters painted it and sent me these photos, happy with how it turned out.



Like I said at the beginning, wonderful family project, and with the help of a lot of friends we managed to pull it off. A lot of work in under three weeks for a bunch of weekend warriors. Would do it all again in a heart beat.

 

[Lou66]

Looks like that with keep them dry and warm.. nice looking barn.. thanks for the pictures.Lou

 

[Mike476]

Thanks Lou, my wife and I will enjoy staying out of the weather a little more, cold gets to you a little more as you get up in years.

 

[dave1949]

I nominate you for Super Dad of the Month!

Nice work and great to see families working together.

I've seen barns and sheds built on that foundation style, and of course that was the only style back when.

Do you use any modern tie-downs to anchor the wood framing to the ground?

 

[Mike476]

Thanks Dave.

I haven't done anything to anchor it yet, I've been looking at different optiions for how best to do it.

 

[dave1949]

Thanks Dave.

I haven't done anything to anchor it yet, I've been looking at different optiions for how best to do it.

You are welcome.

I don't know that they did any anchoring years ago, or that you need any, just wondering if you had plans.

With enough animal heat and the hay, plus some snow cover, the ground may not freeze under the blocks. But if it were to freeze, I guess it would be best to allow the whole structure to float up and down with the frost.

Looking at old rock barn foundations, it doesn't seem like they worried about frost heaving. On the other hand, those old buildings do have some ups and downs in their sills. Could be just from settling for 100+ years too.

It takes a lot of wind to move a building, more than any normal storm will produce.

 

[Mike476]

The ground in my area has hard pan about 8 inches down, about 8-18 inches thick depending where you're at. I compacted the dirt beneath the blocks before laying them, which some people will tell you means it will be more affected by frost than if I hadn't compacted it but I wanted it to be on level / firm ground.

At the end of the day, probably more for my peace of mind than anything else, I think I'll put 4 anchors down. I went through the trouble of putting the hurricane ties on the trusses, we can get fairly strong winds in this part of the province and with the way the weather is going, better safe than sorry.

 

[dave1949]

My guess is that with the horses, stored hay, bedding, and some snow, it isn't going to freeze much below the building. But that is not a very educated guess. :laughing:

Yeah, who knows about the wind, so you are probably smart to put some anchors down. It can't hurt. If you think it will frost heave, you could make-up something that has some expansion ability between the ground anchor and the building attachment. Chain is something you could monitor, leave a link or three of slack and see if it gets taken up over the winter.

 

[dieselscout80]

Can you post a drawing of your barns layout.

It looks great.

 

[Mike476]

Thanks, regrettably I'm not a CAD program kind of guy and unfortunately all my drawings / scratches are on a whirl board at home in my shop, but I made this up quickly to hopefully give you an idea of dimensions etc.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Nice job...and it only took you 5 posts to complete it

We have an old barn that has the same foundation as you used. It had been standing close to 80 years.

 

[Mike476]

Nice job...and it only took you 5 posts to complete it

Lol, 21 days compressed into just a few photos. I laugh because my wife and I planned to do a better job taking pics all the way through the project but it's hard to let go of a truss and get off a wall to grab a camera..........

Farmers I spoke to here in the Valley either recommended post and beam or this method. I preferred on block to post and beam, buried poles will last for years and years but I like the idea of trying to keep wood out of / off the ground where possible.

 

[dieselscout80]

Thanks

I like it nice work.

 

[Mike476]

Just spoke with my wife, she spent an enjoyable 45 minutes out of the weather the other day, which was blustery winds and rain, grroming the horses and she said the only thing that was missing was a little music, and while the six 100 watt lights do a good job it sounds like I may need to consider going with fluorescent. Now that Fall is approaching and the days are getting shorter lighting is becoming more important for ferrier visits etc.

Looks like I'll have a few more things to do when I get home again, all good.

 

[WM75Guy]

Good lighting is a blessing if you do anything at night. I used 8' fixtures, each has 4 4' 32W T8 bulbs. Each row is switched independent of the other side. The vet really appreciated it on a late night call.

 

[Mike476]

Very nice. I've been debating concrete or brick for my wakway. Nice stall doors too, I have the material to make mine but again time is something I usually find myself short of.