Pole Barn or Metal building?

[LouNY]

We are getting our land closer to being ready to move onto and build. I want a big Shop/Barn to store our LQ horse trailer with my truck left hooked up, tractor, ranger, and other things needing stored out of the elements. I willl have a lean to built off each side for additional shelter and one side I will build stalls under for our horses. So I am getting into the planning stage of things. This lead me to my question, I need a big shelter without breaking myself but still like durable and long lasting keeping cost down as much as possible. I have stumbled onto these metal barns and was curious if anyone has gotten one and how do you like it? Here is an example of one I looked at for an idea. 36x71 Enclosed Building with Lean-to | 36 Wide Building

The steel barn referenced in the first post is one of the carport square tube structures, it is not as sturdy as a pole barn or a red iron steel building.
I would be nervous about one of those especially if any manure accumulates around one of those tubes, corrosion would get to it quickly.
Red iron steel building would be my first choice, followed by the pole barn.

 

[joeu235]

OUCH!! My concrete was $12,000. and assembly crew was $7500. on my 40' X 60' in 2015.

Your lucky you have good soil. 100 yards of concrete for my slab.

 

[Guidshir]

I am working on the first building on land I own, a metal garage outsourced. Because there is nothing on the land I permitted as required which was cheap (around $90). 22'x26' slab with footers $5k, building $8k. The building itself has all of the core upgrades I could buy because those are things I can't improve on later. I could have done a pole barn myself, and I would prefer the look, feel, etc, but I just don't have the time for it. It's easier to pay someone to come erect something in a day that will do what it needs to do. I needed somewhere to store my tractor and other stuff while preparing to build a house.

 

[kthompson]

Do consider high wind speeds. Hurricane Michael showed that need. I was doing the same looking early this year and ran into problem with builder and not yet built. My concern with the metal stud building was if I bumped them with tractor they would have been bent while the post might have been damage but not most likely busted. You may also want to talk with your insurance company, the total metal building may cost less as not any thing to burn.

 

[cat fever]

I built this 57 X 72 X 12 pole barn 3 years ago. It cost about 33K and has concrete all the way around the perimeter. (12' on the sides and 4' on the ends.) 16' wide doors on both ends. I'm a fan of wood pole barns and in the area I live now a pole barn does not require a permit.

 

[ovrszd]

These discussions are difficult.

Unless detailed specifications are included price comparisons are worthless.

 

[cat fever]

I agree Richard,

The only constant is; it will be less expensive if you build it yourself. If you have the knowledge and time to do so.:laughing:

 

[JFoy]

Our recent metal building was 24x60x12 with 4:12 roof. Wife opted for different color skirting around the base (white with blue skirt). We added a 12ft deep lean-to across the entire south 60ft side. Building was $21K, slab was $12K, windows and doors around $2K.

I had the entire interior sprayed with closed cell foam at 1in. While the foam does give an R-7 insulation, the real reason for the foam was to water seal, air seal, and stop interior condensation on the metal. That was $6300.

Grading was around $2K.

We're turning it into our home. The downside to the closed cell spray foam is the house doesn't breathe so we are having to put in an ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) to bring in fresh air but that's only $1500.

If you decide to insulate the walls, inset your wood stud wall by an inch and put styrofoam between the wood and metal framing beams.
Otherwise, you'll lose heat heavily at those points as metal has no R factor and wood is only R-1 per inch approx.

Best of luck with your project,
JFoy

 

[ovrszd]

I agree Richard,

The only constant is; it will be less expensive if you build it yourself. If you have the knowledge and time to do so.:laughing:

Yep. My quality of work is satisfactory for finishing the inside of my current shop build. This saved me approximately $5K.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you are wanting the most square feet for the lowest cost, wooden posts and metal siding is by far the best option out there for you.

 

[ovrszd]

Yep. Especially if gravel floor.

 

[BMan2005]

This is all very good info! My original plans was to just build a pole barn from my own plans I would draw up and do it in stages over a few years. I just might still do that after some of your comments.

 

[ovrszd]

My first shop was pole design and I used it for 2 years before adding concrete. Your elevations need to be carefully planned!!!!! Draw it up as if concrete is used.

 

[Oldoak]

My first shop was pole design and I used it for 2 years before adding concrete. Your elevations need to be carefully planned!!!!! Draw it up as if concrete is used.

Yep, and depending upon the engineering design, the header can reduce the overhead clearance (height of the drive in door openings) by 12" +/-.

 

[goeduck]

My first shop was pole design and I used it for 2 years before adding concrete. Your elevations need to be carefully planned!!!!! Draw it up as if concrete is used.

Agree, build it level in case you want to add a floor. Also, I cannot see sticking wood poles in the dirt in our wet climate and soils where I live. I’d prefer a pole barn vs metal with that exception. I would put in concrete footings for the structural posts anchored with strong ties or something. Other climates, I am sure they are fine.

 

[Creamer]

OUCH!! My concrete was $12,000. and assembly crew was $7500. on my 40' X 60' in 2015.

I found a lot of differences between concrete contractors. My concrete was $17,800 but that included the rock underneath it, 42" deep footer, 42" square concrete pillars for steel posts, 6" floor, insulation, and vapor barrier - and a 2' high stub wall on one side. The key was finding a contractor who would dig the footer and not want to form it - just use the foam insulation on the outside and the dirt wall on the inside as the form - that saved about $4k I am guessing by the quotes I received.

 

[ovrszd]

Agree, build it level in case you want to add a floor. Also, I cannot see sticking wood poles in the dirt in our wet climate and soils where I live. I’d prefer a pole barn vs metal with that exception. I would put in concrete footings for the structural posts anchored with strong ties or something. Other climates, I am sure they are fine.

If going that route I would eliminate poles and stud build
Only reason to use poles is to save on footings.

 

[Creamer]

Agree, build it level in case you want to add a floor. Also, I cannot see sticking wood poles in the dirt in our wet climate and soils where I live. I’d prefer a pole barn vs metal with that exception. I would put in concrete footings for the structural posts anchored with strong ties or something. Other climates, I am sure they are fine.

If you go pole barn I would use the new guaranteed structural systems that many pole building contractors are selling. They are poles that are built by using 2x6s. The parts in and just above the ground are fully treated unlike posts which sometimes are not treated in the center. The 2x6s are glued and screwed together and are barely sticking out of the ground. Then you build the pole to the height you need by gluing and screwing more 2x6s on the bases. I believe they have 50 year warranties on post rot and they are very easy to erect as they are not the big long cumbersome posts to handle. For a DIY pole barn that is the way I would go.

 

[aczlan]

If you go pole barn I would use the new guaranteed structural systems that many pole building contractors are selling. They are poles that are built by using 2x6s. The parts in and just above the ground are fully treated unlike posts which sometimes are not treated in the center. The 2x6s are glued and screwed together and are barely sticking out of the ground. Then you build the pole to the height you need by gluing and screwing more 2x6s on the bases. I believe they have 50 year warranties on post rot and they are very easy to erect as they are not the big long cumbersome posts to handle. For a DIY pole barn that is the way I would go.

Our pole barn has a commercially made version of that, the first 3-4 feet is pressure treated and then it is spliced into non-pressure treated wood. The whole thing is glued together and they say that they are straighter and hold up better than a 6x6 post.

Aaron Z

 

[ovrszd]

I think there could be variations based on location, soil type, climate, etc


With that said, my pole built shop used 6x6 treated posts. When it was 25 years old it burned down. I cleared the location and rebuilt. I pulled all of the post stumps. I cut several of them into short lengths to use for blocks. They were still greenish colored. Looked new.

Rot and decay doesn't happen underground. It happens at the surface where air and moisture are introduced.

More important than material choice is controlling moisture against your post.