Pole barn build now or wait?

[Dwellonroof]

Quonset Hut For Sale.....not mine! I was not sure where to post this.

Every time i try something like this it comes back to haunt me but.........maybe it will help someone.

I ran an ad on craigslist trying to sell excess metal roofing and mentioned i might trade for a tractor shed or something.

Yesterday a man contacted me with a quonset hut he wanted to trade.

i just finished my house and garage, 2 buildings, modern look....i don't think a quonset hut would fit in.

It sounds like a good deal so i told him about tbn and that there were folks trying to decide between wood and metal, costs, lead times etc etc.

Here's what he has....

40 ft wide x 30 ft deep.

metal

never been erected.

here's the story......

his neighbor bought it new 10 years ago, got sick, couldn't use it, sold it to the current owner. current owner found out the city won't allow it, zoning.

current owner seems like a good guy and assured me the hut has been properly stored at all times and is as new.

$8500.00. OBO. (said retail was $15K)

Now....the disclaimers.

I have no interest in the deal at all! I don't want anything from anybody, buyer, seller, nobody!

I don't know the guy and i have never seen the hut!

I don't care if you buy it or if he sells it. If it helps someone out, that's all i want.

I will not recontact the seller nor will i go look at the hut, it's an hour away in Fayetteville NC. ( fayettenam)

If you have any interest, PM me and I will send you his land line phone number...he can't receive texts.

As i said, he seems like a normal nice guy.

I have already purchased a kit from Menards but in reality I do not like the way they do business.
They sent out the wrong girt truss header and my roof panels are short 1' also they never sent the soffit or trim either. Someone is to come out Monday.

 

[Dwellonroof]

I’m off and running on the pole building project.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Great progress! Congratulations! Getting the trusses up is a big job. Everything seems very shaky until the purlins and bracing goes in. Good Job!

 

[Dwellonroof]

Thanks, It is a lot of work especially since it's only me and the tractor.
BTW I'm still waiting on some of the correct material to arrive from Menards.

 

[Frankenkubota]

you did all that by yourself?

GOOD ON YA!

 

[deezler]

Very nice! Especially impressive to do all solo.

Nice fork-mount boom pole; how heavy is that sucker?

 

[EddieWalker]

Looks great. I really like your boom pole!!!

 

[Dwellonroof]

I do my best work by myself
I borrowed the jig from a roofing company that I am friends with the owner. Originally they were supposed to let me borrow a tow behind man lift but it was at a job site.
It’s a little heavy but I worked out great.

 

[Frankenkubota]

My house building budget got blown outta the water, i was in the crosshairs. I can afford to build a nice shed, i'm just not going beyond budget. It's a problem with me, i will cut my nose off to spite my face.

so, with building some kinda shed for my tractor in mind....

i have an almost unlimited supply of white oak trees available to me, probably hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands?They vary in size, the biggest being about 10 inches at the bottom.

They are straight and don't get real skinny until you get up high. Say a 12 ft pole might be 10 inches at the bottom, 8:inches on top? i could collect a bunch of 10-12 ft posts, as many as i want/need.

i'm thinking i can set the posts in post holes and fill with concrete, dry of course, then build a tractor shelter.

There are many better ways to do it, i know. Would this work?

 

[Dwellonroof]

I put a bag of concrete in each hole and tamped it a little with a small piece of plywood on the bottom of a 2x4 then set my post plumb and tamped them in good.
I used a spud bar for that.

 

[EddieWalker]

With really good drainage, modern pressure treated poles will last a hundred years. Drainage is always the key. Here in East Texas, where I have red clay, aggressive bugs and a lot of humidity, all other wood rots out very quickly if it touches the ground. An oak just laying on the ground isn't worth cutting up for firewood in a year because of how quickly it rots. Your white oak might be different then the dozen or so different types of oak trees that I have, but I wouldn't trust it to last very long.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I put a bag of concrete in each hole and tamped it a little with a small piece of plywood on the bottom of a 2x4 then set my post plumb and tamped them in good.
I used a spud bar for that.

thx

setting them won't be a problem, i've done many fence posts but i'm wondering about the lifespan of untreated white oak. and how that compares to the lifespan of an almost 70 year old geezer. i bet the oak lasts longer than me!

just cutting those suckers tells me they are hard as rock!

i've also got thousands of perfectly straight mature pines but i'm told they will go to mush in a few years.

another way to look at it is, nothing ventured nothing gained?

 

[ponytug]

@Dwellonroof great solo job there! I find myself making all sorts of jigs and speed clamps to do carpentry solo.

@Frankenkubota I agree with @EddieWalker that drainage is key. I have dealt with white oak in older building and it is a tough, tough wood. As in drill before nailing tough.

If you want to use your white oak, I would suggest putting in a foundation, or use concrete bases for your columns. I think that getting them up out of the soil will make them last a lot longer. I would consider squaring them up to a uniform dimension to make subsequent steps faster. Constantly shimming as is beams gets old in my book. Doable, but a low grade hassle.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Dwellonroof]

I’m thinking the only post that really last untreated around here is locust

 

[ponytug]

I’m thinking the only post that really last untreated around here is locust

Exactly!

Which is why I am a fan of concrete below ground, when you can do it.

I do wish honey locust fence posts were more widely available.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Dwellonroof]

I had a couple rolls of mobile home underbelly vapor barrier that I am putting on the trusses then install the purlins.

 

[Frankenkubota]

@Dwellonroof great solo job there! I find myself making all sorts of jigs and speed clamps to do carpentry solo.

@Frankenkubota I agree with @EddieWalker that drainage is key. I have dealt with white oak in older building and it is a tough, tough wood. As in drill before nailing tough.

If you want to use your white oak, I would suggest putting in a foundation, or use concrete bases for your columns. I think that getting them up out of the soil will make them last a lot longer. I would consider squaring them up to a uniform dimension to make subsequent steps faster. Constantly shimming as is beams gets old in my book. Doable, but a low grade hassle.

All the best,

Peter

thx again

yesterday i was cutting up the branches of the white oak for my neighbor to use as firewood. he's real sick and old and just loves to to sit and watch the fire. the branch wood cut to 18 inches is perfect for him and the white oak burns good.

it was about 7pm and i was tired but i tried to square up one of the ends of the oak posts. it was just me standing there with a chain saw that had 3 hard hours on it already.

i was surprised how straight an edge i could cut by hand!

thx again, i probably wouldn't even have tried.

now i'm thinking i can build a log cabin?

 

[ponytug]

That's very kind of you to tend to your neighbor like that.

I grew up around more than a few 150+ year old log cabins, most (all?) of them oak. If you did build one, it would definitely out last you, me, and everyone else. There are lots of variations, and some definitely more durable than others.

Whatever you build, I would love to see photos of it and the build.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Dwellonroof]

Yesterday I finally received the correct metal panels along with the overhang materials and bracing lumber that Menards dropped the ball on but after sorting through it I noticed the roof panels were hit with a forklift on the top lap of some of them.

If I straighten and use them it would stand out and I’ll have to live with the way it looks. It doesn’t have to be prefect but I paid for new not damaged material.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Yesterday I finally received the correct metal panels along with the overhang materials and bracing lumber that Menards dropped the ball on but after sorting through it I noticed the roof panels were hit with a forklift on the top lap of some of them.
View attachment 717800View attachment 717801
If I straighten and use them it would stand out and I’ll have to live with the way it looks. It doesn’t have to be prefect but I paid for new not damaged material.

i just finished my house and it seems like 1/2 the stuff was damaged from careless handling.

probably not 1/2 but way to much, that damage eventually shows up in the price of stuff.