30X40X10 Pole Barn

[hepnerj]

Ok gents her is your chance. All of you who HAVE built......

1.. What would you have done differently??

2.. Doors, what type did you use and why?? Am thinking of roll-up doors for mine. 3 of them in the 10X9 size.

3.. Windows?? I will not have electricity. It is on a remote spot of my property. Will use Solar panel and batteries.

4.. Concrete floor.. 4" enough? Will be using it to store an older MF 50HP tractor, 1 ton Dump truck and assorted implements.

5.. Did you get a "kit"?? if so who from and would you recommend them??

Thanks in advance

John

 

[firefighter9208]

I have a 24x36 that I built in 2003. I suggest you go with 12' or 14' side walls. That way you can put in a 10' door. My door is 9'and I can't always get everything in there that I want.

I did the sliding doors in this barn since it is used for livestock. Right now I have my corn picker stored in there. I had to lift up on the tongue with my front end loader to back it in, because the elevator is almost 10' tall.

Chris

 

[bpattie]

John,

I will just throw in a thought on the door style and adding light. I will let the experts on concrete address the thickness issue. Windows are good, another thing you may consider is adding maybe a 2-3 foot section of opaque panel along the top of a few walls. It is amazing how much light that allows to enter the building, and putting in a few windows as well. in regards to the doors, rollup a good, I have also used sliding doors, they are probably less expensive and also work well if you have snow to contend with. Also, the height, just be sure to consider allowing sufficient height for whatever you want to allow access to the barn. Will anything need to back in that is higher than the 9 or 10 foot door height you are thinking about. It is always better to have a little extra height than what you think you may need and easier to accommodate when you build as opposed to latter, and also if you are going in and out with snow on the ground that will eat into the available clearance.

 

[mjarrels]

You are a local to me... Use Stoneburner off route 42 (high street in Harrisonburg). They do a fantastic job at a reasonable price.

mark

 

[hepnerj]

LOL.. you read my mind.. Stoneburner is putting a quote together as we type.

Thanks for the suggestions and such. Tallest thing have is a sickle bar that in the upright postion is ~8 feet..

 

[FxdGrMind]

Lots of things are 10' tall, When designing my 24x36' pole barn I wanted 11' rafter bottoms and I'm so happy today that I did! You will not regret higher ceelings.

2nd the thought of the 2' upper section (semi see through) filler for lighting! That's what I have and it's great!

Roll up door is nice for "Automation" as in remote opener, but for full use of the space a Lateral opening door on roller bearings (hanging) would be better access. It's all in how you want to enter it. You decide. A hanging or other type "Barn" doors will require some way of locking, where as the automatic door is somewhat locked when down by it's self. I use latches on the inside and a side (people) door with dead bolt for security.

If you are going 4" cement floors you may want good re-enforcement. 4" seems a little thin for dump truck and tactor. Put in 10 yrds pee gravel base then 6" WET cement over it so have 8-10 inch equivalent. nice and solid!

Cheers

 

[whitedogone]

Build BIGGER
10' door
2' upper section (semi see through) filler for lighting west side
plan on 5" min of concrete
Use foam or bubble wrap on roof

 

[Steve C]

Ok gents her is your chance. All of you who HAVE built......

m??



Thanks in advance

John

1.. What would you have done differently??

My first barn was 34 x 48 x 10, it came with a house I bought. I had to use my garden tractor to get my boat in there because it was to tall when hitched to a normal vehicle. My motor home had to sit outside and be serviced outside....

12 foot tall should be a minimum, my new barn is 40 x 60 and has 14 foot side walls. I have never heard anyone say "I wish my barn was shorter" but I have heard many people say that they wished their barn was taller. Going up is the cheapest way to get a lot more cubic foot of building for very little money.

2.. Doors, what type did you use and why?? Am thinking of roll-up doors for mine. 3 of them in the 10X9 size.

Get good quality insulated roll up doors with good weather strips. Make one of the doors at least 12 foot wide, 14 or 16 is even better and 13 foot high. I would rather have one 12 foot wide door than 3-10 foot wide doors. Backing up a 8 foot wide boat or trailer through a 10 foot wide door is hard enough in broad daylight with a straight approach, but try it on a dark night when it is raining and your mirrors are covered with rain drops and you back window is fogged up and perhaps you aren't lined up perfectly straight with the door and you won't like it very much. You will wish for a 20 foot wide door.

3.. Windows?? I will not have electricity. It is on a remote spot of my property. Will use Solar panel and batteries.

At least 4 that open 2 on each side for ventilation and ambient light in case you want to spend some time out there.

4.. Concrete floor.. 4" enough? Will be using it to store an older MF 50HP tractor, 1 ton Dump truck and assorted implements.

4" is enough if installed correctly........

Dump Truck???...See note #2

now my stuff will fit through the door.......at least the stuff that I still have...

 

[Robert_in_NY]

The barn we built for ourselves (have actually built a few of them over the years) we made 40x64 but it was on a slope so we have a 24x64 main section with 10' high by 16' wide overhead doors on each end as well as a 3' man door on each end. The lower side is about 30" down from the upper sections floor. It is a 16'x64' with 8' high by 9' wide overhead doors on each end. There is a retaining wall seperating the two sections and we have walled up a good portion by building shelves between the 4x6 posts then putting rough sawn lumber up on the one side to back the shelves and give us walls to hang tools on on the other side. There is also a loft above the 16'x64' section that you access from the 24'x64' section. It made use of otherwise wasted space. there is 12' of plywood deep in the loft the entire 64' so that gave us a ton of storage.

We didn't put any windows in except for the man door on the side by the house. We didn't want people to be able to see inside too easily. Instead we used translucent panels the top 2' the entire 64' on both long walls so if we do wall off the entire divider there will be plenty of light during the day in each section. We have not poured the floor yet as we needed to run electric out there and couldn't do it till we redid the house service. That was finally completed about 10 days ago so now we are going to run the service line from the house to the barn and wire it up. We did run a tile lengthwise the barn at the retaining wall and it has outlets on both ends and a drain out the center going through the 16' sections floor. This keeps the 16' section very dry (again, we are on a slope so water is always an issue). Once the old barn is demolished we will tile along the outside to help elimiate the rest of the water that comes near the barn.

One thing we wish we did different was make it taller. At the time we went with 12' side walls on the main section as we figured 10' high doors would be big enough. Then I got into haying and bought kicker wagons that are 11' tall. I also bought a combine that is 11' tall so none of them will fit in that barn. Our next barn will be at least 14' high side walls but possibly 16' high.

We used metal for the siding and a 50 year asphalt shingle for the roof. It is quiet and looks nice and I like asphalt roofs better then metal for various reasons.

And 40x64 is no where near big enough.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I see someone mentioned stoneburner for your area. I also vote for at least 12' high. I put in 10x10 doors, I wish one was wider. I used commercial Clopay garage doors, with windows in the door for light. On the back side of the barn, the windows are frosted so you can't see thru.

I'll be driving thru your town tomorrow...