A sad day on the farm

   / A sad day on the farm
  • Thread Starter
#191  
Such a devistating story and all our worst nightmare!! I too have a 3200 sqft shop and it's filled with tools and equipment from my father's gas station and then the garage our family ran until I retired and reassembled everything into this building. I just feel your pain and while I didn't want to read this story as I knew the ending I had to and shake my head in sorry with you. :-(
Thanks.......
 
   / A sad day on the farm
  • Thread Starter
#192  
A couple modern pole barns have burned down in my area, as the OP said, they go real fast.

It would seem, that is largely because of all the exposed wood.

Steel siding, the other popular interior finishing material, seems like a good idea for fire prevention, but it actually has a zero fire rating.

I suggest the use 5/8" fireguard drywall, on as much of an interior as possible, at a minimum, on the ceilings of the shop areas, where a fire is more likely to occur. One layer of 5/8", gives you a 2 hour fire rating.

Finishing drywall ceilings on large pole barns requires special techniques, because these buildings move so much. You need to use some type of expansion joints, to allow for the truss up and down movements.

I like to use Trim Tex Majic Corner for this. It can give you a rubber joint over the top of the butted edges of the drywall, rather than in a space between them. And, it comes in 200' rolls, so it is always long enough. No cracking, or ridging, when I use this product.

The drywall may not prevent a fire from doing serious damage. But, it could slow the fire down enough to give the fire department a chance to save something.
The problem as I see it with drywall is it not very good at taking a beating and easy to poke a hole in. My walls are 14' 6" tall there are no truss to speak of because it is an all steel building. The inside is completely open so drywall is really not an option there. I'm putting medal siding on it inside walls up to the roof line and I'll probably leave the spray insulation on the roof exposed. I may spray on some fire retardant paint up there but most likely just leave it exposed.
As someone else said before the fire department doesn't come out to try and save anything they come to put out the fire and what the fire don't get all the water will. In my case the water damage was as bad as the fire damage. I probably could have saved some of my tooling and maybe a machine or two but once that water saturated everything and by the time I got the go ahead to clean up everything was just a rust bucket and no longer salvageable.
 
   / A sad day on the farm
  • Thread Starter
#193  
That is so sad. My neighbor lost his barn a couple years ago now with a lifetime of things in it. James river came out to Powhatan with a backhoe and a skid steer with tracks and did the clean up for him. He lost a John Deere tractor and a gator.
Yeah fire can be a good thing but can also be a really bad thing in cases like this. I really feel for anyone that has ever gone through losing everything they have worked so hard for.
I'm getting ready to head over to Powhatan in a little bit to pick up a machine from a guy. He lives somewhere on Huguenot trail. I used to not mind traveling through that area but with the way that area has grown up it's a real pain to get out that way.
 
   / A sad day on the farm #194  
The problem as I see it with drywall is it not very good at taking a beating and easy to poke a hole in. My walls are 14' 6" tall there are no truss to speak of because it is an all steel building. The inside is completely open so drywall is really not an option there. I'm putting medal siding on it inside walls up to the roof line and I'll probably leave the spray insulation on the roof exposed. I may spray on some fire retardant paint up there but most likely just leave it exposed.
As someone else said before the fire department doesn't come out to try and save anything they come to put out the fire and what the fire don't get all the water will. In my case the water damage was as bad as the fire damage. I probably could have saved some of my tooling and maybe a machine or two but once that water saturated everything and by the time I got the go ahead to clean up everything was just a rust bucket and no longer salvageable.
Yes, an all steel building is a whole different story.

Catch a car on fire in one, and the roof sheeting goes pretty fast, because there really isn't enough to stop the fire from getting to it.

I prefer the wood building, if for no other reason, because I can really insulate it well. (I have to heat with propane).

I have 40+ years working in drywalled pole buildings. Yes, you can't treat the walls like they are bullet proof. But, it really doesn't take a lot of effort to avoid seriously damaging them. That being said, we all know a guy who could destroy an iron ball, so no, it's not for everyone.

Other very than minor repairs, damage has not been an issue for me. It doesn't require a lot more than simply having some respect for keeping it nice. Same way most people would treat anything they are proud of.

Cutting holes in the walls or the ceiling, are easy to do if it's drywall, and it's real easy to makes changes later. I prefer to do a smooth ceiling in a barn for that reason, no texture to try and match if you get back into it.

Hope your nightmare is soon behind you.
 
   / A sad day on the farm
  • Thread Starter
#195  
Yes, an all steel building is a whole different story.

Catch a car on fire in one, and the roof sheeting goes pretty fast, because there really isn't enough to stop the fire from getting to it.

I prefer the wood building, if for no other reason, because I can really insulate it well. (I have to heat with propane).

I have 40+ years working in drywalled pole buildings. Yes, you can't treat the walls like they are bullet proof. But, it really doesn't take a lot of effort to avoid seriously damaging them. That being said, we all know a guy who could destroy an iron ball, so no, it's not for everyone.

Other very than minor repairs, damage has not been an issue for me. It doesn't require a lot more than simply having some respect for keeping it nice. Same way most people would treat anything they are proud of.

Cutting holes in the walls or the ceiling, are easy to do if it's drywall, and it's real easy to makes changes later. I prefer to do a smooth ceiling in a barn for that reason, no texture to try and match if you get back into it.

Hope your nightmare is soon behind you.
26 ga metal is some pretty tough stuff. In my fire the metal didn't fail or burn through. It came down because when all the wood framing and OSB burned away the metal had nothing to hold it up. The fire went through the roof in 5 places where I had skylights and once that happened there was not enough water in the Colorado river to calm it down. The metal held in all that heat like it was a giant oven and consumed anything in or near it.
Talking about insulation I don't see how you could get better insulation than with closed cell spray on insulation. It seals out everything, unwanted air flow, insects, water. Yes, it seems expensive but when you figure in all the framing that will hold the drywall in place it's really cheap. The cost you save from the lumber alone will pay for the foam.
I see where you are coming from though as far as having a nice shop you can be proud of but this is a work shop first and something to look at a little farther down the line. I was very proud of my old shop once it was done and the OSB looked pretty good once it had a few coats of paint on it. I don't think the metal siding I'm putting up will look as good as my old shop but there are trade offs to everything. And yes, I know that no matter what you put up in a work shop will guarantee that it will never get damaged. I'm that guy you spoke of a little bit ago with the iron ball so I'm sure there will be a booboo somewhere along the line.;)
 
   / A sad day on the farm #196  
With all that said, if any of my buildings were full of the flammables that were in my old shop and they caught on fire, they too would burn to the ground.
That's why the gas cans live in a single car garage, not in my shop. About the only flammables in the shop are chainsaws, oil/hydraulic fluid, spray cans (paint, oil, cleaners) and the parts washer.

In a shop, your chances of defeating a fire are over in a very short time. For me, the best part of my fire was it's completeness. The Insurance Adjuster drove up to the shop. Got out of his truck introducing myself and shaking my hand. Turned toward the shop with his hands on his waist. "No question here, it's a total loss".
Yep, neighbor lost their house a while back, didn't burn a the way down and the insurance company wanted them to reuse the burned out foundation.

Aaron Z
 
   / A sad day on the farm #197  
26 ga metal is some pretty tough stuff. In my fire the metal didn't fail or burn through. It came down because when all the wood framing and OSB burned away the metal had nothing to hold it up. The fire went through the roof in 5 places where I had skylights and once that happened there was not enough water in the Colorado river to calm it down. The metal held in all that heat like it was a giant oven and consumed anything in or near it.
Talking about insulation I don't see how you could get better insulation than with closed cell spray on insulation. It seals out everything, unwanted air flow, insects, water. Yes, it seems expensive but when you figure in all the framing that will hold the drywall in place it's really cheap. The cost you save from the lumber alone will pay for the foam.
I see where you are coming from though as far as having a nice shop you can be proud of but this is a work shop first and something to look at a little farther down the line. I was very proud of my old shop once it was done and the OSB looked pretty good once it had a few coats of paint on it. I don't think the metal siding I'm putting up will look as good as my old shop but there are trade offs to everything. And yes, I know that no matter what you put up in a work shop will guarantee that it will never get damaged. I'm that guy you spoke of a little bit ago with the iron ball so I'm sure there will be a booboo somewhere along the line.;)
We're talking apples and oranges again though.

I don't have a need for a 14', 16', 18', or more ceiling, and really don't want to try and heat that kind of volume, especially with the current cost of propane.

I also kept my shop a size where I could air condition it, if it becomes absolutely necessary.

You can blow a ton of cellulose insulation in an attic yourself, for peanuts, and it works great.
 
   / A sad day on the farm #198  
Yeah fire can be a good thing but can also be a really bad thing in cases like this. I really feel for anyone that has ever gone through losing everything they have worked so hard for.
I'm getting ready to head over to Powhatan in a little bit to pick up a machine from a guy. He lives somewhere on Huguenot trail. I used to not mind traveling through that area but with the way that area has grown up it's a real pain to get out that way.
You will not be far from me then
 
 
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