Building my barn!

[PistolPete]

After a long time planning, designing, and waiting - I’m finally making real progress on my new building. I’m putting in a 60x40x12 barn/garage/shop. I went back and forth between post-frame and steel, and eventually settled on a hybrid structure from Worldwide Steel Buildings. The columns and trusses are steel (12 foot spacing) and the girts/purlins/door framing are lumber.

I had the site rough graded (cut and fill in a mild sloped area) last year, had the steel delivered in October (I built a “tent” to protect the sheet steel over the winter), and then struggled for months to find a concrete guy to do the foundation and floor. BTW this is the one area where a steel building is WAY more expensive and involved compared to a pole barn. Footers consist of 12 “piers” under the columns and a narrow trench “frost wall” all the way around the perimeter. Up top, a six inch floor slab.

 

[PistolPete]

Over the past two weeks, my concrete guy has dug out the footers, rolled the sub base and stone, added a f***-load of rebar and wire, and finally poured the footers and floor. They pumped the footers in a day (38 yards!) and then did the floor over the next two days for a total of approximately 80 yards of concrete. Don’t ask what that cost me. But they did a great job and this thing ain’t goin nowhere.

Anchor bolts for the columns were cast in place. I build some little jigs to hold them in place against the slab forms. Now I’m just waiting for the concrete to harden up over the next week or two before I can start raising the steel!

 

[scaredychicken]

well, i'm impressed - way to go

thanks for sharing photos ... i have plans for a 30 x 40 ft barn, hybrid

 

[PistolPete]

Rain all weekend, which is good for the concrete but bad for getting anything done. Plus the wife is out of town so I’m busy playing mom. Long weekend next weekend so hopefully I can get the sidewalls up. More pics to follow!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Good start

 

[BoylermanCT]

Looking good. I built a 30x40 barn in 2019-2020 and it was a great project. Following to see how yours goes.

 

[civilian]

Following along for the story and pictures. Jon

 

[Hoss710]

can't Wait to see it finished

 

[Omega Woods]

 

[UOFan]

Looks like a great piece of land you got there, too. I’ll be following this build.

 

[PistolPete]

Challenges for the weekend were to adapt the column baseplates and then figure how the heck to lift them into place.

The anchor bolts were jigged to maintain spacing and distance from the edge of the slab. Unfortunately that assumed my foundation was perfectly straight! Well she’s close but not quite. Loses about 3/4” in width around the middle, then picks up that plus a 1/2 by the far end. So I needed to slot the base plates to allow some scooching of the columns to keep the building square and the correct size. Several hours with the die grinder and some carbide burrs got er done

The worst one I had to slot about 1/2”. Several less than that, and 4 or 5 were good to go out of the box. Hard work grinding such thick steel.

Next step was to get the columns vertical and moveable so I could set on the anchors (solo - that’s the real challenge) My FEL will lift 8’, and the columns are 12’ long (and very top heavy!). I tried a bunch of different rigging schemes with various failures. Finally I thought “why I don’t I just shove it up, and then lift when vertical?” So I bolted a 2x8 “bumper” to my forks, and threw a strap around to keep it from flying away, and then using that strap to lift it just a bit so I could swing it around. The bumper is two pieces thru bolted, and whacked as far up the fork taper as it would go. Nice and study for 150 lb posts.

Here she is - suspended just an inch or so above the ground. Successful test! Took all the columns down to the site, placed one, and then my sunburn got the best of me. That’s all for today!

 

[Rustyiron]

Exciting isn't it! Looks great so far. You'll be an expert improviser when you finish this. (your post/tractor solution)

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm enjoying your build. It's really nice seeing so much effort going into your concrete slab!!!!

 

[airbiscuit]

What's your plan for raising the rafters?

 

[PistolPete]

What's your plan for raising the rafters?

I’ll need a machine (other than the tractor) to lift the trusses. The trusses ship in halves, but have to be bolted together on the ground and lifted whole. Each one will be 40’ long and just shy of 400 lbs. I’m planning to rent an articulated boom lift with a material hook. Those things are rated for 500lb load and I can tow one with my Tacoma.

 

[alexpops]

How high do they need to go? I would think a rigged boom attached to the forks with guy wires & a chain hoist at the top could get you done as long as the tractor has rear ballast & the loader can lift it. (and assembly area isn't far from install location)

 

[Rustyiron]

Get a couple of rolling scaffolds at the rental center or 2-8' step ladders at minimum. One for/at each post during erection. Some hearty C clamps and a good tapered drift pin for bolting hole alignment and a come a long will be indispensable. If you don't have 2 good friends to help out on that day, you might consider finding a guy with a little knuckle boom crane. This will enable you and the operator to get it done by yourself fairly efficiently.
Depending on lots of variables prior to assembly day, the multitude of small holes that all have to come together fairly precisely can affect your time.
There may be a lot of running around loosening up the posts to achieve alignment.
It should be an exciting (and rewarding) day!

 

[BoylermanCT]

How high do they need to go? I would think a rigged boom attached to the forks with guy wires & a chain hoist at the top could get you done as long as the tractor has rear ballast & the loader can lift it. (and assembly area isn't far from install location)

We did our pole barn trusses with a 20' boom and Harbor Freight hoist. Placed the 8' tall x 32' long trusses on the 12' walls with ease. We built a jig to support the trusses across multiple places.

 

[PistolPete]

Another scorcher this weekend! Made some good progress since my last post. All 12 columns are up, and the width of the building has been checked and adjust for each column pair. Worst set is about 1/4” wide at the base - easy enough to bring together at the eaves. Doubt anyone but me will notice an 1/8 per side!

Columns on the left side have all been shimmed plumb in both directions and snugged up. I’m sure I’ll need to wiggle a few when the trusses go on, so I haven’t threadlocked any of them yet. Once the whole building is up, I’ll grout under the base plates.

Started framing out the left wall. I may finish it up tonight after the baby goes down. Or I might just have a few beers and relax (let’s pretend I don’t already know the answer )

If I can make some progress tomorrow and Tuesday I may plan to lift the trusses next Saturday. Unfortunately I have to travel for work W-F this week, and then again Sunday. Not a great schedule for getting **** done.

 

[JJT]

Looks good!