Opinions - pole shed/UTV garage

[Dadnatron]

I have a barn and I'd like to build a small shed/garage close by, in which to store daily hay/straw as well as a a small addition in which to park a UTV (which I hope to buy this summer if all goes right.) My area has had several Kubota's stolen, so I'd like to have something to decrease this likelihood if possible.

I'm thinking about 14' wide for the hay portion and a separate 8' wide section for the UTV. I'd like the UTV portion to be walled off and separate from the hay. Just a simple gable roof with 2 doors along the 'long' side. So overall, size would be about 22' x 14' x 10' wall height. 2 rollup doors. One for the hay side and a separate, lockable door, on the UTV side. I'd like this to be on a slab.

Now, I've been thinking about how best/easiest way to do this for some time. I've never built anything like this, but I'm relatively confident I can work through it. I have a couple questions however.

1. I'd like electricity ran from the barn to the shed, but don't want it overhead. Is it best to put it under the slab, so have it dug in and ran first?

2. What is your opinion on best way to attach poles? Do I used wet set brackets? Drill attach pole brakets? In ground concrete pole set? Put in the slab and use a bracket to attach it to the slab? Would it be better to simply frame this out like a stick frame house rather than build it like a pole barn with 4x4s or 6x6s?

If you think brackets to attach posts... what brackets would you recommend? I was looking at Sturdi-wall brackets if slab first or Sturdi-Wall+ if columns first, but in reality, they seem like a lot 'more' than would be necessary for such a small building.

I'm looking for 3 things,

1st ease and quality.
2nd usefulness of product and building
3rd cost

All thoughts are appreciated.

 

[deezler]

I'm no building pro, but

1) why does the electrical have to go under any slab? Can't you just run it to the outside of the building, and then wire it conventionally inside as needed?

2) Pole construction is pretty standard. You don't really have to "attach" the poles to anything, other than to each other through the normal framing of the building. The wall girts (2x4s) are mostly just to carry the siding. The truss carriers (big headers) are what really tie the posts together. 6x6 treated posts in a well compacted hole are very sturdy on their own. Tie 15 or 20 of them together in a building shell and you have a lifetime building.

- dig post holes down to frost line or a bit deeper.
- put concrete in the holes. You can put it in dry and add water, you can pre-mix and pour it in, or you can even use pre-cast "pucks" at the hole bottoms to carry the post loads. The posts dont have to be entombed in the concrete, but they can be if you like.
- Get each post standing perfectly straight in the exact right spots. Lots of string lines and diagonal measuring here. Use temporary long 2x4s as diagonal braces to hold the posts firm and true.
- then just build the building. Fill in the post holes whenever you are comfortable that things are going well.
- the concrete slab inside the building shouldn't actually be mechanically fastened to the posts. A lot of people very intentionally wrap the posts with tar paper, foam insulation, etc to isolate from the slab. I used foam insulation board in my pole barn.

 

[Dadnatron]

Wiring in from the side is fine. I just don’t want an overhead wire.

 

[s219]

deezler gave all the right advice. Pole barns are real simple to put up and I like the way they progress as a one-man project. You build it in steps and keep squaring up and knitting it together. It's a time tested method that works great.

If you're worried about cost, this is a really bad time to build. You'll be paying 3-4X too much for lumber from a store. Unless you have a sawmill, that is. I just finished an open pole-barn and the lumber would normally have cost $600. At current prices it would have been $2100. Thankfully I setup a sawmill last fall, so I paid $0 for lumber and just had to put in some labor.