Pole Barn Sizing

[bradm64]

My two cents to spend your money.

For that size building, For 3 K go 16 feet sidewalls. Although will also add some cost to the spray foam as more square feet to cover. Any type of RV, larger boat, or larger vehicles (dump truck) will need that height. Uses and needs will change, but height is tough to add later.

 

[Deere Dude]

After having my 11' 6" tall camper sitting outside for years because of a 10' door I decided, after moving, on a 36x54 pole barn with 12' doors. But within a year we upgraded campers to a 13' 4" camper. It say outside for another 10 years until we moved again and put in a 15' opening in an old barn.

Ya never know but for $3k I would go taller for that reason plus reasons others brought up. My BIL put in a 16' sidewall pole barn and put in a two story apartment in a section he wasn't using for cars.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Horses might like that heated floor. I figure barns are for animals, hay and equipment. You are building a pole garage/apartment? As others mentioned if you want to do a lift, do the headroom math. Or if you want drive on 4 posts lift that lets you double park vehicles do the headroom math.

Another thought you probably figured out. Garage doors need to roll up and up if you have a lift right there. If the lift is way back having a garage door roll on to horizontal tracks is not a big deal. Insulated roll up doors? Don't those tend to be 2 foot tall panels? Since you are talking about heat you might want plans to keep the heat in around doors that do not have the R value of the walls.

I read some discussion about open cell and closed cell insulation. Kind of heated discussions. Spray foam insulation or spray cellulose insulation? Might be other kinds of spray insulation. ;-)

Are you doing foam under the slab so the heat works better?

In Minnesota they are still called pole barns, I live in a pole barn house. It was a pole barn first, then a house.

 

[steve tym]

Resale value. Go for the 16'.

 

[dstig1]

One more vote for higher. I went 13' on my shop to fit a lift. Maybe one of these I will actually get one... I also had the garage door guys put in high-lift track so the doors hug closer to the ceiling. Otherwise they would have been in the way of a lift. I left out tubing in 2 patches to allow for anchoring the lift. I just kind of squished the tubes out of the way there.

 

[grsthegreat]

I now have a 4 pole lift that was given to me, but shop and carriage barn are only 12’ tall. Oops. Im going to have to build a taller building now to accommodate the lift.

 

[bcp]

Words never spoken:

"I wish my barn was smaller."



Bruce

 

[shooterdon]

Words never spoken:

"I wish my barn was smaller."



Bruce

So true

 

[ericm979]

I now have a 4 pole lift that was given to me, but shop and carriage barn are only 12’ tall. Oops. Im going to have to build a taller building now to accommodate the lift.

Four post lifts are usually lower clearance than the typical overhead two post type that are in a lot of commercial shops. If you don't raise the vehicle high or it's low or both, you're probably fine.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

Four post lifts are usually lower clearance than the typical overhead two post type that are in a lot of commercial shops. If you don't raise the vehicle high or it's low or both, you're probably fine.

But many use a 4-post lift for storage, I was just looking into getting one but with my 12’ ceiling, only my tractor would fit under the lift with my S-10 on the lift.