pole barn skirting???

emery · Jan 21, 2002

How do you seal around the bottom of a pole barn with just a dirt floor. I'm concerned that if you put PT2x8 around the bottom that when the ground freezes and heaves 2-3 inches that it will put upward pressure on that skirt board. Could it lift the whole structure?

beenthere · Jan 21, 2002

Seal it against what? Cold? Rodents? Wind? If rodents, I would put in some fencing (galvanized hardware cloth, etc.) that is buried. If wind, then make a skirt of two PT 2x8's that will slide past each other - one fastened to the shed, the other anchored in the dirt. But with a dirt floor, a complete seal is not likely necessary or possible. Maybe not possible with any kind of floor, but approachable at least.

MikePA · Jan 21, 2002

The three horse stalls in our 4 stall pole barn have PT lumber at the bottom that is nailed to the poles. These PT boards are in contact with the ground, but it's not what I would call sealed. Wind can not blow in, but mice could burrow in if they were so inclined. The fourth stall had a concrete floor poured, I enclosed it and turned it into a tack room.

cowboydoc · Jan 22, 2002

Normally you just put your greentreat lumber on the bottom and backfill your barn to the bottom or a little above this board. I've never had one that had any kind of frostheave from this. The dirt usually isn't packed real hard anyway and there isn't much in the way of any kind of frost heaving.

WVBill · Jan 24, 2002

I used 2X8 PT Boards - nailed to the poles like Richard. The boards rest right on the ground.
I have a gravel floor on the inside that extends up about 2 - 3" of the 2X8 and the outside is just back filled right up to the skirt board.
We don't get a lot of heavy frost heaving here in the northern Shenandoah valley but I have observed that the ground inside the barn, which is un-heated and un-insulated, never freezes anyway. I've done some "testing" by leaving plastic bottles of water lying on the gravel floor of the barn (some even right next to the outside walls) and none have ever frozen even slightly. This was last winter when we had a couple of weeks where the outsied air temp got down to the teens at night and stayed below freezing all day.

John_Mc · Jan 24, 2002

WVBill-

Cool signature! One of these days, I've got to learn how to do that.

John

theboman · Jan 30, 2002

Seen them done with and without. When wood gets wet it rots, but treated wood it takes much-o longer.
Pole barns... If your put the "poles" in the ground in concrete the poles with rot faster than if just placed in the ground. Concrete holds water. When I was 13 we (the family) built a pole building for my brother. when I was 37/38 my brother moved (built a new building using existing trusses. The only poles not rotted were those in dirt, all the treated 4X4 in concrete were rotted and most near the top of the ground.
Maybe wrap them in plastic? There were a few "poles" that were actually trees (I'm guessing popular) and they were like the treated ones: In concrete = rotted, in earth = solid.

emery · Feb 1, 2002

Sorry it took me so long to reply...
Regarding 'what am I sealing... mostly wind and squirrels.

I've had the same experience with PT lumber rotting faster when in cement instead of just gravel. If you must use cement, be sure to round off top so moisture does not puddle next to pole and I always added some extra protection at that point with additional waterproofing.