pole barn

[tgello]

this posting on the tractor net is all kinda new to me, so forgive me if i am not posting in the right area. i was wondering if anyone has put up a morton building and if so, what they thought of it? i am a little curios on how the concrete slab stays put in the building during the months that we have frost in the ground? i live in the northwest corner of connecticut. would be greatful to any input. ...tgello

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

tgello

If you search this site for "Morton", I believe you will find some fairly lengthy threads.

SHF

 

[rdln]

morton put up my barn. they have the most control over thier materials than anybody because they make most of thier own.

They have the most control over the actual building of thier buildings
because they directly employ the crews and salesmen.....etc.

They actually seem a little to corporate.

If I had to grade my building experience with them I say an A- with materials, A on design of structure and interface of materials, communication with crew/salesmen = B+, craftsmanship = A-.

I think of all postframe type buildings they have the best value and investment qualities.

When I first looked into building a pole barn, I received quotes for a basic 40x60 building with two sliding doors and a walkdoor. Morton was NOT the highest, a builder using Lester materials was. A company using Walters materials was cheapest. I ended up putting up a bigger building a year later but based on those first quotes just went straight to morton.

The concrete slab of all pole barns that have poles in the ground does not lie under any part of the building, allowing the slab to float.

I like talking about barns not just mortons/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[tgello]

steve, thanks for your input.. i am wondering about the slab floating. if i were to build interior walls and tie them into the side walls, would they buckle if the slab were to heave from the frost.? i am going to heat the building. my intentions were to use the building for a shop to restore cars and build custom motorcycles. i didn't know if it would be better to put up a steel or timber building with footings and frost walls? i'm still waiting for the sales rep to call me back from last week.. they dodn't seem to be in any hurry! are the mortons made more for storage of equiptment than a working garage? the morton prices were quite abit cheaper than butler and metallic brand buildings. thank you for any input...tgello

 

[cowboydoc]

Do a search and you will find pics of my building and several others that put up interior walls. You can customize a pole barn anyway you would like jsut like a garage. A wooden frame building will def. be easier than a steel building to modify it yourself. The floor rarely if ever will move.

 

[yooperdave]

It is important to isolate the concrete slab on grade from the
perimeter framing. The slab heaving is related to the type
and gradation of the underlying soils. Site preparation will
pay back big dividends by removing the top layer of
organic soils and replacing with compacted granular fill.

Also check with your local building code, so you KNOW the frost depth, the required roof snow load, and the wind loads.

Many salespeople will sell you a bill of goods based on what
they want, and not what is required for the local area via
the building code. You will most likely get what you paid
for.

You can email me privately if you would like more
explanation from a professional structural engineer...

 

[mikim]

<font color=blue>The floor rarely if ever will move</font color=blue>
Sorry Doc -but that's only true if you have 8 feet of Iowa topsoil or Utah? (your home ranch?) rock -- those of us who have clay know that you either isolate the slab from the clay ie: yooperdave or keep it at a constant moisture level by watering the slab when it gets real dry. Strangest thing I ever learned - to water my slab to keep it from moving & cracking. It's "normal" around here to see people running their sprinklers against the side of the house and let the water run down. /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif
mike

 

[jimgerken]

"Watering the slab"??? Wow, you lost me there. As a Minnesota resident, I have learned a bit about frost. And, put simply, it is the expansion of the freezing water content of the soil that does the expansion. No water content (welldrained sand) = no expansion when freezing. Heavy wet soils expand the most, causing heaving and damage.
Why in the world would anyone be adding water to reduce heaving due to frost???

 

[RanchMan]

jimgerken-
I think that mikim wasn't really talking about frost, but how the soils here in Texas often react during the hot months of the year.

Unfortunately it can get REAL dry here at times which causes the ground to shrink considerably. Since your house's foundation is on soil that is essentially "collapsing" under it, things can shift pretty dramatically and it can cause all sort's of foundation problems.

The easiest insurance is to keep things hydrated around the homestead (it also benefits you in that your yard doesn't have 2" wide cracks in it due to the dryness either!). Places sell "soaker hoses" that irrigate 'round the foundation, but sprinklers close to the house work too. All the newscasts round here have at least one story each summer and advocate keeping things moist as well.

Mikim isn't crazy /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif, although I'm sure it may sound a bit strange at first. He's actually following a common practice around these parts. Hope that helps clear things up a bit. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

Yep, jimgerken, RanchMan has explained it pretty well. We don't worry about frost, but if you let that ground dry out around a slab foundation, it shrinks (and I suppose it doesn't dry out as fast under the middle) and you'll soon have cracks in the foundation, cracks in walls, have to re-adjust doors, and a few other little problems like that. And yep, voice of experience./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif