Pole building construction pictures

[Diamondpilot]

Trust me, once you get the roof on the purlins they are not going to twist. I am not saying the metal plate is not a good idea but not need in most cases. They do make a good hurricane strap like mentioned.

Chris

 

[Danno1]

smfcpacfp:



I thought this was interesting: According to R. Bruce Hoadley, "Understanding Wood", load bearing capacity of a beam will vary directly as the square of the depth. In other words, if you double the depth, it will carry four times as much weight.

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I've heard the name of that book before but never read it.

However, check any mechanical or structural engineering text and it will tell you that the moment of inertia (second moment) of a beam is directly proportional to the cube of it's depth. This property (MOI) is used in the study of strength of beams, columns, and torsion bars among other things.

I=(1/12)bh^3 (for a rectangular beam)


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[jcaron2]

I've heard the name of that book before but never read it.

However, check any mechanical or structural engineering text and it will tell you that the moment of inertia (second moment) of a beam is directly proportional to the cube of it's depth. This property (MOI) is used in the study of strength of beams, columns, and torsion bars among other things.

I=(1/12)bh^3 (for a rectangular beam)


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Danno's right. If you change only the depth of a beam, the MOI will increase by the ratio cubed. I think the confusion relates to flipping a beam onto its side (thus decreasing the width, b, at the same time as increasing the depth, h). Since h goes up at the same time that b goes down, the net change is the ratio squared. Thus a true 2x4 will be 4 times as strong standing on its side than it is lying on the flat, and a 2x6 will be 9 times stronger on its side than on the flat. On the other hand, a true 2x12 standing on its side will be 27 times as strong as a true 2x4 standing on its side (3^3 = 27).

 

[Diamondpilot]

Another though on the purlins being on the side or standing up. Think of any floor joist. They are fairly weak by themselves. Once the sub floor is on they do not rack. Once everything is tied together its plenty strong.

Chris

 

[smfcpacfp]

Another though on the purlins being on the side or standing up. Think of any floor joist. They are fairly weak by themselves. Once the sub floor is on they do not rack. Once everything is tied together its plenty strong.

Chris

That is good point for those who thought it seemed wierd to put the purlins "sideway" It would seem equally wierd to see the floor joists laying flat.

On another matter my wife and I have installed the conduit from the power pole to the building. It was more fun to do than dig the trench. Every power company has their idiosyncrasies, undoubtably. The first 10' of conduit up the power pole must be steel pipe with 6" standoffs. The rest of the conduit can be PVC, which is exactly what I did. When they come out to hook up the power, they will assemble the rest of the conduit on the pole for you, so long as you have all of the parts laying on the ground near the pole.

Tomorrow my electrician friend (I do his income taxes and he does my electical stuff) is going to come out and do the wiring (with my help). Since the building is completely empty, we should make a pretty good stab at getting it mostly done. The weather gods are apparently shining on us because it should be sunny and get up to 50F. Normally now the high is only 35F. On Monday I am going to see if I can get gravel delivered because next Tuesday the weather is supposed to switch to normal (snowy with the high around 30).

 

[smfcpacfp]

In late November I had 110 tons of a gravel, sand, clay mixture brought in which my wife graded out. The day after that occurred it got very cold, and the gravel mixture froze and was followed by snow. The driveway wasn't perfect, but it was passable.

Anyway the picture below was taken January 5, 2010 after 100 hours of continuous snow. This is as deep as the snow has gotten on the roof, so it looks like, so far, the snow isn't going to be the issue I thought it might be:

 

[southernWi]

Great posting, thanks for sharing! Looks like you got a great building.

 

[smfcpacfp]

About a week ago I started phase 2 of my pole building which was to build a workshop in 1/4 of the building. The photo below was the picture immediately after the concrete work was finished last fall with the workshop to be built in the section with the two windows:

 

[smfcpacfp]

As you can see above, I had a few interior posts installed which turned out to be a mistake, minor mistake. They were to be used for the workshop. At the last minute Clearly proposed that they could just put in regular partition walls for an additional cost but I just didn't want to modify my contract with them again, I said let's go with what we agreed upon.

So anyway my son and I put in regular partition walls between the studs walls 2 feet on center where possible. I decided to go with a metal ceiling for some reason (lighter possibly) and put R-30 insulation in the ceiling as I put the ceiling up. As you can see, I rented a scissor lift:

 

[EddieWalker]

I think the metal ceiling is a brilliant idea. I've thought about doing the same thing, but just cant commit to any of my ideas on insulationg my ceiling just yet. How will you access the attic space above the metal? Are you running your electrical first? or just wait until the metal is in place and do it before blowing in the insulation. Are you using blown in insulation?

Eddie

 

[westbrooklawn]

I haven't read this whole thread, so excuse me if my question was answered earlier, but what is the spacing between the roof trusses? It appears to be around 6' or so... will the metal ceiling span that distance without sagging in the middle of the span? Is the metal 29ga.? I have a similar building and had thought about putting in a metal ceiling, but I was thinking I would have to frame additional support between the trusses to support the ceiling... maybe not?

 

[Duffster]

I haven't read this whole thread, so excuse me if my question was answered earlier, but what is the spacing between the roof trusses? It appears to be around 6' or so... will the metal ceiling span that distance without sagging in the middle of the span? Is the metal 29ga.? I have a similar building and had thought about putting in a metal ceiling, but I was thinking I would have to frame additional support between the trusses to support the ceiling... maybe not?

I have done dozens like this on 8' centers and it works great even with blown insulation.

 

[smfcpacfp]

Below is a picture of the insulation, which as you can see is bare batts. I put it in as I was putting the metal ceiling up. The ceiling came in 3 by 12 foot sections. I am not sure what the gauge is, but it is the same stuff that is used on the exterior. I am sure there is some sag, but it is minimal as you can see from the picture. I figured the ribbing in the metal would minimize any sag, and it did.

The trusses are 6 foot on center, so the metal works out just right as the room is 15 wide, 24 long and the metal runs the long way - 10 pieces altogether. I can access the attic from the side as 3/4 of the building is open, cold storage - the workshop is only 1/4 of the building. I did all of the wiring after I put up the stud walls. I have three dedicated 20 amp 120 volt circuits for the inside of the shop and one 20 amp 240 volt for some of my power tools and a 50 amp 240 volt circuit for my welder. I have plenty of outlets and lights.

 

[smfcpacfp]

Below are pictures of the insulation going up and then a picture with the insulation completed. You will notice there is no door, but I do have a big door opening, big enough to get my tractor in my workshop.

I am a quandary as to what kind of door to use. I was leaning towards a slide by door which would almost the full height and width of the opening. I could even have a roll up garage door that rolls up out of the room, or maybe two doors hinged on each side and open in the center. Any ideas out there?

 

[Ford tractor]

I see you got the building up in 3 1/2 days. I did an extension of 28 x 32 on mine a few years back and it took 3 1/2 weeks. But the labor crew was pretty poor (me ). Still, to save the thousands of $$ it was worth it.

In WI the temps are about the same, but the snow is less. The non-heated non-insulated cement I laid for the shop in the original pole barn was the biggest mistake. In the 24x24 heated area, in the winter the air temp at head height will be 65F where it's 35F by your knees and water freezes on the floor. Picking up tools from the floor is 'interesting'. In the spring, the slab looks like it was sprinkled as it will get a solid layer of water from condensation. Have to run a dehumidifier to keep the tools and things from rusting . Oh, the interior walls move as the slab they are on floats from the freeze thaw cycles. That wouldn't happen had I insulated under the cement.

The batt's in the wall are what I did too, but today I would have spray in expanding foam. The $$ has gone down and it is very much better in all aspects. A buddies dad had a pole building put up that is both garage, shop and living quarters. He has insulated slab and expanding foam walls. Warm as toast.

The saying about shops around here is that you can't have a shop that is too big, only too big to heat. Your's looks like a nice one with a smart looking crew doing the interior work.

 

[rswyan]

I decided to go with a metal ceiling for some reason (lighter possibly)

Very nice :thumbsup: .... and definitely lighter than just drywall itself (and you sure ain't gonna span drywall 6' O.C. without additional support .... which means even more weight )

When I was in the process of finalizing the specs on our polebarn (also Cleary) I made sure the sales rep knew that I wanted to install a ceiling .... I wasn't sure exactly what type at the time .... so he re-spec'd the trusses for a ceiling .... a fact I was reminded of when I called Cleary about a week ago to check what kind of load the trusses would support (I had completely forgotten .... it was 5 years ago )

I told the guy in engineering that I spoke that I was planning to install a metal ceiling - I think the actual metal I have is what is called "liner panel" and it perforated (for acoustics) with thousands of 1/8" or maybe 1/16" holes in each panel. He pulled up the truss specs for our building and mentioned that the trusses had a change order spec'ing them for a drywall ceiling .... and then commenting that since I was using metal I'd be good, since it was way lighter.

My trusses are around 8' O.C. and I am installing 2" x 4" joists between the trusses every 4' ..... and then running the steel parallel with the trusses (and across the 2" x 4" joists) .... so I'll have support 4' O.C. ....

and put R-30 insulation in the ceiling as I put the ceiling up.

So .... how did it go ? (putting up the steel) .....

Inquiring minds wanna know ...... I have over 3000 sq. ft of it to put up myself ..... :laughing:

As you can see, I rented a scissor lift:

You are a smart man ...... gotta think that was money well spent ....

I think I'll follow your lead ...

 

[smfcpacfp]

Putting up the steel went well, but I did it much differently that I anticipated. I figured that I would hold the steel on my head and screw it place, but once I handled the steel, I could see that would be a nightmare, so we put the steel on the lift and lifted it in position right on the trusses and put in a few screws from my 10 foot step ladder to hold it position. Then I took the lift down and got on the lift and put the rest of the screws in from the lift.

The lift was a great tool. I couldn't imagine doing the ceiling without it given the size of the metal sheets. It was $385 for the week including pickup and delivery. I did see, on this forum I believe, where someone build what I will call a gig made out of 2 by 4's to fit in his front end loader which held sheets of metal (or drywall) in place while they screwed them in place. I also used the lift to put up the plywood on the walls. The advantage of the lift, compared to a tractor is that is extremely manueverable.

 

[srs]

Steve, just wondering what tool you used to cut the metal to put the electrical box in?

 

[smfcpacfp]

Steve, just wondering what tool you used to cut the metal to put the electrical box in?

Saber saw

 

[srs]

Ok, thanks. Didn't know if you had to buy a special "nibbler" type tool. I'm assuming it worked ok for you.