Starting my pole barn.

[mcandrew]

Exciting times! We bought an old horse barn, are having it reconstructed now. Being SWVA we had to carve a pad into a steep hillside, and avoid the limestone. Barn is 30x40, and basically telephone style poles, and old oak. The barn was originally built in the 1950s. We liked the old materials, All though Im certain this is the expensive route. So first question. Builder has dug all the footers for the poles, and set 6" of concrete in the base. Poles will be tarred before they are set. My soil is heavy clay and doesn't appear to drain at all, as the holes have filled with water from the recent rains. I have access to screenings from the road crew dumpsite, and was thinking it might be great backfill for the poles. However, if the clay doesnt allow the water to drain, maybe the gravel is worse if water gets in? Maybe the clay would actually seal the water out?

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!

 

[ponytug]

The old creosote poles are way more durable than their modern versions in my opinion.

Did you consider concrete footings to ground level, and then posts above?

Gravel around the poles won't hurt and may help. Put it in a few inches at a time and pack it well.

Clay will be hard on your posts. To the extent you can put in uphill drainage (French drain, aka a trench filled with gravel, and a perforated pipe heading downhill somewhere), your barn and poles will thank you. Basically, the drier the better.

You may want to pretreat the poles with extra copper naphthanate, "Qnap", or Tenino, etc. it will slow down fungus and insects. Ideally, you stick the poles in a barrel of the solution and let them soak for 24 hours, but given the length of your poles, you will probably need to brush it on.

All the best,

Peter

 

[BoylermanCT]

Congratulations on your project. I finished my 30x40 pole barn last year. We have clay soil here in CT, and our holes filled with water too. Make sure the ground around the barn drains away from the building on all sides so water is not trying to get to the poles. I chose a 12" overhang on all 4 sides to keep rain away from the posts and have gutters on the non-peak ends to get the water coming off the roof away from the building. I backfilled my holes with the original dirt that we dug out of the holes. Good luck and post pics of your progress.

 

[LD1]

Round poles suck to build a square and straight building with.

DONT use gravel around the poles

 

[deezler]

Agree to not use gravel around the posts, backfill with the native soil. Key thing is to get the building pad elevated as much as you can tolerate and direct all surface and roof water runoff AWAY from the building. If you hired a professional builder and are doing things the "expensive" way, why are you futsing with round poles? Just spend a couple grand on proper 6x6 treated posts and the building will go up much straighter and squarer.

 

[EddieWalker]

Do not use gravel around the poles. Do not backfill with native soil. Both will hold water. Your clay holds water, so you want to plug that hole so water cannot get into the hole. Use concrete in each hole and bring it up above the hole so water will never settle at the base of the posts. 99% of all rot on a wood post in the ground is at ground level.

Backfilling with dirt will settle and create a low spot that holds water.

The water has to be kept away from the base of the hole. I create a slope around my posts. The higher the better!!!