Where do I park my tractor?

[SSG]

Does anyone have any ideas about prefabricated tractor sheds/ barns? I've seen Morton buildings, and ARCO buildings, both look nice, the former uses wood trusses, the latter steel. I would like to have a shed that would fit my tractor, implements, farm truck, etc, plus have room for a work shop. My neighbor has an ARCO structure, from Norcross, GA that is about the right size (75x30 with a 10 ft. clearance and a 12/4 slope on the roof). He liked the steel frame, but chose to build the outside of pine rather than the aluminum the company supplies. He opted for a poured concrete floor in the shop area (25X30), while the open tractor area is graded dirt. Any thoughts or experience with other companies, good or bad? Any thoughts about pouring the floor for the tractor area rather than leaving the dirt? Thanks.

 

[Thomas]

Steve, By the sounds you looking at a barn not a shed./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
Have you visit your local lumber supplier,for they might have plans or information on your needs.

I like your out look on your barn or shed,yep build it big enough the first time./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Take care and stay /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif

Thomas..NH

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You are welcome to come park it in one of my sheds. Please leave keys. Have Blue Orange and Green, looking for other colors or more of the same.

You can never have too many tractors!

Oh, on a serious note, I saw a small something parked in one of those things people use as greenhouses, that are the exact shape of an airplane fuselage. I think they get rid of them when they start to show their age.

 

[Bird]

SSG, it just depends on how much money you can afford to spend. I prefer metal sided buildings (hate to paint), and I sure do like having a concrete floor. Nothing wrong with a dirt floor to park a tractor and implements on, but it sure is nice to have the concrete if you want to roll around under it on a creeper and little things like that. Mine is a wood framed, aluminum sides and roof, concrete floored, 40' x 60' building, but it was here when I bought the place.

Bird

 

[JerryG]

Have any of you checked into free span steel trusses? You can buy them in just about any width, up to 50 feet. The ones I have are set on 10’ centers. They come with the perlin attachments installed with nail holes in them and mounting tabs down the side for your siding. I bought 98, 43’ wide ones with 6’ sidewalls in January. I think that my contractor said that they were about $500 each. One thing to look into before buying them is insurance. When you get into sizes over 43’, some companies get picky. One example is Farm Bureau. There is only one manufacture whose truss that they will insure in the 50’ size.
JerryG

 

[ERNIEB]

I think Bird said it pretty well. In this area, most of the newer buildings are metal, with little or no wood. More expensive to build, but very low maintance. I think what Del is talking about is the quanset hut style buildings. I've seen some of those around, and in fact some on the larger farms and ranches are really big. They don't seem to be real popular, but I don't know why. Most of the older ones I've seen seem to hold up well. Bird brings up some good points in favor of a concrete floor, but there is the added expense. I don't have a concrete floor, mainly because a bad back prevents me from standing or walking on such a surface for long periods of time. I guess it really comes down to an economic and personal choice.

 

[roysallis]

There are plenty of companies that will put up a barn/shed for you. Here are some websites that you can check out. I have not had any dealing with any of them so I am not recommending any of them.
http://www.agristeel.com/
http://www.mortonbuildings.com/
http://www.budget-buildings.com/
Some companies will do a turnkey job or sell you the materials and you can put it up yourself. Just like buying a tractor or equipment there are a lot of options to consider when putting up a barn/shed.
Get the farm/agriculture newspaper that NC publishes each month and there will probably be several companies advertising in it. Also, when you see a barn/shed just stop and ask the owner who put it up for him. I have done this and everyone I asked was proud to show me their barn/shed and provide a lot of information about it.

 

[gerard]

I would look at a "coverall" shelter. We priced a lot of buildings when looking to build an indoor arena (120 x 60) and this is what we would have gone with. It's basically an arch structure with trusses made of galvanized steel with a fabric covering stretched over it. They come in any size you want, have loads of headroom, greater inside volume than a rectangular structure, and Best of all, since they are able to be disassembled easily they are not considered a lot improvement ie NO TAX ASSESSMENT INCREASE! I've seen a lot more farmers going to them recently which says a lot. FYI For a 60 x 120 installed we were looking at about 40K, 20K for materials and the fabric should last about 15 years. After that it's easily replaced at about a 4K cost.

 

[bsauter]

Morton Buildings are probably the best of the best as far as quality. Also pricey, that's why I don't have one /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif.
We went with a local builder last year to put up a new barn with wood trusses and metal siding. I'm with Bird, don't like to paint. We do have wood siding on the southside of the barn where the horses have access. I have 2 twelve foot garage doors on my side for the truck and trailers and stuff and we have to fourteen foot sliders on each end of the aisle on the horse side. Poured concrete for the 12 by 60 foot aisle plus wash rack and then concrete for a 26 by 30 foot work area plus shop and tack room on equipment side. Parking area is graded ag lime over dirt. Ag lime works well. The interior of barn is 50x60 with a southerly 8 foot overhang for horses so footprint is 58x60. I told my wife the only way we were putting up a new barn was if I had half for my toys! I still use our old barn for implement storage and hay and sawdust storage. Copy and paste this link for some pictures:

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=179207&a=1494600

These are older and we now have a drive and parking area and the old tractor is gone, replaced with a B2910. Hope these might give you some ideas what you may like and may not like.

Brad

 

[civguy]

I have a barn that I can pull my tractor into, but the center aisle is not very wide. Even if I tore down the stalls to put my implements in, I could not get the tractor turned around sideways to hook it up. And if I did pull the tractor in the barn, it would be in the way real bad. I also have a 3 bay shed (open on one side) that I really like. No doors to open and close. Plenty of light. However, it is rotten and about to fall down. So I too am trying to figure out how to store my tractor and implements. I noticed that my neighbors store them outside. At first, I thought this was crazy to let your stuff rust. Then I thought about how much a bay of storage cost and I figured I could replace the implement many times for what one bay would cost to build. I still don't want my stuff to rust though. Would a shed that is open on one side away from the weather be too moist?

 

[bpence]

I believe you're on the right track because you are really thinking about what type of barn to build. 5 years ago we ended up building a pole barn, and found between family and friends we could do a lot of the work and estimate we probably save 8 or 9 thousand dollars. It took a couple of months to complete, but the saving s were worth it. The barn is 32 x 48 with an 8 foot lean-to on one side. I cemented a floor 32x 32 and put road gravel & stone in the back where I park the tractor and implements. Works out just fine. The cement gives me a good work shop area and the gravel floor gives me a place to keep all the junk, hay, straw, etc.

A couple of things to consider, whatever you decide to do. Build your barn big enough and tall enough for future uses. I only went with 10' sidewalls, and that's worked out OK, but I'd go 12' next time to get 10' clearance under the lean-to's. I wish I would have built the barn 40 x 60 with 8' wide lean-to's on each side. Lean-to's are great places to store firewood, lumber, etc. away from the weather as well a a dry place to stand and watch the rain (which we've had lots of this year in Michigan) while working in the shop. I'm probably going to add on 16 ' to the back of the barn this winter to give me a way to expand my workshop. It seems that now that the kids have cars, we need more shop area to work on stuff like that.

Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide.

Bob Pence

 

[PBMAX]

SSG, check out Mike's Tracor Page, He built his own barn,pretty big to
Its been a bit since I looked but I think it even has a loft.. And the price was around (I think he said 9K) for the whole thing...The only think I would defenitly change would be the siding...AS LOW MAITENECE as can be is the way for me....as others have said I'd rather be on a tractor than painting...I may use the vinal siding on the little horse barn I'm buiding for the little woman...So it will match the "HER" new house.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif...Course I plan to leave the stalls open(12x12) untill she actually gets horses.Figure I can park the new TC21D in there till then.../w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif... Here is the web address (sorry forgot how to link it) http://www.his.com/~msimpson/tracor/

HE used to have pics from start to finish I'll have to go back to see though... Mabye it will at least add to your list of do's and dont's
Good luck....

Lil' Paul

Laziness is the Father of invention.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[roysallis]

Here is the link to Mike's Tractor Page http://www.his.com/~msimpson/tractor/ .
Paul, Sometimes I forget and have to go to "markup in your posts" which may be found at the top of the Reply page.

 

[W5FL]

Whirlwind has a web site now. They are located in Houston. I bought their 50x90x14 ft steel building for $13,980 in 1994. Door, Foundation, Insulation, and erection are NOT included. Figure another $12,000 for all of that with concrete foundation, plumbing, etc. Steel building are much less expensive than wood and are quite servicable. Built my sheds out of 4x4 pole construction with metal roof and sides. Very inexpensive, but not as good as the prefab design. The entire barn has no columns, which is nice.

 

[SSG]

I appreciate all the input. I have seen Morton buildings and they are very well built but are the wood trusses and posts less desireable than steel? I looked at Whirlwinds' web page and didn't find any sheds/barns but if they are like Arco in Georgia, then they can build any size or shape you request. I will search the other sites when time allows. Anyone have a downside to using gravel rather than the native dirt for the tractor area other than cost?