Replies

1. 
   calvin | Oct 14, 2006 03:13am | #1

   Bill, if your concerned about wood, go with steel-although no way as reasonable as 10 yrs ago.

   A well built and nicely appointed pole barn is a good long term investment.  I've known a couple of local builders of good pole barns for 35 yrs.  Their structures well maintained, are as sturdy and long lasting as they were when built.

   Will they outlast the barns of old, doubtful.  But not impossible.

   Where are you located weatherwise?

    

   A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.

   Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.

   Quittin' Time

    

1. 
   billd60 | Oct 14, 2006 05:47pm | #6

   I'm in upstate, New York - 1 hour south west of Albany.  I have great draining soil, about 60' of bank run gravel so water is no concern at all. 

2. 
   DonNH | Oct 14, 2006 05:03am | #2

   At my dad's place, we've got a 36x48' pole barn we put up in 1980 - 6x6 PT hemlock (clear treating-not sure what the chemical was) poles still seem solid. 

   It was a kit from a local lumber yard.  With all lumber, trusses & corrugated galvanized roofing & siding (3 sides), it was about $6K back then.

   A couple years later, we enclosed half of it and poured a floor in that half.

   The other half will have a floor poured in it within a couple weeks and also be enclosed for a wood shop.

   After 26 years, the roofing is starting to get rusty, so I think my dad's planning on replacing it soon.

   If you don't like the idea of burying the posts, another option would be to use concrete piers or even a frost wall foundation to set the posts on, using post bases made for that application.

   Don

3. 
   VTNorm | Oct 14, 2006 02:52pm | #3

   Lots of farmer types on this board with many a pole barn project discussion, they'll steer you right.

   http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/

   My pole barn is about 20 years old, the posts were set onto concrete pads (more like a bag of cement poured into an indentation in the ground) - just about right for water to get at the untreated ends. My free-time project now is to dig up the old concrete pads, pour new sono tubes below the frost line, cut off the rotted end of the post and reset the whole mess - all 15 of them. Won't be fun.

   -Norm

4. 
   BossHog | Oct 14, 2006 03:41pm | #4

   I think posts in the ground are fine, as long as they're not perpetually wet.

   If the ground is sloped away from the building, and water doesn't gather around the base of the building I think the posts will be fine for a heck of a long time.

   Even if the posts rot, you can bolt new posts alongside the old ones. It's not a fun job, but it's doable.

   The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher regard those who think alike than those who think differently. [Nietzche]
5. 
   rvieceli | Oct 14, 2006 04:06pm | #5

   Bill

   These precast bases look pretty slick, but i haven't used them.

    

   http://www.permacolumn.com/index.htm