24 x 28 pole barn

[Brad Schafer]

an alternative to buried wood can be found at permacolumn.com ... maybe pricey but worth a look.

[David Roberts,Fitchburg,Ma]

It sounds to me the only opinions you are hearing, is from standard building guys, I have the first pole barn in my town, and the building inspector was confused and wanted me to stick build. I used 0.60 PT instead of 0.40, life should be at least 30 to 50 years. I however had the advantage of a NY state DOT engineer who was looking over my shoulder when I was building. I would say the inspector in your town doesn't understand the construction requirements and benefits of pole barns. I went 8' on center, and like I mentioned, used 4 layers of 2x6 for less warpage, I have not had any problems since I built it, with the integrity of the building. I knew how to build a pole barn, but the inspector required a set of plans, I bought a cheap set, and then did it my way, which was over engineered. Except for checking the hole depth, the only comment was positive.

[Rich Aldrich]

My dad and brother have pole buildings built in 1984 and have had no issues with poles rotting off. My main garage is a pole building and I have had no issues.

I built my shop pole building style, but ....

It is great for a cold storage building, but when you finish off the inside walls, you end up with so much wood in the walls, you would be better off putting up standard stud walls. Because of this, I would either use a floating slab or standard foundation with a rat wall 2 blocks high and build regular stud walls. This also will give you a higher than 8 foot ceiling (another mistake I made).

The roof trusses and all can then be pole building style, trusses on 4 ft centers, perlins and metal roofing. The eves can be boxed in or not, but provide ventilation. Go with an energy heel on the trusses so you can insulate it properly. Exterior walls can either be metal or whatever you like.

[Mark Boyette]

The main reason we decided on a pole barn was due to the savings in both wood and concrete. In Ohio (2006 code), anything over 400 square feet required a footer so floating slab isn't allowed on this size. The pole barns saves us from all the digging, hauling of dirt, and the additional 9 yards of crete needed for a footer.
thanks for all the input here.
Mark.

[Kelly C. Hanna]

It sounds to me the only opinions you are hearing, is from standard building guys, I have the first pole barn in my town, and the building inspector was confused and wanted me to stick build. I used 0.60 PT instead of 0.40, life should be at least 30 to 50 years. I however had the advantage of a NY state DOT engineer who was looking over my shoulder when I was building. I would say the inspector in your town doesn't understand the construction requirements and benefits of pole barns. I went 8' on center, and like I mentioned, used 4 layers of 2x6 for less warpage, I have not had any problems since I built it, with the integrity of the building. I knew how to build a pole barn, but the inspector required a set of plans, I bought a cheap set, and then did it my way, which was over engineered. Except for checking the hole depth, the only comment was positive.

I agree completely. I deal with inspectors all the time and when you do you find that no two have the same requests. Diagonal bracing is not necessary on pole barns. They are built they same way they are in the picture above everywhere I have ever seen one. I know of no diagonal strap that is made for that purpose at that length so ask the inspector to point you in the right direction. Then you will find out if he has ever really seen the product or not. If not ask him if you can brace diagonally with a 1x4.