Pole Barn

[Bryan Rocker]

Good evening folks, as life always brings about change I am looking at a probably move in the very near future. I am looking at picking up some property that has a pole barn. Other than the fairly significant expense of the concrete itself are there any other issues I should be aware of if I decide to take a dirt floor pole barn and turn it into a shop? Most of the ones on the list are 48'x40'.

[Matt Meiser]

Its more difficult to insulate, but manageable via a number of different methods. You'll want to look at the ceiling height. Mine is 12'. Sounds nice until you start hanging ceiling material, lights, duct, etc. I ended up renting scaffolding for most of that. But there was still a lot that had to be done from a ladder and getting heavy stuff that high, like my furnace and air cleaner weren't necessarily easy. If I was building from scratch I'd probably do a 10' ceiling. On the other hand, with a 48x40 you could wall off part and put in a loft over your shop if you had a really high ceiling. The rest could be uninsulated for storage, etc.

[Curt Doles]

Hey Brian,

My pole building is a 40x60 where I walled off a 20x20 adjoining a 32x8. Mine has 9 foot ceilings. Iv'e been pretty happy overall. I blew a lot of insulation above the ceiling and insulated the interior stud walls.

My plan was to see how well it held heat and if I needed to, I think I would just stud out between posts and drywall and roll insulate.

I was pretty comfortable all winter. For now I'm just using a kerosene heater and an LP heater. When we moved to this house the building was already wired with 100 amp service so over the last 6 years I've done a lot to make it a more functional workspace.

Curt

[Tim Anderson]

I built a 30x50 pole barn for shop and utility building. Put heat and drainage in floor. 10' ceilings with blown insulation in ceiling, OSB walls to hang stuff and lessen tin can sound. With temp set @ 59 degrees it runs 60-63 all winter and highest in summer so far is 78 degrees. I'd build a pole barn again. I did put in roll up doors on both ends which you may not have. I really like them vs sliders because they seal tight but did give up some DC duct options. Sorry guys too much caffeine this am.

Tim

[Ben Cadotte]

One thing to consider with pole barns is keeping the sliding doors. Alot of areas will tax your building different depending on the type of doors you install. If you put a regular service entrance door, you can buy and install hold downs for the sliders. That way you can install seals and use the lock downs to hold the doors tight against them. Also with a slider, if you use a box frame construction. You can insulate it the same as the walls. Much better than the thin insulated roll up doors.

As for concrete floors, they are actually pretty simple. Not sure what the price is for a yard installed now. But putting one in a pole barn there is no special requirements. Nothing different than pouring a garage or basement floor.

[Doug Hobkirk]

Radiant heat! Joists, gravel, tubing, 3/4 plywood... from someone who's never done it...

[Jim Andrew]

I used an old pole shed for a shop, just because it was here. If I had my choice, would rather build a building with a foundation, but a guy uses what he has. I put a floor in mine, then framed it out on the inside of the walls and wired, insulated and then drywalled mine. For the ceiling put up suspended ceiling, and put the dust collector pipe in the attic, and just put in drops to the machines. Never heard of a tax problem with doors, must be a local thing. I put in overhead doors incase I wanted to use it for a garage, and now have a plywood rack just inside one of the doors to make it easy to get plywood delivery. Need to fix up another place for the truck, as sharing a shop with a truck is a bit of a pain.

[Ben Cadotte]

I Never heard of a tax problem with doors, must be a local thing.

Not a tax problem, but a tax savings. The county I grew up in MI and In my FIL's town in MA, same thing. A building with a sliding or hinged swinging door is taxed as shed / barn. Building with overhead door taxed as a garage which is a higher rate. I have not checked in my new town in ME. They are extremely easy when it comes to building. I know its not everywhere, but I do know of at least 2 areas that it does make a difference.

[Steven Beam]

Procedures
1.) Excavation ( allow for 6-8 inches of stone, 1.5 inches of insulation, and 4-6 inches of concrete depending on your end use.
2.) sub grade compaction
3.) installation of stone base (i would use 304 limestone) well compacted depending on the equipment you have available i would place it in two lifts.
4.) Install in floor utilities (dust collection, electric, plumbing, air etc...)
5.) Install vapor barrier
6.) Place insulation for radiant floor heat (i like a product called crete-heat www.crete-heat.com) also insulate the exterior perimeter of the floor
7.) Install pex tubing for heating
8.) Install 6x6 mesh on top of 1.5" blocking to keep mesh suspended in the concrete
9.) Place 4000 PSI concrete
10.) Start making sawdust

[Stephen Edwards]

I would first consider if I wanted to walk on concrete or not. I poured a concrete sill, as it were, between the posts with a ledge formed for a pressure treated joist system. A few vent holes in the concrete for circulation. 3/4 PT plywood on top of the joists. It's a 12 x48 area of a 100 year old barn. A woodheater keeps it around 60-65 in the winter.....even with lots of windows. The ceiling is not yet even insulated

I studded up between the posts and insulated with rolled insulation. I installed 1/2 inch foam board on outside walls and purloins between the studs every two feet from floor up. I covered the walls with saw mill lumber, board and batten. inside and out. Very comfortable, not too expensive and nice floor to walk on in my upper 50s. The floor is well braced and supported in the middle of the 12' joists. If I had it to do over again I'd do it the same way.

[Bryan Rocker]

Thanks for all your comments. I am still looking althought the house at the top of my current list has a full unfinished basement, 1750 sq feet, of which I might get 1/2 for my shop That will be a challange ......

[Matt Ocel]

Bryan -
Keep us updated cause we love talking about this stuff.

[Ed Breen]

I built a 30x50 pole barn with two sliuders and one walk in. Overhead radiant heat etc. Wife saw it and now I have two 30x50 pole barns in the back yard. Hers is packed too.
Ed