Alrighty now, we left off at setting the posts for the barn. Like I said, squaring the structure is probably the most important thing you can do for this project. Once the first line of poles are set, time to move to the other side. We had the tech tools to square the structure using a 90 degree right angle laser, but there are several ways to achieve this. I'll discuss the 3-4-5 method when we get to the roof trusses. Once the basic square is determined, you can check your square by measuring the distance between the corner poles diagonally. For a barn, one or two inches is close enough. Allow a full day for the cement to dry before proceeding. Now it's time to raise the barn. As you'll notice in the pics, we again started on one side, then the other before moving to the ends with the trusses. We used 16' Pressure treated 2X10s for the support system...a little overkill, but it does keep the carpenter bees from boring holes in the wood. Generally, anything not touching the ground is safe for regular "white wood". We attached the 2X10s on inside and outside of the poles using 6X6 block bracing in between the poles, overlapping the corner poles by an inch & a half for the end trusses. Nails are generally used for this, but due to constant strong winds through the holler, we used 3" coated screws for most of this construction. Now that the trusses are up, we used "scabs" on the poles for our cross bracing. these are simply pieces of 1X6s screwed to the poles to bridge the gap from the inside truss, the pic explains it best. The cross braces are cut on a 45 degree angle and start at the top of the truss and meet in the middle of the scab. Enough for today, we'll start on the roof trusses next time. As always, any comments or questions are greatly appreciated.

Peace,

Tony

Building a pole barn

Today I'm going to start walking you through one of our most basic structures, a pole barn. A pole barn is simply defined as it's name, an open barn built on poles or posts. This pole barn is 16" X 32" with a metal roof. It's immediate use will be a hay barn & animal shelter during the winter. The farm is about a half hour north of Asheville, NC, and is mainly a goat / sheep farm. We will probably close it in in the spring. The first step of course is setting the pole foundation. After determining our size and square using lasers & strings, we had the Luxury of using a tractor auger to dig the holes. The posts are 6 X 6 and 16 ft long....better to be too long than too short. Starting with two corners, we set each individual post about 2' deep. You'll notice in the pics that we drove 16 penny galvanized nails in the post for added grabbing once the cement set. A 12" X 2' hole requires about 2 - 80# bags of cement. We also used one bag of quick set cement to top it off & didn't even use braces to hold the poles in place. Once the corner poles are set, the side poles just follow the string line about 8' apart. After the first side is set, it's time to move to the other 2 corners. This is very important! At this point, the "square" of the structure is determined. If it's not square, the roof will not look or function properly. That's it for today, Next post will be about squaring methods and starting raising the beams. Please ask any questions or leave comments & I'll do my best to clarify things for you. Until next time, Peace

Tony

A first for everything

OK Kiddies, something new. Time to jump right in with both feet about all things home related. Repairs, solutions, maintenance, ideas & just general tips about making your home a better place to live. I will be walking you through many different jobs, both personal and professional. I Just finished a new deck which I will be describing and showing more of soon, but today I started building two pole barns. Pics and stories will follow soon.

Peace,

Tony