Tag Archives: sliding door hardware

Where to Place a Sliding Door?

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.

Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Father and I are getting ready to build a 24×36 pole barn and while discussing the layout we were both wondering about sliding door placement. Visualizing the barn we would like a 12′ door or so on left side of the 36′ wall where sliding it to the right would open it (with one directly across on opposite wall so we could drive through if needed). Our question is how close to the corner of the barn should we put the door? Is it common to have door go all the way to the corner, basically where a latch could go onto the 24′ wall or is it common practice to have the door be x feet away from 24′ wall?

Very rarely if ever will a truck or car be in there (mower, 4 wheelers) so leaving space for doors to open won’t be an issue and plus if door goes all the way to corner would allow more space inside for a longer work bench along the wall.

Any recommendations? Thanks LOCATING IN LANSING

DEAR LOCATING: Typically the 36 foot sidewall of a pole building will be three “bays” each being 12 feet wide. Other than for small sliding doors for animals (think horses), my recommendation is to make the doors as wide as possible without having to relocate a structural column – in your case 12 feet. You can put the door in one of the 12’ end bays (at a corner) to leave 24’ for a long workbench. The door would then slide over the 24’ section.

The only differences in hardware for a 12 foot wide door as opposed to a door of eight, nine or 10 feet in width is length of the sliding door track itself and the steel door horizontals. In most cases the cost will be less than having to purchase an extra pressure treated post to make the opening narrower.

You might never need the extra door width yourself, but the next owner of the building might.

Mike the Pole Barn Guru

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hi there. I’m considering building a pole building house in Ferry County, WA.  I see on your website that you recommend posts being buried, and then the concrete floor being poured after posts are all in ground.  Is this method allowed for pole barn houses in Washington State, or would you need to pour a slab foundation and install posts on top of slab?

I am trying to learn the process, so I can explain it thoroughly to my wife.  We are looking at building the house as a vacation/future retirement home.

Also, do you build in Eastern Washington? WONDERING IN WASHINGTON

DEAR WONDERING: Regardless of where a pole barn house will be located anywhere in the United States, properly pressure preservative treated columns can be embedded into the ground to support the building. There is no Code related reason which dictates the columns must be placed on top of a slab. This is our preferred method, although we can also design to place columns on top of a foundation with brackets, if this is what the client wishes.

And – Hansen Pole Buildings does not construct buildings anywhere, we provide complete pole building kit packages, which hare designed to be constructed by the average person who can and will read instructions. For those who do not desire to assemble themselves, installers can usually be found for about ½ of the cost of the materials.

Mike the Pole Barn Guru

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I’m looking to build a 40x80x12  pole barn next year and I am trying to nail down some possibilities before I get too far into of the realm of wants vs cost efficiencies.   I would like to have a portion of the barn living space and the rest garage. Local building inspectors have given me the green light to purse this thankfully.

My basic plan is to insulate with closed cell foam insulation in the living space and a radiant barrier (for now) in the garage area.  I do have quite a few window openings planned for the living area.  Does this cause any issues with your package?  I don’t mind moving things around for post spacing or adding in my own framing but did not know if this was acceptable with your sidewall and endwall designs.

The plan for interior finishes is simple but with a metal panel ceiling attached to the bottom of the roof purlins.  For that reason I like the look of exposed steel trussed in the living space.   Is it possible for you all to design around this as well?  At most the living space is 30×40 on one end.  For the garage area, wood trusses are more than suitable.  This is more of a look I am just trying to achieve more than structural.    Thanks.  WONDERING IN WHITTIER

DEAR WONDERING: Usually window openings are not going to detract structurally, unless you have a large number of them in the same endwall. Sidewall window openings are usually not an issue, as sidewall shear loads are much smaller than those on endwalls.

Others have experienced some challenges with using steel liner panels for ceilings. https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/08/steel-liner-panels/

We do not use steel trusses in our buildings – the biggest issues being very few steel truss manufacturers are able to provide engineer sealed drawings for them, nor are the able to generally meet the strenuous third party inspection requirements mandated by the Building Codes. Over the years, I’ve had many clients leave wood trusses exposed – with some painting or staining and varnishing them to achieve the aesthetic look they were after.

Mike the Pole Barn Guru

How to Replace Skylights

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.

Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have fiber glass roof light panels and they are leaking and damaged. I need new skylights. They have to match my old steel panels. Do you know where I can get some? HICCUP IN HINCKLEY

DEAR HICCUP: This is an ongoing issue with people who used fiberglass panels in roofs for skylights. The information you are seeking maybe found by reading: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2014/09/skylights-2/

Mike the Pole Barn Guru

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Do you sell just the large rolling track style doors? AIRY IN ALASKA

DEAR AIRY: Although our prime business is providing complete post frame (pole) building kit packages, we can supply just the components for sliding doors. We are happy to help you – Please be aware – there will be a considerable amount of freight in shipping a sliding door package to any location, and even more so in your case – Alaska. Please send any sliding door package assembly requests to Eric@HansenPoleBuildings.com

Mike the Pole Barn Guru

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I’m planning on having a pole barn built to be used as a shop building for my business. I want to insulate the roof and walls. The walls are easy, but I am not sure how to economically insulate the roof. The roof is supported by a pair of trusses bolted to each side of the pole (actually a 6 by 6 pressure treated post). Purlins are 2 by 6’s placed 24 inches on center, running parallel to the ridge. There is a vapor barrier “insulating blanket” (really very thin) on top of the purlins under the steel roofing panels. It is there to prevent condensation and subsequent raining inside the building.

One idea would be to nail 2 inch thick foil faced foam panels to the underside of the purlins, then 1 by 3 strapping nailed 16 inches o.c. perpendicular to the purlins, to create a three-quarter inch air space between the foam panels and the half-inch drywall nailed to the strapping. I’ve specified the roof be built to support the weight of the drywall.

Do you have better and or cheaper ideas? WANTING IN WASHINGTON

DEAR WANTING: Although it has little to do with insulating your building, I’ll start with a structural concern – instead of placing trusses on each side of the columns, I would recommend they be nailed face-to-face without blocking between, then placed into a notch cut into the tops of the columns. The trusses then actually act as a pair, as opposed to two individual trusses spaced apart. This greatly reduces the possibility of a catastrophic failure due to one individual truss failing, as the probability of the two joined trusses having the exact same weak point is infinitesimally small.

Moving forward – typically columns (and trusses) in your part of the country are spaced every 10 or 12 feet. If 2×6 roof purlins are to be used, they will not be able to carry the weight of the drywall without undue deflection.

Let’s go to simple, better and easy. In your proposed version, a large area is being created above the plane of the bottom chord of the trusses and below the drywall – where all of the heat is going to rise to. You will have to heat a large volume of space, which is not able to be utilized.

Instead – specify the trusses to be fabricated with a raised heel (see https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2012/07/raised-heel-trusses/). Install 2×6 ceiling joists at 24 inches on center between the roof truss bottom chords, using a Simpson LU24 or similar hanger at each end. Install 5/8” gypsum wallboard across the underside of the ceiling joists. Blow in cellulose or fiberglass insulation, or use unfaced batt insulation above the drywall.

Be sure to include specifications to ventilate the dead attic space: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2014/02/pole-building-ventilation/

These steps will allow you to climate control the least amount of space, with the least cost to achieve the insulating system.

Mike the Pole Barn Guru

 

Dear Guru: Where Can I Get Expanding Foam Closures?

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday or Saturday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.

Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:I am interested in just the doors. Do you offer a barn door kit? I have a detached garage that I would like to replace the overhead door with sliding barn doors. Thanks for your response. FLAILING IN FALLS CHURCH

 DEAR FLAILING: Yes, we offer just the sliding doors. You may purchase just the hardware, or we can also provide steel siding for them, in a myriad of colors. Call our number on the top part of our website: www.HansenBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:where can i get the expanding foam closures to seal my ridge cap i have looked at lowes and home depo thank you. IRRITATED IN IOWA

DEAR IRRITATED: Your question is one frequently posed by owners of steel roofed buildings where either the seller cut corners and pocketed a few extra dollars by leaving them out, or the erection crew got lazy and wanted to save a few minutes of time. I’ve actually had owners of new pole buildings report their construction crew told them by leaving out the closures, they could have a vented ridge cap, for free!

Yes, without the closures, it will be vented alright…as well as providing easy access for flying critters of all shapes and sizes, not to mention rain and snow!

When I was building, and running as many as 35 pole building crews, we had three quality control persons on staff, who visited every building we constructed to make sure the finished products met with our standards. One of the tools carried by each QC person – field glasses, so they could tell from a distance if the closure strips had been installed under the ridge cap.

The Hansen Pole Buildings warehouse is an older pole building, which did not have closures under the ridge cap. To compound the problem – the ridge cap was nailed on! Luckily, one of the products we sell is an expanding foam closure strip which comes in a very thin roll, but expands to an inch square once installed. These expandable closures will stick to nearly anything, and can be a gooey mess to work with, but they did the trick in our case. They really do stick and seal!

If your building has a screwed on ridge cap, we’d recommend using form fitted closure strips which come with an adhesive pull strip on one side. They are available from Hansen Pole Buildings either as solid, or vented (with integral screening to prevent the “bad stuff” from coming through into your building. And yes, we sell the expanding foam closures  too. Check it out on our website.

Dear Pole Barn Guru: What Makes for a Good Sliding Door?

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.

Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am building a Pole Barn myself and will be using sliding doors. I have not bought the hardware yet but have received a quote for Cannonball sliding door hardware and quick frames. What I am trying to find is detailed framing for how the sliding door and trim mount along with the metal siding and was wondering if you have any details of such? Also, I like the idea of the quickframe w/ metal girts. Are there other manufacturers of these products that you know of that will hold up? I am about inland about 40 miles from the Coast so I want decent hardware. Thanks in Advance. RARING TO GO IN ROSHARON

DEAR RARING: There are several manufacturers of quality sliding door components. You are heading in the right direction with the use of metal framed doors, as well as the expectations for having “decent” hardware.

 In my mind, decent hardware includes round or round bottom track, integrated bottom guides and secure locking mechanisms.

 Along with providing all of your sliding door components, including delivery to your site from our warehouse, we also provide the complete framing and installation instructions for the door opening, as well as the door assembly itself.

 Unlike instructions supplied by the door component manufacturers, our instructions actually have been field tested on thousands of buildings, and they work!

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have an existing pole building, with metal building insulation between the 2×6 on edge roof purlins and the roof steel. How would you put in roof insulation (add to the insulation there)? There are no soffit vents and no eaves. If a ceiling was put in, the ceiling would be at 7.5 ft tall which is very short. Any ideas are welcome. COOL CUCUMBER

DEAR COOL: If you are going to finish a flat level ceiling, with a dead attic space above, you would need to add sufficient gable vents to provide adequate insulation. Figure 1 square foot of vent for every 150 square feet of attic space. If you can get the vents entirely in the upper 1/2 of the attic, then you can go with 1 per 300 sft. While a 7’6″ finished ceiling is short, it is within Code minimums – pretty tough to change unless the entire building was to be made taller, which would not at all be an easy, or economical proposition.

As long as you do not finish the underside of the roof purlins, you could install unfaced fiberglass batt insulation between them (as built, the purlins do not have the strength or stiffness to support materials such as sheetrock). This insulation could be held in place by materials such as chicken wire or lathe strips.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have a 30 year old pole building and am having ridge cap leakage problems. The building has plastic covered fiberglass insulation throughout. I don’t want to allow that to keep getting wet. What products do you have available to replace my roof seal. LEAKING

DEAR LEAKING: Your problem is probably not the ridge cap, but is more than likely a failure to install UV resistant form fitting closure strips under the ridge cap. 30 years ago, most post frame buildings either had no closures installed, or an open cell foam strip was used. The second just delayed the problems caused by no closures, as the open celled version deteriorated in a matter of a few years – allowing the elements to blow in under the ridge cap.

First, check to see if closures are intact under the ridge (highly doubtful).

Next, if your ridge cap is screwed on, we can probably provide for you closures which can be placed between the cap and the roof steel, by removing and reinstalling the ridge cap. If the ridge cap is nailed on, or the steel is an uncommon pattern, we do have an expanding closure, which can be slid under the edge of the cap and will expand to completely fill voids up to an inch in size.