Monthly Archives: February 2020

SIPS for Barndominiums

It has only been five years since I first opined about using SIPs for post frame building construction: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/02/sips/. Since then, post frame homes (frequently referred to as barndominiums) have become quite the rage. Easily half of Hansen Pole Buildings’ inquiries are now for some combination of living space!

I had recently done some further research on SIPs and actually acquired pricing, reader STEPHEN from RAPID CITY was evidently thinking on a like-minded path when he wrote:

“I am a CAD student at Western Dakota Tech in Rapid City, SD and have been thinking about a way to use post-frame buildings as a cost-effective way to create very energy efficient (essentially passive house level insulation and airtightness) residential housing. What do you think of the possibility of attaching appropriately sized SIPs to the outside of the posts instead of other sheathing and using their strength to do away with girts all together? I have seen SIPs advertised as being used this way with timber framed or post and beam construction (neither are cheap) but not with post-framed buildings. The idea would be to have thick enough SIPs to not need internal dimensional lumber in the SIP thereby removing thermal bridges, but having it still be strong enough for racking and wind loads.

I know that the costs for SIPs mostly comes from the manufacturer having to essentially custom make each piece. In this application the SIP panels could be made as rectangles that are as wide as your center to center post distance and as tall as is convenient. Any angled pieces for gable ends and any fenestrations could be cut on site, reducing SIP manufacturing costs. The SIPs also would likely not have to have much dimensional lumber built into the SIP because it is just holding up itself and windows, not the whole building thereby drastically reducing your thermal bridging. You could also foam seal between the SIP panels to provide air sealing (which I believe is standard for SIPs anyway.)

I would think that you could either use thick enough SIPs to provide all of your insulation and just leave the posts exposed on the inside, or you could use a SIP that was just thick enough to, structurally, take the place of girts and sheathing and frame the space between the posts with 2x4s 24” o.c. flush with the inside of the posts and use fiberglass batts in that space.

The first technique has the advantage of not needing to do any extra internal framing, but you do have to deal with the posts in your living space. In addition, if you want to run any electrical to the inside face of any of those walls you either have to be ok with running it in conduit on the face of the wall or you are getting back to specially made SIPs with electrical chases. The advantages of this technique over your suggestion of bookshelf girts and sheet insulation on the interior is that it doesn’t require interior framing (girts or traditional) and no need to glue drywall but the cost of the thick SIPS, even generic ones, might outweigh those advantages.

The second way of doing it does require extra framing and if your outside SIPs are air sealed you would have to be careful about using a moisture barrier on the inside of the wall (like you normally would in a heating climate) as you wouldn’t want to trap moisture in that space. The advantages of this system over your bookshelf girts and sheet insulation is, again, no gluing of drywall, normal attachment systems for electrical boxes and cables, and the internal framing being slightly cheaper than full 2×6 girts. Again, the cost of the SIPs might make those advantages moot.

Finally, with either style, you could use a traditional (for post-frame buildings) ceiling with blown insulation above and a vented attic space or you could have full roof panel SIPs built with internal structure to span between your trusses, leaving them exposed inside, and get rid of your purlins as well (for both purlins and girts you would probably have to have some temporary bracing while the building is being built.)

What do you think? Have you heard of anyone doing something similar? Does this sound like it would be a viable way to get very high insulation and air sealing on the cheap?”

Mike the Pole Building Guru responds:

Thank you for your well thought out question, it is evident you have read some of my articles. I hope they have been informational, educational and/or entertaining.

I am usually a guy who jumps all over some brand new technology. My construction business had a website back in 1995 when there were only roughly 23,500 world-wide. This was not long after I had erected a post frame shouse (shop/house) for myself, not realizing there was such a thing as a barndominium. My first attempt utilized ICF blocks on two walls and a portion of a third to compensate for digging away a 12 foot grade change.

Getting on track, I have always thought SIPs would be “cool” as in neat, fun and interesting. It has only been recently I have been able to get some solid costs back on their use. I approached this design solution from an aspect of eliminating all except columns, roof trusses, essential truss bracing and steel skin. I looked at this as applying SIPs to column exteriors and used a 36 foot wide by 48 foot length with 10 foot high walls. In order to span 12 feet between columns and trusses I was looking at R-52 panels. Wholesale raw cost difference (after eliminating typical wall girts and roof purlins) would add nearly $30,000 plus freight to this building. It would also require a crane onsite to place panels and some sophisticated fastening systems to attach SIPs to the framework. It is relatively easy to achieve similar insulating values and air sealing for far less of a cash outlay.

Can it be done? Yes. Should it be done? Not if return for investment is a consideration.

Anyone who can design an overall cost effective post frame building design solution with SIPs, I am all ears and eyes to hear and read about it. Until then, for those who just want to be neat and different without cost as a factor, it might be a great system.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, Shouse, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Budget, Pole Barn Homes, Post Frame Home, Pole Barn Questions, Barndominium and tagged Western Dakota Tech, thermal bridges, post frame buildings, wind racking, wind loads, barndominium, SIPS on February 28, 2020 by admin.

What Makes Some Buildings Better Than Others

I answer literally hundreds of building related questions every day. These questions come from many different sources – our staff, drafts people, engineers, architects, building officials, clients, builders and social media (just to name a few).

This question, posted in a Facebook group, is an exceptional one and I felt it necessary to share:

“What makes some buildings better than others? And at what point does it not matter? (Ex: building A frames with 2x4s. Building B uses 2x6s and building C uses 2x12s obviously B is better than A but C is overkill) Does the metal come down just to the thickness of it? Thicker is probably better but to what end? I’m talking straight materials not warranty or service of a company. Thank you.”

This answer actually has a remarkably simple answer. It all comes down to what loads a building is engineered for.

Period.

Not what some under educated person says makes it better, but what a highly trained Registered Professional Engineer is willing to stake their career upon by putting their name and seal on a set of plans.

You want a stronger building (whether post frame, weld up, PEMB, stick frame, etc.) then increase snow and/or wind design loads.

It is seriously just this simple.

It does no good to have super thick siding and roofing, if the supporting frame is not able to carry equivalent loads.

I once had a client who was “concerned about snow loads” so wanted 2×8 roof purlins (when 2×6 would easily have carried the loads). I asked him what was going to hold those purlins up (a sky hook maybe) when his building’s trusses failed beneath them.

A building is a complete system.

When you hear a supplier or builder talking about how their bigger/stronger/thicker whatever makes their building best, think B.S., because they do not have a clue about structural design.

When you find the rare gem who advises you they are providing a fully engineered building and recommends above Code required minimum loads – stick to them like super glue, as this is truly a better design solution.

Here is just one example of when bigger isn’t always better: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/08/lumber-bending/

I hired my first staff engineer roughly 35 years ago, Jenny Wong. Jenny’s previous experience was as a design engineer for a nuclear power plant (seriously). Jenny knew absolutely nothing about post frame buildings, but was willing to totally trust me – provided I could find documentable proof from reliable sources. This one requirement alone shaped my professional career.

Ask me any post frame building questions, any time. If I cannot get you an answer, I will let you know. My answers will always be based upon factual evidence. If you find some method or component with an ability to make buildings better, without unduly penalizing new building owners financially please share it with me – I will perform due diligence to prove or disprove it and if it is truly beneficial, expect to see it in your next Hansen Pole Building.

This entry was posted in Trusses, Professional Engineer, Pole Barn Homes, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Post Frame Home, Pole Building Comparisons, Barndominium, About The Pole Barn Guru, Shouse, Roofing Materials, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure and tagged stick frame building, weld up building, PEMB building, post frame building on February 27, 2020 by admin.

Things Roof Truss Manufacturers Should Ask

Things Roof Truss Manufacturers SHOULD Ask, But Don’t Always

I didn’t just fall off of a turnip truck yesterday, even though there are a few who may doubt my claim!

Prefabricated metal plate connected wood trusses and I became close friends back in April of 1977. Yes, we had electricity then and no, I did not watch space aliens build Egypt’s pyramids. Eventually I owned and operated two truss plants for 17 years. I know it may sound odd, but I did learn a couple of things.

Most of us do not know to ask (or tell) what we are not asked. When Hansen Pole Buildings’ Wizardress of Ordering Justine gives information to our trusted truss suppliers, all of these factors below have been incorporated into our order. This insures your trusses will be adequate to handle loads being placed upon them.

Chances are you (as well as most other post frame building kit suppliers and/or contractors) have not taken all of these into account. In failing to do so, your building may not do everything you want it to do not only today, but also years from now (or could even fall down and go boom).

Here we go:

Span from outside of wall to outside of wall. Eave overhangs are not considered as part of a span.

Desired slope(s) – with scissor trusses to achieve a vaulted ceiling or added center headroom, provide an interior or exterior ‘must have’ and other slope will be determined from ‘must have’ slope.

Spacing (ideally you will be using double trusses spaced directly on columns) rather than going into some lengthy dissertation on truss spacing, please read this article: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/06/pole-barn-truss-spacing/.

Overhangs on eave sides (measured parallel to ground), as well as beyond endwalls. Why is beyond endwalls important? For sake of discussion assume single trusses placed every two feet, unless specified and designed otherwise and end truss in this scenario can only support a foot of overhang past an end. Single trusses placed every four feet can support a maximum two foot end overhang.

Roofing material and any solar or rooftop arrays. How many psf (pounds per square foot) must your trusses support? Steel roofing is fairly light weight. If using shingles, Code requires incorporation of enough load capacity for a reroofing down the road.

Is roofing over purlins, sheathing? Maybe sheathing AND purlins. Whichever is your case, these weights need to be accounted for as top chord dead loads.

Ceiling? If not now, ever? One of my most asked questions is in regards to adding ceilings in existing post frame buildings. At a bare minimum to support steel liner panels bottom chord dead load should be three psf, for gypsum wallboard (sheetrock) five psf. Last year Hansen Pole Buildings opted to increase bottom chord dead load for all trusses spanning 40 feet or less to five psf. We do not frankly do a very good job of promoting the benefits of this feature.

If attic is insulated, weight of ceiling material, ceiling joists and attic floor insulation.

Design wind speed and exposure. More buildings fail from roofs blowing off, than from snow. Depending upon Code year and version, wind speed may be expressed as Vult or Vasd. There is a difference and whoever is going to build trusses needs to know. If you do not fully understand differences between B and C wind exposure, learn quick: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/03/wind-exposure-confusion/

Heated or Unheated? There is a factor relating to whether your building will be heated and it influences design snow load. Heated buildings help melt snow off.

Overall building dimensions: width, length, height above grade. These factors impact wind design.

Risk Category – How your building will be used impacts design snow and wind loads. Buildings with infrequent human occupancy have less risk and can be designed for a greater probability of failure in event of an extreme weather event.

Energy heels for full depth attic insulation? If ever insulation might be blown into a dead attic space for purposes of climate control, to be effective it should be full depth from outside of wall to outside of wall. For extended reading: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/07/raised-heel-trusses/

Siding material (so proper gable truss recommendations can be made). If supporting other than roll formed steel siding, end truss probably will require vertical studs. Without a continuous wall beneath an end truss, it must be ordered as a structural gable.

Is the building fully enclosed, partially enclosed or open? This will again influence wind design.

Are you interested in parallel chords with a heel height to create a vaulted ceiling? You can get the same slope inside and out with this method.

Done right you would be offered options to increase load carrying capacities against either wind, snow or both. This is true value added design. Builders most always want bare minimums, while people who are doing DIY homes or barndominiums are most likely to increase capacities. If in doubt – own the last building standing!

When I was building trusses I had extremely high expectations of my truss staff, we always wanted to offer designs to exceed our client’s expectations.

Too many factors to juggle? You do not have to fret with an engineered Hansen Pole Building. Please call 1(866)200-9657 today.

P.S. Remember, I have no current interest in any truss manufacturing facility so please don’t contact me for truss prices, thanks.

This entry was posted in Steel Roofing & Siding, Trusses, Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Shouse, Pole Barn Design, Roofing Materials, Pole Barn Structure and tagged wind speed and exposure, risk category, roof slope, attic insulation weight, scissor trusses, building span, overhangs on eave side, pounds per square foot truss support, truss spacing, top chord dead loads on February 26, 2020 by admin.

Proper Screw Location for Post Frame Steel Cladding

It was a pleasant October evening back in 1985 in Blacksburg, Virginia. My friend Dr. Frank Woeste was then a College of Agricultural and Life Sciences professor at Virginia Tech (officially Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) and he had invited me to teach one of his classes for a day, in exchange for him providing some basic engineering software to design post frame building columns, roof purlins and wall girts.

Back in 1985, Virginia Tech had not yet become a NCAA football powerhouse it grew into under the direction of Hokies’ head coach Frank Beamer – having participated in post season bowl games for 23 consecutive seasons starting in 1993. This also long predated an April 16, 2007 tragedy when Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho fatally shot 32 faculty members and students, wounding 17 others before killing himself on campus. This shooting remains as the third deadliest mass shooting committed by a lone gunman in United States history.

Mid-way through an evening with Frank, after digesting a hearty meal and debating whether hops in our consumed liquids were a fruit or a vegetable (they actually are neither – they are flower cones), we digressed into Dr. Woeste’s research’s true essence at Virginia Tech – post frame buildings and prefabricated metal connector plated wood trusses.

Narrowing things down, a lively discussion occurred (including some of his grad students) on whether steel roofing and siding for post frame buildings should be attached with screws through ‘flats’ or on high rib tops.
You may be wondering what brought this particular subject to mind after so many years? In case you happened to, my Facebook friend Trenton had asked me this very question recently.

For years steel roofing and siding had been attached with ring shanked nails (read more about this and Dr. Woeste here:

( https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/12/ring-shank-nails/). Traditionally nails were located upon high rib crowns – knowing not all nails would be identically driven through steel into underlying wood. The belief was that rain running off a roof would never get high enough to leak around improperly seated nails on high rib tops!

So, what would happen if screws were improperly placed in those steel high rib tops?

Properly designed post frame buildings are dependent upon diaphragm action provided by the steel skin (roofing and siding). Numerous tests have been done to confirm shear strength of panels as properly fastened. When screws are placed through high ribs, there is a 5/8 to ¾ inch gap between high rib underside and framing below. Screw shanks can flex within this space, reducing shear load carrying capacity of this sheathing system.

Furthermore, screw flexation in this gap, allows steel panels to move slightly under wind or seismic loads, eventually contributing to slots being formed in steel around screw shanks, and over time, causing leaks.

Ultimately Frank and I agreed with every steel roofing and siding roll former – screws in flats, not on ribs!

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, About The Pole Barn Guru, Roofing Materials, Steel Roofing & Siding, Powder Coated Screws, Fasteners and tagged Dr. Frank Woeste, steel cladding, Virginia Tech, post frame buildings screws through flats or high ribs, ring shanked nails, screw location, steel roofing and siding, metal connector plated wood truss on February 25, 2020 by admin.

Monitor Style, Cost to Build a Floor Plan, and Adding OHD Openers

This Monday the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about the possibility of an open floor plan Monitor style building, what the costs of building s specific floor plan might be, as well advice on adding overhead door operators to a building.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can you design a truss system for a monitor style building that has a complete open floor plan. 50 Ft front x 40 Ft depth. RON in SANGER

Monitor Barn Interior

DEAR RON: Absolutely. My first one was about 25 years ago, when I was a post frame builder. It was not near this wide, but I have since been involved in many others, both lesser and greater in width.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: How much would it cost to build this? I do not two RV doors. Can go with a smaller or shorter door on one side only. We would like it plumbed for sinks and showers ect but do not need to include the sinks, shower, toilet, cabinets ect. Just the walls. REBECCA in OLYMPIA

DEAR REBECCA: To some extent it will depend upon how you run rooflines. I would be inclined to recommend your garage area be 20’ x 42’ with a ridge line running front to back (peak gable end above where you show an RV door) with a 15’ eave height. For your living area, I would put a gable on your far right with ridgeline running towards garage area.

Other than rough-in for plumbing, you can probably safely budget $25-30 per square foot erected including a slab on grade. To get exact pricing of your building shell and discuss options, please reach out to a Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer at 1(866)200-9657.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I’m considering purchasing a home that has a pole building with two overhead garage doors that never had openers installed. One of the doors is very high- for RV clearance. There doesn’t look like much structure above to hang them from. What would be the best way to do that or is there other opener alternatives? DAVID in WESTMINSTER

DEAR DAVID: You have stumbled upon one of my pet peeves – when sectional overhead garage doors are sold without openers. Let’s face it, almost every garage door truly should have one. It does not take much to hang an opener, should you purchase I would recommend you contact two or three of your local garage door installation companies to take a look at your building and provide a quote for openers and installation.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Homes, Barndominium, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Building Styles and Designs, Building Interior and tagged floor plans, shouse, overhead garage doors, monitor buildings on February 24, 2020 by admin.

Barndominium: One Story or Two?

Barndominium: One Floor or Two?

Welcome to an ongoing debate about whether it is more cost effective to build a one story or two story barndominium. Commonly I read people advising two stories is less expensive than a single story. Reader TODD in HENNING put me to work when he wrote:

“I’m curious why “Going to multiple stories will be more expensive than building the same amount of finished square footage on a single level”? Everywhere I read it says it’s cheaper to go up than out. For example wouldn’t there be more cost with bigger footprint of concrete, in-floor heating, roof trusses, and more steel on roof? Thanks.”

Mike the Pole Barn Guru writes:

It turns out Todd has requested a building quote from Hansen Pole Buildings, so I was able to work scenarios from his requested 40 foot wide by 48 foot long scenario. I arbitrarily merely doubled his building length when looking at a single story. It may have been more cost effective to have done this exercise by going greater in width and less in length (as one gets closer to square, there is less exterior wall surface to side, insulate and drywall).

Included were colored steel roofing and siding, commercial bookshelf wall girts to create a wall insulation cavity (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/09/commercial-girts-what-are-they/), dripstop/condenstop under roof steel to minimize or eliminate condensation (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2017/03/integral-condensation-control/), ceiling loaded energy heel trusses (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/07/raised-heel-trusses/) with ceiling joists for sheetrock, 24 inch enclosed vented overhangs, vented ridge and one entry door. In the two story version I added floor trusses and a four foot wide set of stairs.

In order to maintain eight foot finished ceiling heights, two stories requires a 21 foot eave and single story 10 foot. Engineered plans and delivery were included.

I did not include materials for a bearing wall at the floor truss center. Features listed above ran roughly $6000 more to go two floors. Also, with the two floor version, you will lose 50 square feet of usable floor on each level due to stairs.

In this particular instance best overall buy could come down to what you pay for your slab and in-floor heating. Labor to erect a single story will be less expensive (I would predict at least a $3000 difference). Some other thoughts – two story has 1/2 as much attic insulation and 45% more wall insulation. Two story (excluding interior walls) has 30% more wall to drywall. This added exterior wall surface will likely result in more windows.

Personally, I own three multiple floor post frame buildings, these are my considerations:

Accessibility roughly 10% of all Americans will spend time in wheelchairs in their lifetimes. My wife is a paraplegic and we cannot get into one of her son’s homes because it is a split entry. Two of her other sons have built ramps for her, but they also have multi-story homes and it greatly limits areas she can have access to. In our own shouse (shop/house), we added an elevator after her injury (elevators are NOT cheap).

Stairs in general – you are probably much younger than my 62 years, going up and down stairs gets to be a chore as we age.

Heating and cooling – unless each floor is on their own system, one floor is always either too cool or too warm. I put one of my own buildings on two separate heat pumps for this very reason.

In conclusion, whether one story or two, go with what best fits your wants and needs and your property. Love what you build and it will result in a happy ending.

This entry was posted in Budget, Pole Barn Design, Pole Building Comparisons, Pole Barn Homes, About The Pole Barn Guru, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Apartments, Trusses, Windows, Concrete, Post Frame Home, Footings, Barndominium, Insulation, Building Interior, Shouse, Pole Barn Questions and tagged commercial bookshelf girts, dripstop, wall insulation cavity, enclosed vented overhangs, Condenstop, floor trusses, condensation, ceiling joists, vented ridge on February 21, 2020 by admin.

Barndominium on a Daylight Basement

As post frame construction moves into a world filled with barndominiums, shouses and homes, there are of course those who would prefer (or need due to lot slope) to build upon either a full or partial (daylight) basement.

Post frame buildings are ideal for this situation.

Reader LOUIE writes:

“Hi, I just started the process of building my first home and came across your website, hoping maybe you can help. So far I have purchased the land, got the septic design and have started to clear it. I have a good idea of what I would like to build but have a few questions. Can you design buildings to be built on daylight basement foundations? Also I see that the kits on your website include the windows, doors and exterior finish. Would it be possible to buy a kit for just the the framing? Ideally I want to build something like this roughly 28×36. Thanks and look forward to hearing from you.”

Mike the Pole Barn Guru responds:

Yes, we can design to build on a daylight basement, columns on the basement’s open side would be long enough to extend into the ground and be embedded. My shouse (shop/house) in Washington was engineered this way. In my case we dealt with 12 feet of grade change on a 40 foot wide site. Our solution was to have a 12’ tall ICF block wall on one side and 10 feet of front, then step down across the rear endwall to follow grade. Engineered wet set brackets were poured into top of ICFs (read about wet set brackets here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/05/sturdi-wall-plus-concrete-brackets/).

Besides your framing package, we would like to provide your building’s steel roofing. If you are using some sort of board or plank siding, we would like for you to obtain it and we would provide OSB or plywood sheathing as well as a Weather Resistant Barrier.

We would need to have some wall at the corners of the window end in order to adequately transfer shear loads from roof to foundation. Ideally for a 10′ tall wall, roughly 3.5′ at the corners.

To achieve your vaulted ceiling as shown in the photo, the best method would be to place a column at peak 12′ in from each endwall. If your interior plans cannot stand columns, we could run a ridge beam down the center from end to end.

If you do opt for no interior columns, I would also recommend using engineered prefabricated floor trusses for your floor system. This would provide a clearspan lower level and allow for all ductwork and utilities to be hidden in your home’s floor.

For extended reading on barndominium floor trusses please see: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2020/01/floor-trusses-for-barndominiums/

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, Post Frame Home, Pole Barn Planning, Barndominium, Pole Barn Structure, Trusses, Shouse, Building Interior, Columns, Pole Barn Homes and tagged Post Frame Home, vaulted ceiling, shouse, wet set brackets, daylight basement, ICF block wall, ridge beam, barndominium on February 20, 2020 by admin.

Barndominium Egress Windows

Barndominiums, shouses (shop/houses) and post frame homes have become a popular alternative to ‘conventional’ stick frame construction. This creates a radical mind shift for those of us who have been focused on non-residential structures for years or even decades. An important consideration is including adequate windows for egress.

Dedicated readers will remember my oldest step-son, Jake. Although he is a high school physics/biology/chemistry teacher by vocation – he seems to have a bit of the “builder gene” in him.

For those who missed out on some of prior adventures – they begin here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2012/07/construction-time-2/

Jake’s dad is a successful farmer in South Dakota. Growing up on a farm, Jake got plenty of dirt under his fingernails, and after spending several years in Tennessee, he, his lovely wife and their then two children (now three with two-year-old Liam) returned to his roots – to farm with his Father – Dan.

Needing a place to live, convenient to Dan’s farm, they remodeled Jake’s paternal grandmother’s house – adding a 24’6” wide x 32’ two-story “wing”. In effect, they made it a four-level home.

I have been involved with roughly 20,000 post frame buildings across four decades, and until recently very few have intentionally been designed as houses (or at least I was not told they were going to be houses). When it came time for Jake’s bedroom windows – I bounced “minimum egress size” off him. Jake (being a scientist) had fast answers at his fingertips via the internet on his smart phone.

An egress window is one large enough to allow entry or exit if there is an emergency. Egress window requirements are used to guarantee a minimum window size and maximum height above a floor.

Egress window requirements are designed to make sure windows can open enough to climb through when there is an emergency. Egressable windows are only required in bedrooms and basements. Heights and widths of clear openable space are designed to allow a firefighter with an oxygen tank on, to climb through windows.

From 2012 IRC (International Residential Code):

R310.1 Emergency escape and rescue required.
Basements, habitable attics and every sleeping room shall have at least one operable emergency escape and rescue opening. Where basements contain one or more sleeping rooms, emergency egress and rescue openings shall be required in each sleeping room. Where emergency escape and rescue openings are provided they shall have a sill height of not more than 44 inches (1118 mm) measured from the finished floor to the bottom of the clear opening. The net clear opening dimensions required by this section shall be obtained by the normal operation of the emergency escape and rescue opening from the inside. Emergency escape and rescue openings shall open directly into a public way, or to a yard or court that opens to a public way.

R310.1.1 Minimum opening area.
All emergency escape and rescue openings shall have a minimum net clear opening of 5.7 square feet (0.530 m2).

Exception: Grade floor openings shall have a minimum net clear opening of 5 square feet (0.465 m2).

R310.1.2 Minimum opening height.
The minimum net clear opening height shall be 24 inches (610 mm).

R310.1.3 Minimum opening width.
The minimum net clear opening width shall be 20 inches (508 mm).

R310.1.4 Operational constraints.
Emergency escape and rescue openings shall be operational from the inside of the room without the use of keys, tools or special knowledge.

Key phrase here is “net clear opening”. While a four foot wide by three foot tall sliding window would “appear” to have a sliding two foot by three foot panel, when physically measured the actual opening falls just below a 5.7 square foot threshold.

Typically sized sliding windows for egress are four foot wide by four feet tall, or five foot wide by three feet tall.

With single or double hung windows, they must be at least three feet in width and five feet in height.

Building a new post frame building to be your next home, or a mother-in-law apartment? Keep these window egress sizes in mind when planning for sleeping areas – and help keep everyone safe.

This entry was posted in Windows, Pole Barn Homes, Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Shouse, Pole Barn Planning and tagged basement egress window requirements, egress windows, International Residential Code, emergency escape and rescue windows, minimum egress size, egress window requirements on February 19, 2020 by admin.

Getting the Best Deal on Your New Post Frame Building

A price quote is merely a number without a complete understanding of exactly what is or is not included in said quote.

You have requested quotes for your new post frame building from a dozen or more providers and actually gotten four back, even after having to hound all of them for pricing! Frustrating when you are ‘knocking at their door’ trying to spend your cash.

One quote stood out above all others with an exceptional price, so you place your order. Only after “everything” arrives and you try to assemble it do you find out what you thought you bought and what you really purchased are not quite equal.

Disappointing.

If you prefer to read books by starting with the last chapter, you can skip to there to find a solution.

Here are a few points to be aware of:

Will Your Building Meet Minimum Building Code Standards?

Those quotes you got….few, if any, will specify what loads your building are designed for.

Some of them will just be a list of materials! Are they right? Is there even enough there to construct a building?

Every quote should include (at a minimum): engineer sealed plans specific to your building at your site. Complete Building Code information – including Code version (there is a new one every three years), Ground snow load (Pg), Flat roof snow load (Pf), Design wind speed (Vult or Vasd), Wind Exposure (there is a big difference between Exposure B and C) and assumed soil bearing pressures.

You can easily acquire this information for yourself, so you have a point to check from: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/01/building-department-checklist-2019-part-1/

If Code information is not on a quote, chuck it.

Do Roof Trusses Quoted Meet Your Needs?

Here is where investing in an engineered building comes into play, as your Engineer of Record (person who seals your building plans) should be reviewing prefabricated roof truss drawings for their adequacy for his or her building.

Planning on supporting a ceiling, either now or at a later date? If so a ceiling load of no less than five pounds per square foot (psf) should be indicated on engineered plans as well as a BCDL (Bottom Chord Dead Load) to match on sealed truss drawings.

At Hansen Pole Buildings, we ran into this situation so often, we decided to upgrade all trusses up to 40 foot clearspan to support a minimum five psf load.

How is Roof Steel Condensation Being Controlled? Most providers are not even going to mention this. Most of us prefer it not to rain inside of our new buildings.

I answer questions online every Monday. Problem/question number one is regarding condensation.

From cheapest up – a Radiant Reflective Barrier (aka bubble wrap – if going this route you only need single bubble, six foot wide rolls with an adhesive pull strip); Integral Condensation Control (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2017/03/integral-condensation-control/); Sheathing with 30# felt; Closed cell spray foam.

Planning on insulating and finishing walls? If not using closed cell spray foam you will want to apply a Weather Resistant Barrier between wall framing and steel siding.

What Written Warranty Comes With Your Building?

If it does, how long does it last? What does it include? When it comes to Post Frame Building kits, Hansen Pole Buildings stands alone with a Limited Lifetime Structural Warranty (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/11/pole-building-warranty/).

Are Assembly Instructions Included?

Hansen Buildings Construction Manual If not, there is plenty left to chance. Hansen Pole Buildings provides a fully illustrated, step-by-step 500 page Construction Manual. And, if you get stuck, there is unlimited FREE Technical Support from people who have actually assembled buildings!

How About Your Potential Provider?

How long have they been in business 2 years, 5 years? How about 18 years? How many post frame buildings have they provided? How about roughly 20 thousand buildings located in ALL 50 states!

Here is how to vet any potential provider: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/01/pole-building-suppliers/

I promised you a solution (aka Last Chapter of Book)

We are offering to shop for you. Seriously? Yes! You provide up to three names of competitors to Hansen Buildings, where you can purchase a complete wood framed post frame building kit package, and we will shop them to get quotes for you.

Now we say three, because frankly, some people just are not very prompt or cooperative when it comes to getting back with price quotes.

Why would we do this? Comparing “apples to apples”, we know our price will beat theirs, every single time. We offer to do this for your peace of mind. We guarantee all other prices will be higher. And we will provide you with documentation to prove it!

There is a catch…..before we go shopping you have to place your order for your new Hansen Pole Building kit….. subject to us “proving our point” by going shopping. Your payment to us will not be processed for ten calendar days. Within seven days of order, you’ll have competitive quotes in hand, or our documentation of having hounded them every week day for a week trying to get pricing for you (seriously, if you have to hound someone for a price, what kind of after sale service will you get?).

After we email you proof, if you seriously want to purchase from one of these competitors, just let us know before ten days pass and we tear everything up and go away friends.

This entry was posted in Budget, Pole Barn Design, Pole Building Comparisons, Post Frame Home, Building Department, Barndominium, Pole Barn Planning, Shouse, Trusses and tagged engineer of record, engineer sealed building plans, Warranty, wind exposure, building code standards, complete building code information, ground snow load, flat roof snowload, design wind speed on February 18, 2020 by admin.

Footing Size? A “Reverse Barndominium?” and a Loft Bedroom?

This week the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about the footing size for an open car porch and why a person should use a registered design professional, building a “reverse barndominium” where one build a post frame shell around an existing structure, and if one can build a loft bedroom in a footprint of 20’x 30′.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am building an open car porch, the inside will be connected to another building and on the outside I planning on using 3 – 8 inch x 8 inch x 8 feet posts 12 feet apart. The open car porch area is 24ft x 24ft and the roof is 6 on 12 with 2 x 6 rafters and joists landing on the outside plate. What size footing will I need for each pole? JAY in MORGAN CITY

DEAR JAY: This is a question best answered by the Registered Professional Engineer who designed your building, as he or she will be able to do a complete analysis including soil bearing capacity, design wind speed and wind exposure. With columns only eight feet long, I am guessing you are planning on using wet set brackets into concrete piers https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/05/sturdi-wall-plus-concrete-brackets/. I would not be surprised to see piers up to three feet deep and two foot diameter in order to adequate resist uplift forces.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Are you aware of anyone ever building a “reverse barndominium”? Usually barndominiums are built shell (outside walls) first then the interior, but what about building entirely around an existing structure? I really want to buy this historic house built in 1861. It is currently gutted down to the dirt floors, needs a roof, garage, etc. Why not just enclose the whole thing and DIY the interior without dealing with the outside elements? The primary structure is 19’x38′, but the side structure is an additional 20′ (39′ total wide) with a 6/12 roof. The eave height is 15.5′ and about 20′ at the ridge. The basement is about 4′ deep. I could go 42′ wide with a structure and have the exterior posts completely outside of the current footprint. The lot is 60’x150′ and I’m looking at a 40×80-ish building with a second story.

Is this feasible or have I succumb to the Dunning-Kruger Effect? I have attached an image of my sketchup drawing to give a better idea of my concept.

Thank you great guru. I love your philosophy and transparency throughout your blog posts. I have learned a lot at the cost of otherwise being productive at work. JAMES in WESTON

DEAR JAMES: Thank you very much for your kind words, although I am not as certain your employer would be as happy with me 🙂

Perhaps surprisingly, you would be far from the first person to attempt such a project. Is is entirely doable and actually becomes very similar to what people do with a PEMB (Pre-engineered metal building aka red iron) or a weld up barndominium, where a shell is erected and a building is built inside of a building. You just happen to have your insides prebuilt!

Outside of my loyal readers, most have never heard of the Dunning-Kruger Effect (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/01/dunning-kruger-effect/)

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I’m interested in a residential building approximately 20ft x 30ft. How tall would the walls need to be to include a loft bedroom with headspace to approximately 4ft from the sides? JUDE in DUPONT

DEAR JUDE: I will answer your question from a standpoint of you getting best value for your investment – meaning using both floors from wall to wall.

Assuming a concrete slab-on-grade for main level, bottom of framed ceiling would be at 8′ 4-5/8″ this allows for 5/8″ drywall on ceiling and 1/2″ at bottom to be able to account for any variances in your building slab and to keep drywall from soaking up moisture from floor, plus 3-1/2″ for actual thickness of a nominal four inch thick slab.

I would recommend using premanufactured wood floor trusses between floors (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/09/floor-trusses/). Plan on a 20 inch thickness, plus 3/4″ for subflooring and 8′ 1-1/8″ putting bottom of roof trusses at 18′ 2-1/2″. In Pennsylvania I would recommend R-60 blown in attic insulation (just under 20 inches thick), resulting in needing a 20 foot eave height.

This entry was posted in Trusses, Footings, Professional Engineer, Lofts, Pole Barn Design, Pole Barn Planning and tagged loft bedroom, engineered building, RDP, barndominium, floor trusses, parallel flat chord trusses, footing size on February 17, 2020 by admin.

A Barndominium Can Be a Carbon Storage Warehouse

Designed right, your new barndominium can help prevent global warming. By utilization of a wooden post frame structure, rather than steel or concrete, carbon can be stored (like a warehouse), rather than being released into our planet’s atmosphere.

The carbon cycle demonstrates various phases of carbon through living things, soil, water and atmosphere. If carbon cycle was in equilibrium, the rate at which carbon is removed from stores would equal the amount being taken out of the atmosphere. Current carbon cycle concerns are that it is considered to be out of equilibrium in response to human intervention.

Burning of fossil fuels high in carbon has disturbed this natural carbon cycle balance and enhanced rate of carbon returning to a gas. This increase in atmospheric carbon gas, particularly as carbon dioxide and methane, is believed to contribute to global warming and is referred to as ‘man-made greenhouse effect’ – a process where greenhouse gases trap infrared radiation in our atmosphere causing our planet to warm.

Concrete and steel don’t store any carbon, and they require far more energy consumption than is required to produce wood products. This results in increased greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, compared to building with wood, it takes more than nine times as much energy to produce steel, and nearly four times as much energy to produce concrete.

Making concrete, for instance, involves heating limestone to very high temperatures, resulting in a chemical process called “calcination.” This amounts to about 50 percent of concrete’s CO2 emissions, helping explain why concrete, the second most consumed substance on earth, accounts for around five percent of total global CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions.

Yale University’s Chadwick Dearing Oliver, Pinchot Professor of Forestry and Environmental Studies, recommended, “Build with wood instead of steel and concrete, and we can reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent.”

There are a number of reasons building with wood instead of other materials can help reduce CO2 emissions, as Oliver points out. For one, trees absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen as they grow. Carbon (the “C” in CO2) is stored in the wood of the tree.

Carbon constitutes approximately 50% of a tree’s dry mass and when wood from these trees is used to produce wood products carbon is stored for life in it. For post frame buildings (such as barndominiums, shouses and pole barns) this carbon storage life is around 100 years. Carbon stored in wood is only released back to the atmosphere when the wood product is burnt or decays when it re-binds with oxygen (the “O2” in CO2) and becomes carbon dioxide again.

The amount of carbon in sawn timber logs can be calculated using average rates of recovery after processing, estimated at around 50% for softwoods such as pine. Standard moisture content for air dried timber (and wood products) is 12% or another way to look at it is that 88% of moisture has been removed. So to calculate CO2 in construction timber variables you need an air dry mass of log, percentage of moisture removed and recovery rate. CO2 sequestered in construction timber = air dry mass of saw log x 88% (oven dry mass) x 50% (carbon %) x 3.67 x recovery rate (%) Example: For a 330 pound softwood saw log seasoned in a timber yard then processed into square posts, amount of carbon sequestered in timber posts = 330 lbs x 88% x 50% x 3.67 x 50% = 187 pounds of carbon dioxide. Remaining mill waste from processing has various uses such as providing sawdust for manufacture of engineered wood products and biomass for renewable energy production.

An average American home is roughly 2600 square feet and requires 16,380 board feet of lumber to build, weighing about two pounds per board foot (obviously weight varies by species). Doing the math, if your post frame barndominium is average in size approximately NINE TONS of carbon are being stored, rather than released as greenhouse gases!

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Structure, Trusses, Pole Barn Homes, Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Shouse, Lumber, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Buildings History and tagged Chadwick Dearing Oliver, calcination, carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, carbon storage, energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions on February 14, 2020 by admin.

Are YOU a Potential Hansen Buildings’ Client?

Please note, I use “client” rather than “customer”.

A customer is someone who buys a commodity from a shop. A client is a person or company receiving a service from a professional person or organization in return for payment.

Unfortunately, too many future barndominium, shouse and post frame building owners are either unable or unwilling to spot differences between a well-designed building and one barely (or even perhaps not) meeting construction standards.

And when things go awry (as can happen in construction), all too often fingers get pointed everywhere except at the person who did not do their homework prior to purchase.

“The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™”

Long time readers will recall my saga of purchasing a Jaguar XJ6 in 1988 (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/12/pole-building-options-and-jaguars/).

I wanted ‘it all’ and was willing to pay a goodly price in order to get it all.

When we at Hansen Pole Buildings talk about delivering “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™” we are absolutely serious about it.

It is why we want to talk personally with every client, not just send a plethora of emails and text messages back-and-forth.

Why? Because none of us know…what we don’t know.

When I am shopping for a big ticket item – I want to speak to experts, and I expect expert advice. Just like the dashboard switch on my Jaguar, I don’t want to find out later on there is something I could have (or worse should have) done to have had an ideal end result.

We expect to deliver good old-fashioned personalized service and we hope you have an expectation of anyone you hire doing an exceptional job.

I am always heart broken when a client goes elsewhere and orders a new building.

Why?

About Hansen Buildings Because I know in my heart-of-hearts they will end up getting less of a building than they expected or deserved, and paying too much for what they settled for. Sadly, companies with common names in our industry rely on their name to sell buildings, and not on the quality of their product. I’ll give them credit for doing a great marketing job. But are your needs quickly and responsibly serviced? Do you get your quote back without so much as a conversation about what you think you need? And does their sales staff really try to fit a building to your wants and needs and not shove your needs into one of their standard buildings? Think about it!

Regardless of whom you ultimately pick as your new building supplier – begin in a proper frame of mind. Throw out any preconceived notions about what your new building dimensions ‘should’ be, and instead, focus on what is needed to create your ideal dream building – one which will function as ably 10 or 40 years from now, as it does on completion day. And make darn sure your building supplier is designing your building to fit you, not you to their building.

Share with your Building Designer what problems your new building will solve for you. Discuss what this building absolutely must house and be used for, as well as what it might also do for you. And not just for today – imagine you can get out a crystal ball and look into the future.

Engage “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™”.

You’ll be glad you did.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Homes, Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Pole Barn Design, Pole Building Comparisons, About The Pole Barn Guru, Pole Barn Planning, Budget and tagged the ultimate post frame building experience, Hansen Buildings' Building Designer, salesman, marketing, building supplier on February 13, 2020 by admin.

Working With a Building Official for Footing Design

Working With a Building Official for footing designs

Long time readers have read me opine on how Building Officials are our friends: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/04/i-like-building-officials/

One of our clients recently received this email from his Building Official and shared it with me (red added by me):

“The Town of xxxx stopped plan review on your project because pole buildings with the type of foundation that was called out on your plans have a track record of failing in a short period of time in this area and the soil conditions that exist at your location won’t allow piers to be dug as called out in the plans The ground is full of rock. It was our intent to not have you try and build something that was not going to work and cost you a lot of money. With a frost depth of only 18” “T” foundations are the acceptable method of construction in that area and should be a lot less expensive.”

I responded asking for more explanation of wording in red, and heard back:

“We have a few pole barns in xxxx that are much larger in size and in areas that will allow piers to be dug without interference of large rocks below grade. The pier design that they used allows the wood post to sit on a gravel base so any water that might drain down along the side of post after the wood shrinks from age is allowed to drain away.

They also pour concrete up to 3” above the top of the pier and slope the concrete away from the post. Your design traps water at the bottom of post and allows the water to be wicked up by the end grain of the post and promote rot. Although the building codes does allow treated wood foundations to be buried we strongly discourage the use in our jurisdiction.

Thanks for your understanding.”

Thank you very much for your timely response.

I am probably remiss in not having offered a better introduction of myself. I studied architecture at the University of Idaho and have been Technical Director at Hansen Pole Buildings since 2002. I joined ASAE (now ASABE) and ICBO in the mid-1980s. The IBC references ASABE work for post frame buildings which was produced by the structural committee of which I was a member of. I am a frequent contributor as a writer for publications such as Structural Building Components, Frame Building News and Rural Builder magazines. I have also reached out to you on Linkedin, should you wish to know more about me.

We are currently working with Mr. Bxxx on a design solution to incorporate a continuous footing/foundation or thickened edge slab with bracket mounted columns. We and our engineer had not been advised by Mr. Bxxxr as to the soils/rock conditions at his site until quite late in the game. It is my expectation, with Mr. Bxxx’s continued assistance, to have an acceptable design solution arrived at shortly.

While an embedded column pier design on a gravel base sounds wonderful, Code does require a concrete or otherwise approved footing below isolated columns in order to properly distribute weight of building and applied loads. Actual testing of pressure preservative treated columns for over 60 years has proven there to be no decay of properly waterborne pressure preservative treated wood even in the most severe climates (this testing is ongoing in Mississippi). UC-4B rated pressure preservative treated wood is rated for structural use in fresh water, so a column being wet would not increase its chances of decay. In order for decay to occur there must also be oxygen, which is only present in the upper few inches of soils.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding any post frame building structure. I would also invite you to subscribe to my blog, where there are currently over 1800 searchable articles regarding post frame construction.

“Thank you for your comments. The failures we have seen may have quite well been from pour constructions procedures done 10 to 15 years ago. No way to tell.

I will look into your articles and may have to change our policies”

Building Officials are not our adversaries and provided with accurate data policies can be crafted to create a winning solution for all parties involved!

This entry was posted in Fasteners, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, About The Pole Barn Guru, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Footings, Professional Engineer and tagged bedrock, pole barn piers, ASABE, piers, T foundation, ASAE on February 12, 2020 by admin.

Does my Barndominium Need a Turn-Key General Contractor?

Does My Barndominium Need a Turn-Key General Contractor?

Often a goal of barndominium (especially post frame) construction is to be able to get your most building, for your dollars invested (think biggest bang per buck).

When a turn-key general contractor is hired to provide a constructed building, normally about 25% of what you pay is going to said general contractor, who never lifts a tool or picks up a board at your building site. This is a different person than an erection contractor, who heads up a team of builders, but who also drives nails and screws along with his or her crew. A “general contractor” could be someone who drives nails, but usually doesn’t. They often sit in an office and act as coordinator. Sometimes they visit your building site, and often they do not. They may have a salesman or other assistant who actually occasionally visits your jobsite.

If you are not a “hands on” person or one who is willing to invest a few hours of your own time to save thousands of dollars, then maybe hiring a general contractor is your answer.

When people start thinking of “General contractors” visions of dollar signs, disappointment and reality TV shows start floating through their minds – and often for good reason.

In most cases, you don’t need or can’t afford a general contractor to be involved in your new post frame barndominium. If you have a very complex project, one involving a plethora of different trades, it could be worthwhile to hire one.

Remember those hours a general contractor will save you on your jobsite? Plan on spending twice this amount of time to find a good general contractor.

Please carefully reread previous paragraph. Hiring a general contractor will not save you time.

Do your due diligence and hire someone with excellent references and enough professionalism to do what he or she was hired to do.

What exactly is due diligence?

Before even picking up your cell phone to call a contractor (both general contractors and those who drive nails) – check online to verify they are registered to do business in your state and to verify their contractor’s registration is current. Check their Better Business Bureau rating, as well as any listings on Angie’s List. Google them, by looking for, “Phred’s Construction complaints” (obviously Phred is a made up name). If they have complaints, read through them, as sadly people are quick to complain about minor, or even imagined incidents.

Once you have narrowed your potential contractor choices down to no less than three, have them meet with you in person, at your building site to discuss your new barndominium. Unless you are absolutely 100% certain as to dimensions and features of your barndominium you want, you are best to tell him or her your needs (what problems is your building going to solve) and ask for recommendations as to best design solution.

Each contractor is going to have different recommendations, so be prepared, after round one, to go back to each one of them, with your final design.

By now, you should have started to form relationships with these general contractors. Time to start asking for documentation from your “leading” candidate. You want a copy of their contractor’s registration, a certificate of liability insurance with you named as additional insured, all warranties in writing, three written references, and names and phone numbers of their accountant, banker, and at least three major suppliers. It is up to YOU to call all of these people and verify they are financially stable, they do not bounce checks, they pay their bills on time, etc. If you hear a “little voice” inside of your head whispering bad things to you – move on to the next candidate.

A general contractor is supposed to be your lifeline to everything you need done. He or she supposedly knows the right people to hire, best places to get supplies, and he or she will coordinate all those tiny jobs which need to be done so you aren’t on your cell phone constantly trying to coordinate what should be happening.

If I sound completely negative on this subject, remember, I was a General Contractor at one time. I ran 35 crews in six states and I had really good crews….and I had those who had no business pounding nails. What I am saying here is to be careful – and check out everything you can on a General Contractor, before you hire him or her. I appreciated every client who did due diligence and checked me out from top to bottom before they hired me. I knew they would treat me with a high degree of professionalism, just as I treated them.

If you begin without unrealistic expectations and do your homework, you can have a satisfactory experience when hiring a general contractor. Just remember, it isn’t free.

Not scared enough yet? Then please read this article (and its two subsequent friends): https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/11/a-contractor-for-your-new-barndominium/

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Homes, Uncategorized, Pole Barn Design, Pole Building Comparisons, Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Planning, Building Contractor, Professional Engineer and tagged contractor registration, due diligence, general contractor, Angies LIst, Better Business Bureau on February 11, 2020 by admin.

Price Per Square Foot, Proper Post Treatment, and XPS

This week the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about the price per square foot for a hangar, the proper post treatment for in ground use, and use of XPS insulation between steel and wall posts.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: What is the approximate price per square foot for a 62 x 130 t hangar? KENNETH in PUEBLO WEST

DEAR KENNETH: Thank you for your interest in a new Hansen Pole Building. Your question is rather like asking what is an approximate price for a new car – what type of car?

A Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer has been attempting to reach out to you to get more specifics on what you have in mind in order to get even a close price range for you.

Will this be a T hangar https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/09/airplane-t-hangar/ or a nested T? https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/09/nested-t-hangar/

What opening widths and heights will you require? Hangar doors can impact building height (and price) greatly. Sliding doors are a less expensive design solution than bi-fold or one-piece hydraulic doors, however present their own unique challenges.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have built post frame buildings on and off for 43 years. What is the industry doing to correct the problem of the post rotting off at ground line on post frame buildings? I have attempted to repair buildings in this condition that are settling into the ground. MATT in CLAREMORE

DEAR MATT: In my humble opinion, this could be resolved by having clear markings on Pressure Preservative Treated wood to not leave any doubt as to what proper use is. I have stomped my feet on this very issue for years: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/05/building-code-3/.

Over my 40 year post frame building career I have yet to see a documented case of a properly pressure preservative treated column rotting off.

DEAR POLE BAN GURU: Good Afternoon .

I have been exploring building a post frame home. Is using a combination of XPS and the external sheathing (~2.0 to 2.5″) and bat insulation in the bays (~R19-R26) possible. These two articles seem to me that the dew point would move inside the XPS during the MN winters and make the wall assembly much more durable. Do you think this might be correct? If so, would Post Frame construction easily adapt to this type of assembly?

https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/digests/bsd-controlling-cold-weather-condensation-using-insulation

https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/bareports/ba-1301-guidance-taped-sheathing-drainage-planes/view

TIM in ST. PAUL

DEAR TIM: Designed right, post frame homes are wonderful. My lovely bride and I live in an 8000 square foot post frame shouse (shop/house) not too far distant from you (we are roughly 200 miles due West).

Post frame buildings work structurally very similar to why jet airlines hold together – their ‘skin’ is holding everything together. With post frame, wind loads are transferred from building to ground through this steel roofing and siding skin.

When non-structural insulation boards (XPS) are inserted between framing and steel siding, screws holding steel would have to be exceedingly long. Screw shanks through XPS sheathing would deform (bend) under extreme wind events, causing a reduction in abilities to properly transmit loads. This could contribute to premature building system failure.

An easier solution would be to use two inches of closed cell spray foam insulation between wall girts on steel siding interior surface. This would accomplish a similar end result, without a compromise in building strength.

This entry was posted in Insulation, Pole Barn Questions, Ventilation, Columns, Barndominium and tagged XPS boards, insulation, price per square foot, UC-4B, post rot, post treatment, building costs on February 10, 2020 by admin.

Post Frame Building Wainscot

Whether your post frame building will be a garage, shop, commercial building or barndominium wainscot an extremely popular option is wainscot.

Roughly 25 years ago I had an 80’ x 150’ x 20’ post frame building erected for my prefabricated wood truss manufacturing business. Whilst a great deal of thought went into this building’s design, there is one crucial element I missed.

Down each long side of our building we placed bollards (read more at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/07/a-real-life-case-for-pole-barn-bollards/ and https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2017/05/lifesaving-bollard/) to protect steel siding from units of lumber and forklifts. As there was no storage across our front wall, we did not place bollards there. A week before we moved in, someone backed a truck into a steel panel directly adjacent to our main entrance door. Of course this steel panel was nearly 30 feet tall, so to replace it would be no small undertaking. Instead of fixing it, I walked in and out of this door and fumed because of this dent! Had I planned appropriately and used wainscot panels, this dented panel could have been replaced in a matter of minutes, saving me untold hours of grief and aggravation!

By common definition, wainscot is an interior wall lower portion whose surface differs from upper wall. Wainscot was borrowed from Middle Low German wagenschot. It is not altogether clear what these origins were, but a generally accepted theory is it is a compound of wagen ‘waggon’ and schot ‘planks, boards’, and it therefore originally meant ‘planks used for making waggons’. Originally it was applied in English to ‘high-grade oak imported from Russia, Germany, and Holland’. This wood was used mainly for paneling rooms, and by 16th century wainscot had come to signify ‘wood paneling’.

Homeowners used to apply wainscoting, especially in dining rooms, to protect walls from damage from chairs and tables. A chair rail atop wainscoting serves as a “bumper,” protecting wall from dings and chips created when a chair or table gets a little too chummy. This wall decoration was often also used to add interest and texture to stairways, while protecting them, too. In fact, it first grew in popularity during Elizabethan times, and it’s quite common in historic English and American Colonial homes.

For post frame (or pole) buildings, wainscot has moved to building exteriors. In simple terms, it utilizes an alternate siding panel to cover approximately three feet of exterior wall lower portions. A most common application, with steel sided buildings, is to use a different color steel panel on the lower wall than the upper. Most often steel wainscot panels are the same color as roofing, however this is certainly not mandatory. This allows for an aesthetic look many find pleasing, while affording an ability to quickly and easily change out a short steel panel, if it would become damaged. This would prove to be a most cost affordable solution and is easier than changing out a full length wall panel.

Alternatively, other materials may be utilized, such as T1-11, cement based sidings, vinyl siding or even stone or brick. Mortarless masonry is a popular wainscot (for extended reading: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/10/mortarless-masonry-exterior/). Pretty much any siding applicable to any other building exterior, can be incorporated as post frame building wainscot. It not only serves a useful purpose, it just plain looks good too.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Apartments, Post Frame Home, About The Pole Barn Guru, Barndominium, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Building Siding, Vinyl Siding, Pole Barn Homes, Workshop Buildings and tagged shouse, vinyl siding, wood paneling, cement based sidings, motarless masonry, barndominium, bollard, t1-11 on February 7, 2020 by admin.

Quonset Hut Homes

With the proliferation of barndominiums, shouses and post frame homes there is always someone looking for a cheaper answer. I have found cheaper generally gets me exactly what I paid for – cheap. Well for some, cheap may be living in a Quonset hut.

Considering a Quonset building for your new home? Consider resale value – there are very few people who want to live in a Quonset!

You may have heard Quonsets advertised on television, radio, online (even on Ebay) and in back of Popular Mechanics.

I came across this query from a gentleman from Wake Forest, NC, “I have found some really good deals on the local craigslist from private individuals who have bought them and never put them up for one reason or another.” He wanted, “…to hear anyone’s input, good or bad. Yes, there are a lot of horror stories out there about poor schmucks that got hosed trying to buy from some less-than-scrupulous purveyors of these structures, but like I said, I plan on purchasing from a private individual who already has it in his possession.”

Now all of this got me thinking, so I started my research. It turns out Quonset huts were named for where they were first manufactured – Quonset Point, Rhode Island. First built for our Navy in 1941, as many as 170,000 Quonset huts were produced during World War II.

According to Wikipedia, “The erection of Quonset huts has been banned in the US state of Alaska for many years due to so many already being in the state and the majority of those falling into disrepair and becoming environmental hazards.”

I’ve never been involved in construction of a Quonset hut myself, as my background is in conventional stick frame and pole buildings. Due to this, I relied upon the experiences of four people.

When I was a post frame building contractor, Jay and his crew subcontracted labor on several pole barns we sold. Jay also did concrete work. On his own, he contracted to do concrete and assembly of a Quonset for a golf course driving range not far from me. This building was 40’ x 60’ and they worked on it every day for a month. Jay’s comments were anything but positive about concrete requirements and he said, “I’ve never seen and installed so many bolts in my life”. Of course when up and done, it had no endwalls, so those had to be constructed, and round walls precluded anything from being attached to them (not to mention it was near impossible to insulate.)

This insulation issue brought me to a comment from a Bob in Paisley, PA, talking about a local feed store, “The feed store has had issues with theirs and the original owner said it was a bad choice. They had a company come in and spray adhesive type insulation to the entire inside. As the metal expands and contracts portions of the insulation failed to follow the same rates which in turn resulted in chunks of reflective insulation falling from the ceiling area. Condensation and drips formed after the insulation fell.”

A second experience was told to me by one of my oldest daughter Bailey’s friends. Her friend’s father bought a Quonset for a garage. The pieces for it lay in a pile next to their house for several years, untouched. He finally sold it. I can only surmise from comments it was quickly discovered to be far too much work to erect it, once purchased.

Online, I found this post from a gentleman who was actually espousing how wonderful Quonset buildings are:

“One of the few frustrating things about our Quonset is water leaks. The shell itself is engineered to be completely watertight. But, as with most well-planned projects, reality has a way of challenging the ideal. After checking all the bolts and tightening a few, we were able to seal all but a couple of leaks. The remaining few were due mainly to small tears in the metal at the bolt holes caused by over-stressing the skin in an effort to line up holes. After we made these mistakes a couple of times we realized our errors and corrected them. But the damage was done.

Our biggest problem was sealing leaks at the base, where the shell meets the concrete and where it ties into the base plate. We were advised to fill the void created by the shell meeting the channel with concrete, which we did. We also used a heavy application of caulking between the base plate and the concrete. In spite of this, when it rained, we had an indoor pool. We then caulked all around the concrete where it met the metal. It still leaked. We then coated the whole area with water-stop concrete, a kind of latex/cement material that is supposed to seal concrete and bond to metal…it still leaked. We caulked again…to no avail.”

Lastly, one of our former Building Designers, Paul, related from his personal history as a Quonset salesman. His words were, “Less than 50% of the ones sold, are ever constructed.”

My summation is – even if they were easy to construct, Quonsets generally come in a single color – galvanized. They are difficult to insulate, with condensation control certainly being an issue. The purchase price often does not include endwalls, and certainly not doors (and sometimes not even delivery). And, speaking of doors, how do door and window openings work with curved (or even extremely high ribbed) sides? In Bob’s words, “Unless you get one of the tall ones you end up with an area along each of the sidewalls that becomes unusable except for collecting junk on the floor. Then it can be a head banger along the wall whenever you walk directly toward it while looking down for the junk.”

If anyone has a great, glowing story about Quonset huts, I’d love to hear it, I really would. Because so far, I’m not impressed. But I am always willing to listen to….”the other side of the story.” Obviously I’m looking for objective evidence from those using quonsets…not just those selling.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Homes, Workshop Buildings, Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Quonset hut, Pole Barn Design and tagged condensation control, stick frame buildings, quonset hut homes, quonset hut insulation, Pole Buildings, quonset hut on February 6, 2020 by admin.

Building Codes Apply to Shouses

Recently I shared with you, my faithful readers, a Park Rapids Enterprise article penned by Lorie R. Skarpness as Nevis, Minnesota attempts to deal with a shouse.

https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/12/a-shouse-in-the-news/

Below is Lorie’s update from January 18, 2020:

“The discussion of a proposed shouse (a word that means a shop with living quarters inside) that began at the December Nevis council meeting was continued at their Jan. 13 Nevis meeting.

Planning commissioner Dawn Rouse shared a report from the city’s planning commission about discussion of shouses from their December meeting.

Their consensus was that any requirements should apply to all residences and not single out one specific type, noting that the Minnesota Building Code already addresses many of potential issues. The city also has a building inspector who determines whether a proposed building meets code.

Council member Jeanne Thompson said the way the building code is written is vague and open to interpretation.

“People up here don’t go and buy expensive plans with these beautiful entryways for their shops for the most part,” she said. “They do it themselves. That’s where I think something needs to be addressed so we don’t have industrial and “garageish” looking buildings in a residential neighborhood.”

Concerns about the building material of the shouse were brought up by council member Rich Johnson. “I don’t want something that looks like a pole barn built right next to me because I don’t know if someone would want to move into that neighborhood.”

“We can set more stringent regulations than what is in the building code regarding materials used and things like that if that’s what you want to do,” Rouse said, pointing out that Walker has residential performance standards stating corrugated metal is not to be used on exterior finishes.

Thompson asked Rouse to bring information on existing residential regulations to share at the February 10 council meeting.”

Where their council members get confused is Building Codes address structural components, not aesthetics (such as colors or exterior covering materials). Post frame shouses and barndominiums are Building Code conforming structures. What any jurisdiction can do is to set aesthetic requirements, however they need to be applied equally across all building systems of an Occupancy Classification.

Is a jurisdiction resistant to your proposed barndominium, shouse or post frame home? If so, provide me with specifics and chances are pretty well close to 100% I can assist with a positive resolution.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Homes, Workshop Buildings, Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Pole Barn Design, Building Department, Pole Barn Planning and tagged Building Code, barndominium, Post Frame Home, shouse, residential performance standards, shouse structural components, building aesthetic requirements on February 5, 2020 by admin.

Barndominium Brick Wainscot

Actual Brick Considerations for Barndominium Wainscot

With post frame buildings becoming a ‘rage’ for use as homes, barndominiums and shouse (shop/houses) alternatives to dress them up are quickly arising. Amongst these options are clients looking to have actual brick wainscot, as opposed to using a different color of steel siding, thin brick, or other cultured stone.

I have opined upon this subject previously (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/08/brick-ledge-on-a-pole-building/), however it is now time to dive deeper into it.

Preparing an exterior surface of a post frame building wall for a brick veneer is a simple and straightforward procedure. This article will supply you with some helpful information if you are planning to install a brick veneer on your barndominium’s exterior.

First, term “veneer” can have a dual meaning. In construction terminology,“veneer” is applicable to any exterior finish material and this includes standard brick masonry installed onto an exterior wall. “Veneer” can also be taken literally to mean a thin superficial layer of material installed directly onto an exterior wall surface. There are many thin-brick wall systems available utilizing brick only ½ to 1 inch in thickness as opposed to a standard 4-inch nominal (3 ¾-inch actual) thickness. It typically consists of a thin layer of stone or brick mounted with adhesives directly onto a substrate material and is installed in panels.

Step 1: Structural Support for the Brick Veneer

A fully assembled brick veneer is quite heavy and requires adequate structural support. Support is provided by a brick ledge as part of a foundation wall above wall column’s bottom collars. A decision to install a brick exterior is therefore made during conceptual design phases of your new barndominium’s construction. A brick ledge is constructed simply by adding a 6-9/16 inch thick concrete foundation wall outside your post frame building’s wall column. Ledge height will be six inches lower than top of finished concrete floor. Without an adequate structural support by a brick ledge, brick masonry is not an option for your barndominium’s exterior.

Step 2: Be Sure to Provide a one inch Air Space between Sheathing and Brick

Brickwork bears directly upon the concrete ledge, wide enough for both nominal width of brick and a building code required one inch air space. This one inch air space between sheathing and brick allows wall to “breathe” by providing an outlet for air and moisture. It also accommodates any irregularities in the wall surface.

Step 3: Install Weather Resistant Barrier

A weather resistant barrier (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2016/01/determining-the-most-effective-building-weather-resistant-barrier-part-1/) must be installed onto sheathing to prevent water from entering the inner wall assembly since brick veneer itself is not water-resistant.

Step 4: Install Wall Ties to Anchor the Brick to Sheathing

Lateral support for brickwork is provided by wall ties or brick anchors. They generally consist of L-shaped strips of corrugated metal 1 by 6 inches long nailed through sheathing into wall girts (https://www.strongtie.com/clipsandties_miscellaneousconnectors/bt_tie/p/bt). Horizontal component of brick tie penetrates into brick veneer at a mortar joint. Ties are installed at every fourth brick course and at two-foot horizontal spacings.

This entry was posted in Post Frame Home, Barndominium, Pole Barn Design, Building Department, Pole Building How To Guides, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Pole Barn Homes and tagged shouse, brick wainscot, brick veneer, brick veneer structural support, brick ledge, barndominium, foundation wall, weather resistant barrier on February 4, 2020 by admin.

Wall Girt Spacing, Roof Only to Fully Enclosed, and Dade Cty

Today’s Pole Barn Guru answers questions about “proper wall girt spacing,” enclosing and insulating a roof only building, and if a post frame meets code in Dade County Florida.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I just contacted a contractor to build my pole barn and he said 2 x4 wall girts at 36″ I don’t think that is strong enough.
What size, spacing do you recommend? DARREN in BREMEN

DEAR DARREN: Chances are good you are correct and builder is wrong. The size, grade, orientation and spacing should be spelled out on your building’s engineer sealed plans. If he intends to build a non-engineered building for you, please run away as quickly as possible.

Many factors go into correctly determining wall girts. My long-time friend John and I had a conversation regarding this: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2018/02/formula-calculating-wall-girts/. Your Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Wayde will be reaching out to you to assist in getting your new building safely back on track before it is too late.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: About a dozen years ago I had a Hansen roof only building erected. It’s a great structure and I’ve always spoken highly of it. Since original setup a concrete floor was added, and last summer it was framed with ‘commercial’ girts and metal screwed to the outside
Fully enclosed now there is some appeal to the thoughts of insulting the walls and ceiling.
Occasionally heat, via wood stove will be provided and most likely plywood walls to 8’up
I’d appreciate your ideas on insulation install design. Where does vapor barrier belong and etc.

Thanks for your attention
I do like this building

Warm Regards JEFF in HOOD RIVER

DEAR JEFF: Thank you for your kind words and we are so happy you are enjoying your Hansen Pole Building. Hopefully my “Ultimate Guide to Post Frame Building Insulation” will help: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/11/post-frame-building-insulation/.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can a pole barn meet Miami Dade wind standards? DAVID in SARASOTA

DEAR DAVID: Yes we most certainly can provide an engineered post frame building to meet their requirements. A Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer will be reaching out to you shortly to assist.

This entry was posted in Insulation, Pole Barn Design, Pole Building How To Guides, Building Contractor, Ventilation, Professional Engineer and tagged girt spacing, Dade County Wind loads, engineered plans, insulating a pole building on February 3, 2020 by admin.

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