And he huffed and he puffed and… Ok – couldn’t help myself when I thought about writing about straw houses! For years I’ve been fielding inquiries from people who are interested in integrating basic pole barn design, with straw bale infills, to use as residential structures. During a recent visit to a Home Depot in […]

Got Wood? While very few consumers visit retail lumberyards or big box home improvement centers nearly as often as I do, if it has been over a year since your last visit, prepare for some serious sticker shock. The sheet of 7/16” osb (oriented strand board) which retailed for a five spot and change last […]

This is Why Pole Barns Should be Engineered A line of strong thunderstorms moved through North Central Florida Saturday March 23, prompting severe thunderstorm warnings and a tornado warning. The photograph is of the remains of a pole barn, which is suspected to have been hit by a tornado. No other structures in the area […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:  I’m using 6″ x 6″ treated posts, do I need to use galvanized nails to attach my girts to the posts, do you recommend 20d galv  ringshanks driven w a palm-nailer vs 3-1/4″ 16d non galv ringshanks  I can shoot with gun? James in Golden, CO DEAR GOLDEN: Any time nails […]

March 3-9 was National Severe Weather Preparedness week, which inspired me to outline some ways to prepare your existing pole building to withstand hurricanes. The ASHRAE Guide for Buildings in Hot and Humid Climates recommends designing and constructing buildings in hurricane-prone areas using the following steps in order of priority: keep the building from blowing […]

I Spoke Too Soon! In yesterday’s blog, I was addressing challenges which seem to occur with professional building contractors, and the challenge to correctly measure eave height. So….up jumps the devil…. Not long after the cited incident from a few months ago, a building owner was out constructing their own pole building kit package and […]

When All Else Fails Read the directions. The Hansen Pole Buildings Productions office had a builder contact them a few months ago, because the endwall steel on the pole building kit package they were constructing was “eight inches too short”. Now the builder DID admit to having framed the building three inches taller then he […]

It isn’t very often I really go out of my way to say nice things about products I have never tried, but this is going to be an exception. I have a steel roof on my house (surprise, I know). It is a gabled roof with a “T” off one side, and two full hipped […]

Welcome to our newest feature: 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.  Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Which is […]

I’ve been in the prefabricated roof truss industry in one fashion or another (sawyer, salesman, truss builder, forklift operator, crane truck driver, truss designer, general manager and owner) for 36 years. Yes, it is a very long time. Over this time span, the roof truss industry has evolved from trusses which were pretty much designed […]

Truss Plates for Column Uplift The uplift of column in post frame (pole buildings) is a factor which is seemingly all too often overlooked in building design. Several methods for resisting uplift forces are utilized.  However the most popular option which historically has been used seems to be to pretend uplift doesn’t exist! Sadly, the […]

My first exposure to Galvalume ® was when ASC Pacific introduced “twice-the-life” Zincalume in the 1980s. They were marketing the product in its bare (unpainted) form as an alternative to the more familiar bare galvanized sheet steel. It looks similar to galvanized steel, but the visible crystals (or spangle) are smaller and close together, giving it […]

Coriolis Affect on Lumber My oldest step-son, Jake is a very smart lad and teaches high school physics. He does his part to keep students involved, including having created a Facebook page “Mr. Roarks Science Group”. In a recent post he wrote: “One of the science “facts” I always hear is that water spins down […]

Welcome to our newest feature: 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 blog. Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com DEAR POLE BARN GURU:  I have […]

Ceiling Loads Considering a new pole building? An important question to ask is, “What will the cost be to upgrade the roof trusses to support the weight of a ceiling”? Most post frame (pole) building trusses are not designed to support the dead weight (things which are permanently attached to the building) of anything other […]

When I was a teenager, I worked summers for my Dad and Uncles, who were the largest framing contractors in the Spokane, WA area. One of their frequent clients was a developer named Terry Lettic. I remember Terry and my Dad discussing the pros and cons of apartments built with concrete slabs versus over crawl […]

Zip-UP Ceiling® is the first ceiling product of its kind which has addressed what consumers want out of a ceiling system; aesthetics partnered with functionality. This is a grid free ceiling made from PVC which saves headroom, has unprecedented access to plumbing and wiring, as well as boasting an impervious to water and moisture warranty. […]

Roof Truss Repair A builder writes: “The previous owner of a pole building I’m working on cut out several internal webs from three consecutive roof trusses to create storage space in the attic. There’s no sign that this has caused any structural problems so far, but I’d like to replace the missing members and fasten […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have read much debate about setting the poles in concrete with no “footing” beneath them vs. setting the poles on a concrete footing and back filling with gravel and earth. Seems to be an issue of rot.  What do you recommend? MYSTIFIED IN MAGNOIA DEAR MYSTIFIED: It seems you and […]

Under Slab Plumbing In most pole buildings, any water and waste plumbing lines are placed beneath the poured concrete slab on grade. In some cases (especially post frame houses), elevated wood floors are used to create an under floor crawl space, making these lines accessible in the future, without the need for costly jackhammer or […]

I’ve been having back and forth discussions involving board and batten siding. The opposite side of my discussion (who has been considering using yellow poplar) writes: “I too was Worried about board and batten, however our barns are 60-100 years old and still are in good shape.  At least ones that still have a good […]

Hansen Pole Buildings Designer Rick recently asked me this question about overhangs and F Channel: “A question came up about soffit support.  The client is a builder trying to close a garage for his client.  He asked about soffit/enclosed overhangs.  He asked why we do not use an F channel trim to hold the soffit […]

Ceramic Insulation In the 1990’s I owned Momb Steel Buildings in Spokane. We provided pole building packages and also constructed post frame buildings from a bricks and mortar location. As the sales team grew in size, we would have weekly meetings for educational purposes. The resultant of these became known as “stump the expert” (aka […]

For those of you just joining Mike the Pole Barn Guru’s Blog – Mondays are now “Ask the Guru” where you can submit construction and building product questions for Mike to answer in upcoming Monday segments of this blog.  If it is a topic Mike is not well versed in, or a new product he […]

Building Designer Rick Carr and I were discussing a client’s proposed building in Idaho today. 80 feet wide by 204 feet long, the building would have a 16 foot high sidewall. The client really wanted to have scissor trusses (trusses with an interior roof slope, which has a peak in the center). Given the dimensions […]