DEAR POLE BARN GURU: All the answers to the quiz you just sent 🙂 DAVID IN ROCHESTER DEAR DAVID: Thank you for your question, this gives me the opportunity to explain to our clients what our Building Designers go through before they ever get to aid them with assisting to solve building design challenges and […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Monitor Building Designs. Monitor Garage and Workshop. Over the years, monitor style roofs have been traditionally used on barn designs, specifically horse pole barns. Today, monitor roofs are found on everything from agricultural metal buildings to houses, shops and garages which may even have an office in the upper section. A […]

For those of you long-time readers, I have finally managed to weave The Smashing Pumpkins into an article. Their hit single 1979 takes me back to my days at Lucas Plywood and Lumber, where I shared an office with Al Mercer. Whilst I was gleefully entertained running the prefabricated roof truss plant (and selling a […]

For those of you who didn’t follow closely, 1985’s film classic, “Back to the Future” included characters named Otis Peabody and a son Sherman, as a tribute to cartoon hero Mr. Peabody who appeared in the late 1950’s animated series Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show. The WABAC machine was a central element […]

However it did not quite get assembled the way we had planned for! We would not even have known about it, other than Ritchie Wallace of Wallace Brothers Construction (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/find-a-builder/oregon-contractors/portland-or-contractor/) was contacted by the client, who is now interested in adding onto the length of the building. According to a July 2015 article in Time […]

In 2015, news agency CNN reported the United States is now the second largest Spanish speaking country in the world, trailing only our southern neighbor, Mexico. According to data collected by the U.S. census and other government sources, the United States is home to 41 million native Spanish speakers, with an additional 11.6 million who […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:  Hi! I have a home design and am interested in seeing if it can be constructed as a pole barn, or if I can achieve a similar look using pole barn construction methods. Thanks! JENNETTE IN HUDSON DEAR JENNETTE: Nearly any design, residential or commercial, can be converted into being constructed […]

Clones or Cuttings.  Extremely high humidity for the first 3-7 days after cannabis clones have been taken is most effective for negating drought stress. It appears the most success comes with 80-95% relative humidity in a cloning dome. After clones develop roots so they can intake and transport water properly, you can lower the humidity […]

Back in my M & W Building Supply days in the 1980’s, we had a client buy a building from us which was fully enclosed and had no doors. We joked about the building perhaps being planned to be used for a (at the time illegal) marijuana grow barn, as well as what sort of […]

In yesterday’s article I alluded to one more thing I looked at on the building in question which appears to be an unnecessary expense. Check out yesterdays photo.. In the plane of the walls of the pole building running at an angle are diagonal braces. Diagonal bracing provides lateral stability in buildings which do not have […]

This is my humble opinion only – speaking for our industry, it is my belief we have a duty to our clients to design, produce, deliver and build (for those who are contractors) the most cost efficient buildings which are structurally sound. If this sounds like common sense, then let me remind you common sense […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Are your buildings engineered to take the weight of snow and solar panels? Can I substitute tin for greenhouse plastic panels on one side? What are the base pad requirements? Frost zone 3. JOHN IN RUPPERT DEAR JOHN: We can engineer your new post frame building to support any amount of […]

Two good ole’ boys from Texas get the idea to go into the watermelon selling business. They can drive their pickup across the border into Mexico and buy watermelons for a dollar each. So, they drive across, get a load, bring them back into Texas and set up a stand alongside of the road with […]

Part of the mission of any good post frame (pole) building kit package supplier or contractor should be to save the client from making crucial design errors which they will later regret. Among the most often questions I answer in my “Ask the Pole Barn Guru” weekly column is in regards to the ability of […]

Now me, I look at the photo and think to myself, “This just doesn’t look very good”. Well it isn’t. Our re-involvement with this client began recently when he contacted Justine, Hansen Pole Buildings’ Mistress of Materials. Here was her report: “This client got a building ten years ago and his builders muffed up.  Apparently […]

Now 94 years old, Canadian Monty Hall was such a star as the host of television’s Let’s Make a Deal he has been enshrined with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I recently saw a deal Monty would have gotten a kick out of us a booby prize behind door number three. For […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Why in your manual is there a difference in overhang dimension of the roofing material on page 118 and page 369. One says 2 ¼-2 ½ “ and the other says 1 ½-1 ¾ “? I used the 1 ½-1 ¾” overhand since I have a 12” overhang. Thank you for […]

If you missed the start of this blog on hiring a contractor please read this four part series on finding a contractor and following my own advice starting with Part I below: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2016/02/when-i-dont-follow-my-own-advice-part-i/ Friday January 15 Bryan 6:31 AM Major white out.. the cars in thr ditches. Love you two. See yah Mon. Morn Bryan 6:57 […]

If you missed the start of this blog on hiring a contractor please read this four part series on finding a contractor and following my own advice starting with Part I below: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2016/02/when-i-dont-follow-my-own-advice-part-i/ Tuesday January 12 Bryan 6:32 AM I will get dwn as fast as I can. I gotta stop by where my truck is […]

If you missed yesterdays blog please read this four part series on finding a contractor and following my own advice. https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2016/02/when-i-dont-follow-my-own-advice-part-i/ Thursday January 7 Bryan 6:17 PM You all get hit with the snow? Im bringing a rental trailer dwn with my saws and tools Me 6:55 PM About ½” last night is all Bryan […]

Considering hiring a contractor to provide materials and labor for your new pole building? Or maybe you are one of the smart ones and are going to purchase a pole building kit package and hire a builder to assemble some or all of it for you. Here has been my advice to readers: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/07/contractor-6/ Long […]

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

From a February 22, 2016 article by Mike Grant in the Washington, Indiana Times Herald: “A fire early Sunday morning destroyed a camper home near Washington. The Washington Township Volunteer Fire Department was called out around 2:46 Sunday morning to a fire in a camper that was parked inside of a pole barn at the […]

This was the tag line for some PSA commercial on the telly when I was a child. Always figured I could spin it into an article at some point in time. Here is the dilemma: From our client: “Got all the trusses & purlins up & it’s really starting to look like a building.  That’s […]

At Hansen Pole Buildings, we have been accused, at times, of being overly anal. We are seemingly always looking for ways to make our buildings just a little bit better for our clients, whether it is a stronger connection or a better component. An example of one of these was when we upgraded from bolting […]