History of the Development of a National Standard of Practice for Wood Design From time-to-time you might see the term NDS® (National Design Specification® for Wood Construction appear in my blogs, and it is referenced on every set of Hansen Pole Buildings plans, as well as within the International Building Codes. Me, being the curious […]

Don’t Cut Trusses! In regards to cutting trusses, an excerpt from the NDS® (National Design Specification for Lumber®) is quoted in the Hansen Pole Buildings’ Construction Manual: “Cutting and altering of trusses is not permitted. If any truss should become broken, damaged, or altered, written concurrence and approval by a licensed design professional is required.” […]

I Want to Add a Steel Ceiling This must be my week for receipt of good questions which require lengthy answers in order to do justice to the subject. Here is another one: DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I have a 42 x 60 with insulation in walls and roof, 26 gauge metal, wood trusses, 10 […]

Double Bi-parting Sliding Doors for an Airplane Hangar Every once in a while I get asked a Dear Pole Barn Guru question which just demands its own space in order to do the subject topic true justice. This happens to be one of them. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I want to build a 50x40x16 for […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: What is the minimum height of a RV garage and which size overhead door is needed to store a 5th wheel travel trailer or class A motor-home? JOHN IN COUPEVILLE DEAR JOHN: If you want to insure you do the job right and have the clear space you will need for […]

Let’s dig a Big Hole … and plant a post-frame building in it! Part I of two parts. This article (written by yours truly) appeared in this month’s Rural Builder magazine. If you prefer to read it online, here is the link: https://www.constructionmagnet.com/rural-builder/lets-dig-a-big-hole-and-plant-a-post-frame-building-in-it: I’ve now surprisingly (especially to me) spent my entire adult life in […]

South Dakota Department of Transportation Fabric Covered Hoop Barn I’ve been in South Dakota all but a few days in 2016, I figure another 50-60 years or so and I might even be considered to be a “local”. Last Saturday I was a participant in a 5k “fun run” in conjunction with Sisseton’s Horse and […]

Part III of three in how to build a Sliding Door(Part I posted July 13 and Part II July 14): Door Pull From experience, for opening ease, it is best mounted vertically onto door “end” – on a Vertical Side Rail face. If one-piece sliding doors, skip next section. Bi-Parting Doors With a few exceptions […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: It says in my plans that my post concrete encasement depth is minimum 18 inches. Does that mean 18 inches from the bottom of the hole or 18 inches from the bottom of the post? Thank you. COREY IN SPIRIT LAKE DEAR COREY: The post hole concrete is calculated as the […]

This is part II of our three part series on how to build a sliding door. Trolley Mounting Instructions   Insert trolley mounting bolts into previously drilled door grid top lateral. See Figure 27-5. Assemble star washer, flange nut and locknut, and adjust on pendant bolts until there is approximately one inch between trolley bolt head […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: How does one construct a sliding barn door?  SHIRLEY IN FAIR GROVE DEAR SHIRLEY: The best answer to your question is Chapter 27 of the Hansen Pole Buildings Construction Manual. Here it is in three parts, Part I:  Most Common Mistakes: Expecting the door frame to be shipped pre-assembled. Installing siding […]

Hansen Pole Buildings Designer Rachel asked me about this today: “I have more and more builders say they put Tyvek® on the walls and roof and then spray foam.  This is so they can replace the siding/roofing in the future.  Do you find any downfalls with this?  I thought this was a pretty good idea.” […]

Once again – confession time. I’ve never personally used spray foam insulation. My oldest stepson, Jake, teaches high school chemistry and physics. He is one smart dude, as he has a master’s degree. When he added onto what was formerly his grandparent’s home, in the Browns Valley, MN area, he utilized closed cell spray foam […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: What is the average square foot price to build a typical pole barn with no concrete in WA State. How much is charged per opening (Door)? DON IN LONGVIEW DEAR DON: Back when I was building pole barns, we first had a very complex formula for determining labor. As square footage […]

While I am on an Overhead Door Rant I have been blessed to be the father of a herd of children – my youngest two, Allison (age 22) and Brent (age 21) will both be seniors in college this Fall. Yes, I am hearing the cheers from loyal readers who have reached this milestone. They […]

Several years ago, when Hansen Pole Buildings was a fledgling company, I worked with a client in Goldendale, Washington assisting him in designing what (in his eyes) would be his ideal dream building. My mission has always been to deliver the “Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™”, which is greatly helped by clients who are open […]

What Real Life Technical Support Sounds Like Many of us have had situations where we needed to contact a company we have purchased a product from for some technical assistance. I know when I have done so, every once in a while I am thankfully surprised to have the person I am dealing with actually […]

In the 1990’s my company was the most prolific post frame building construction company in the Inland Pacific Northwest. At times we had as many as 35 crews erecting buildings in six states. We were fairly selective in the building crews we hired and felt we had developed a reputation for very good quality at […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can vertical board and bat siding be installed on a pole barn without first installing osb? Would diagonal bracing be required beings the 12′ wide board (Siding) would not give much lateral stability (shear)? SCOTT IN ROY DEAR SCOTT: As much as I would like to tell you it must be […]

Undertaking a commercial building development is a big step for many businesses and it’s an investment which shouldn’t be taken lightly by any means. Unfortunately, too many commercial developments are rushed into for one reason or another—time constraints force the project ahead and before you know it, you’re left with a project coming in overtime […]

Auntie Em! Toto! It’s a Twister! It’s a Twister! Our The Wizard of Oz heroine Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) never utters these words in the movie, although many of us believe she did. The movie it does come from is 1980’s Airplane! where Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs (actor Stephen Stucker) shouts it out while tangling himself […]

Over 50% of all Hansen Pole Buildings kit packages are constructed by the building owners themselves. If you are amongst these stalwart folks, kudos! Odds are your new post frame building will have a far superior end resultant than what you could or would have paid your hard earned dollars to have a builder do […]

Reality television watchers have suffered through 384 episodes of the ABC networks, Dancing with the Stars hosted by Tom Bergeron since 2005. On occasion, it seems some of our clients (or much more often their builders) have done some posts (as opposed to pole) dancing when placing columns for their new building. A certain amount […]

Where the Idea of Colored Steel Siding and Roofing Started Back in the Stone Ages, when I first entered the post frame (pole building) industry, factory pre-painted steel siding was still in a relative infancy. So much so as most steel roofs were yet still bare galvanized! It was a rarity to have a colored […]

Truss Bracing My friend Christopher Gould is a Registered Professional Engineer and President of Gould Design, Inc (https://www.goulddesigninc.com/). He recently authored a blog article on truss bracing, of which I will steal (borrow) profusely from him. Truss bracing is additional, field installed, bracing which is specified by the design software to reinforce specific webs needing […]