Sometimes Things Go Tragically Wrong Construction safety is nothing to overlook. Even the most experienced among us can make errors (read a very personal story here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/07/dont-take-a-fall/) Tuesday, September 8, 2015 an under construction building in Queenstown, Maryland had some challenges. Here is the story: “Two construction workers were flown to the University of Maryland […]

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” […]

The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions Around about 1150 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux is thought to have originated the phrase. It is highly unlikely he had the prescriptive requirements provided by Building Departments for post frame (pole building) construction in mind at the time. More powerful people than I have ranked and […]

The following is an actual true story, beginning with this client reaching out via email to the Hansen Pole Buildings Technical Support Department. Hi Tech Support, I can hear your engineers groaning already.  “Why didn’t you design that when you bought the pole building?”  They are completely right, and please feel free to ridicule me […]

What Size Cupola and How Many? In the world of post frame (pole buildings) cupolas are relatively small, usually square, structures placed on top of the ridgeline. While they are primarily aesthetic, with side louvers they can also be functional vents. The cupola is a development during the Renaissance of the oculus, an ancient device […]

A Truss Story… I began my career in the prefabricated metal plate connected wood truss industry back in 1977 at what was then Spokane Truss, now it is a ProBuild truss plant. From there my next stop was their sister plant Coeur d’Alene Truss (now Coeur d’Alene Builders Supply). In my two plus years with […]

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” […]

All of this began from a client conversation with one of the Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designers…. Back in the stone ages I ruled the prefabricated metal connector plated wood truss manufacturing plant at the long ago defunct Lucas Plywood and Lumber in Salem, Oregon. Back in the late 70’s this was a going and growing […]

From the number of “Ask the Pole Barn Guru Questions” I receive and the new pole buildings I see being constructed, climate control is of very high importance. When I first entered the post frame industry 35 years ago, no one cared about it as virtually all ‘pole barns’ were farm buildings or small private […]

Square Cut or Plumb Cut Back in the 70’s, when I first entered the prefabricated metal connector plated wood truss industry, I was a sawyer. Sawyers are the folks who operate the component saws which precision (hopefully) cut all of the components prior to assembly. The people I worked for over the first few years […]

When my now lovely bride (always lovely) first had me visit her home in South Dakota, I couldn’t help but notice her nicely sized 32 foot square stick framed garage. Like most stud framed buildings, it had light weight metal connector plated wood roof trusses manufactured from 2x4s. Like many garages, this one was unheated. […]

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” […]

Solar Heat Gain Coefficient aka SHGC Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rachel has a client who is looking for a SHGC rating of .45 or higher and found a window from Cardinal window (made by Marvin Windows) which had a rating of .65 SHGC. Rachel read my blog https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/06/low-e-windows/  and wondered if I could talk more […]

Picture this….. Your present pole (post frame) building is just not big enough. Whether through lack of planning on your part, or the previous owner – there just is not enough space. So – just add onto the end of it. Simple, right? Wrong. Assuming the existing building endwall is fully enclosed, there is a […]

This actually began as an “Ask the Pole Barn Guru” question: DEAR POLE BARN GURU: We have installed the Pressure Treated Posts  and they were straight when the concrete was poured, now a couple of weeks later we are seeing the poles twist and warp. They are straight at the ground level but about half […]

Earlier this year I was motoring around Arizona and stopped in to visit the Contractor (aka Pro) Desk at The Home Depot® in Sierra Vista. My timing could not have been better, as The Home Depot® Pro Account Sales Associate (PASA) Sherry was working on a quote for standing seam steel roofing and the question […]

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” […]

Which End is Up? Recently one of my articles (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/06/nail-laminated-columns/) triggered quite a response from the President of Ohio Timberland Products, Inc. (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/07/mike-burkholder/). Luckily, the two of us settled matters like most human males – we duked it out (at least electronically), got past it and then figuratively went and had a beer together. I’ve […]

Accidentally learning more new stuff today. Most of the best things I have ever learned have been by accident, probably why my adult children believe Dad knows more worthless trivia than anyone! I was looking for information on Fabral’s website (www.Fabral.com) for standing seam roofing and at the bottom of a page was chimney pots. […]

Ranking and Railing About Single Slope Roofs Long time readers have read my beat downs of single slope roofs on pole buildings in the past: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/11/single-slope-roof/ Let’s take a gander at how wonderful a single slope roof pole building will work for an RV or tall equipment building.  We get folks coming to us for […]

I admit, when I first entered the post frame (pole) building business – I was clueless on a good day. My only “training” was picking the brain of an old time pole barn builder, George Evanovich. George was a nice enough guy, but it didn’t take me long to realize when it came to details […]

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” […]

I’m Truly Trying to Stop As the everyday readers of this column know, I have been reviewing the pole building going up across the street from our home in South Dakota. If you have not been keeping up, run back a few episodes! I’ve been away from SD for a couple of weeks, so have […]

Mike the Pole Barn Guru would call this his “bonus round” of questions for the week.  Mike is currently sitting at his son’s bedside at a local trauma care hospital.  While waiting for Brent’s surgery following a late night crash on his motorcycle, Mike is keeping vigil over his son.  He will be ok, but […]

Shear in the ‘Hood The saga of the neighbor’s pole building continues…. I have restrained myself about as long as I can. Time for me to hack away at what I have to consider to be some basic design flaws. Other than the previously discussed, ‘not designed for the correct wind exposure’. The building is […]