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 […]

Oops! A Girt Failure When last we peeked in on Leroy and the boys on the pole building across the street, our hero and his crew were making slow and steady progress. I’ve figuratively hammered on why “barn style” wall girts generally do not meet the requirements of the Building Codes. The problem is one […]

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” […]

Movin’ On Up! Well Leroy will never be confused with Sherman Hemsley of the iconic TV series “The Jeffersons” but his crew was certainly movin’ on up! Leroy mentioned the man he works for provides neither plans nor a materials list for his crew to build from. They just make the building “work” from the […]

The Hole Enchilada Yesterday I began hacking away at my neighbor’s new pole building under construction. Today, I will dig even deeper (pun intended)! Leroy and his building crew arrived on Thursday to begin building. My bride and I had to take a detour most of the day to go to Fargo to visit grandchildren […]

Pizza Hut® Back in the late 1970’s I was jack of all trades, master of a few at Coeur d’Alene Truss in northern Idaho. While we were the “only game in town” with our nearest competitors 30 miles away in Spokane, every once In a while there was a roof truss job I did not […]

Twisting Out of Control This morning I received a voice mail message from a builder. He has arrived at a pole building jobsite where the materials have been “on the ground” for some time. It is now August, in Central Washington – where temperatures over 100 and humidity of next to nothing are not unusual. […]

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” […]

See the Pretty Pole Building Some of the time I drive my wife absolutely nuts. We are talking some serious bonkers here. A prime time for this is when I am looking at photos of newly constructed pole buildings. She will remark, “What a nice looking building”. And then hide the photos as she realizes, […]