Thoughts regarding nailing in screws. It was late 1990. I had inherited my grandparents’ lake cabin in Northeast Washington and decided to remodel it into a year-around residence. As part of this process, installing a new steel roof was of utmost importance. Of course, by the time we got around to reroofing, it was starting […]

Back in 1981 Barbara Mandrell recorded and released a hit song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool”. Well Barbara certainly has it over me in the looks department and I doubt I will ever have a Top Ten hit with, “I Had a Barndominium When Barndominiums Weren’t […]

Cupolas are often an afterthought when it comes to a new post frame (pole barn) building or barndominium. In a previous article, I discussed how to determine proper size, spacing and quantity of cupolas (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/09/cupola/). Cupolas as a kit can be easily assembled – without a requirement for specialized skills. My lovely bride put one […]

What I Would Have Done Differently With Our Gambrel Barndominium When we built our gambrel roof style barndominium 15 years ago we were in a position financially where we could have done most anything we wanted to. Our property was over two acres in size, so available space was not a determining factor. After having […]

Maximizing Post Frame Gambrel Usable Space With Trusses Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rachel and I recently had some discussions in regards to maximizing post frame gambrel truss useable space.  Most often gambrel roofs are supported by one piece clearspan gambrel trusses. Largest downside to this type of truss system is lack of bonus room width. […]

Barndominium: Building Kit or Building Shell? This was a recent post from a Barndominium discussion group I am a member of: “Kit vs shell; I’m defining a kits as coming with everything like insulation and metal studs (the next step would be mechanical trades) whereas shell would be dried in with nothing. Kit companies would […]

Shouse (from www.urbandictionary.com):  “A portmanteau of “shed” and “house”; A structure that outwardly resembles a shed (typically having a roll-formed steel-sheet exterior) that is primarily used as a dwelling / house. Though not required to fulfill the definition, a shouse generally has garage(s) incorporated into the structure.” I did not even realize I was shousing before it became […]

New Buildings Cost Money As I recently mentioned, I have joined several Barndominium Facebook groups. It has proven to be enlightening and has given me a great deal of information towards authoring a book or books on Post Frame Barndominiums. In asking for input on chapters for my endeavor, I had one person respond with: […]

Don’t Make Mistakes on Horse Stall Doors Horse owners please join in, this one is for you: Picture, if you will, your dream barn. You know how many stalls, feed rooms, tack rooms, etc., are needed and how much space they will take up. You have the exterior down pat, but you may not have […]

Canadians frequently ask about shipping our post frame building kit packages. This should be of assistance: YRC Freight is the only transportation provider to maintain a dedicated full-time staff at primary border crossings between United States and Canada. YRC Freight takes complexity out of cross-border shipping. They make sure your post frame building shipment moves […]

When All Else Fails a Monitor Barn Truss Challenge. Monitor style buildings are a popular post frame building design (for background on monitor barns please read: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/building-styles/monitor-building-designs/). In most cases, design, ordering, delivery and construction of monitor buildings goes off without a hitch. On rare occasions a hitch glitch happens – so when all else […]

I am asking for feedback from RDP’s and Building Officials because: There is a method to my madness. Seriously. I want to make sure we are doing things 100% correctly. In my humble opinion there are currently numerous post frame buildings being constructed where wall girts do not meet Code or acceptable engineering practice. I […]

Recently I read a thread in a discussion group where a person posting was not going to use closed cell spray foam insulation in their pole barn due to safety precautions needed when installing. This got me wondering just how safe or unsafe installing fiberglass insulation is, so I started doing research. Fiberglass insulation, also […]

I realize this may come as a surprise, but there are more than a few times I have discovered building contractors have made errors in building assembly due to failure to examine the provided building plans. Shocking. Our client STEVE in HINES writes: “Good morning, my building is framed, sided and roofed. However, yesterday we […]

NFBA’s (National Frame Building Association) Frame Building Expo is an annual event for post-frame industry builders and suppliers. It provides educational sessions, a trade show and an ability to interact with fellow members of our community. Below is an article I have submitted to F+W Media (www.fwmedia.com) publishers of Rural Builder and Frame Building News […]

This is the third year the Pole Barn Guru blog has been in competition for the Best Construction Blog. Last year this blog was second in the world, tying for first in quality, however losing the popular vote. Part of this process is a review of each blog by Mark Buckshon of Construction Marketing Ideas […]

The following article will appear in April 2019’s Component Manufacturing Advertiser magazine (www.componentadvertiser.com). Early every year NFBA (National Frame Building Association) holds its annual Frame Building Expo – where thousands of post-frame builders, design professionals and vendors meet for three days filled with break-out sessions, guest presenters and of course a trade show. In 2019’s […]

Back in my owning a roof truss manufacturing plant days, we sold trusses to a building contractor, who was uninsured, and new building owner neglected to insure building. When it collapsed due to builder error (building also was not engineered), our insurance company ended up paying for a replacement building as it was ruled we […]

Dress for Winter Post Frame Building Success My most recent winter-time post frame building experience was a few years ago when my lovely bride and I assisted her brother Mark with construction of his 36’ x 48’ shop. Temperatures hovered around zero as we shivered our way towards getting a roof installed. Given frigid temperatures […]

Hansen Buildings Pictures Today’s blog courtesy of one of Hansen Buildings’ owners, J.A.Hansen. Pictures! I know I can speak for myself and the rest of the Hansen Pole Building staff when I say we love to get pictures emailed to us showing the completed kit, the new building in all its glory. We get tons […]

Build Safe in Winter Weather Post frame building construction lends itself well to winter weather building, as concrete pours are minimized to just a minimal amount around building columns. Once columns are poured, time for full speed ahead – or as much full speed ahead as can be garnered in frigid weather. Prior to my […]

Cement versus Concrete Scraping a chalkboard (also known as a blackboard) with fingernails produces a sound and feeling most people find extremely irritating. Basis of this innate reaction to sound has been studied in the field of psychoacoustics (branch of psychology concerned with perception of sound and its physiological effects). In response to audio stimuli, […]

Concrete Apron Around A Pole Barn My lovely bride and I live in a post frame (pole barn) home along South Dakota’s Lake Traverse. Long time loyal readers of this column have seen photos of it more than once. For those who have missed out, our home was featured on NFBA’s (National Frame Building Association) […]

Multi-story Pole Barns Hansen Pole Buildings has developed a reputation for taking potentially challenging post frame (pole barn) building projects and developing them from concept to fruition. This leads many clients, with an interest in multi-story pole barns, to our doors. My own post frame building home, along Lake Traverse South Dakota side, features both […]

Connecting Trusses Not Dots This feature is probably not overly mentioned, however as most structural failures involve connections, it probably should be. FEATURE: Double trusses notched into sidewall columns and connected with Strong-Drive® SDWS TIMBER Screws BENEFIT: Trusses placed in a notch cannot slide down columns and Strong-Drive® SDWS TIMBER Screws resist uplift forces without […]

Wall Girts Are Not Sexy Thought I had forgotten about Features and Benefits? Guess again! My 1990’s salesman Jerry was proud of his ability to rattle off a litany of features, without explaining to clients benefits of any of them. This one feature I can imagine meant little or nothing to clients, as wall girts […]

Avoiding Pulling a Building Permit? You have a densely treed rural location or have no neighbors, so you have made a decision to avoid pulling a building permit for your new post frame building. Think again – YOU. WILL. BE. CAUGHT. All too often we hear from clients who invested in Hansen Pole Building kits […]

Starting From the Ground Up- UC-4B Treated Columns Decades ago, when I began training a sales staff for Momb Steel Buildings (my 1990’s post frame construction company) I developed an outline we called, “From the Ground Up”. Just as implied by its name, this training went through features and benefits of a typical post frame […]

Customers Didn’t Care When I originally dove into pole barn kit package sales in 1980 it appeared customers didn’t care about features or benefits of our buildings. If they did, they certainly were not asking me! Advertising was simple – newsprint (regional farm paper and free shoppers). Our ads listed dimensions (width, length and eave […]

Do you own a piece of technology which has amazing features which you don’t begin to use (or understand) much more than a small portion of? I know I do. Technology has bombarded us with devices such as cellular telephones, which have outpaced most users’ needs. Unless a feature actually does something I can use, […]

Guest Blog This column has been recognized multiple times as a top construction industry blog. It also has a significant readership, with articles having been read as many as 150,000 times. Due to this popularity, I receive numerous requests to guest blog. Who should consider submitting a guest blog? Industry Suppliers – have a new […]

Post Frame Roof Top Decks Question: Can decks be constructed upon a post frame roof top? Answer: Yes, and it may prove far simpler than one might expect. Our typical request from clients generally revolves around having a very slightly sloping roof and to use EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer) rubber as roofing over plywood. […]

What is a Building Official, and what is their Scope of Work? The average potential new post frame owner (as well as most building contractors) has little or no idea of what a Building Official’s scope of work truly is. Sean Shields and Kirk Grundahl, P.E. (Professional Engineer) recently published an article in SBC Magazine […]

Why Most People Should Not Order Trusses These posts are a part of what I do, to advise people so they will hopefully avoid making costly (or even fatal) errors. Now prefabricated trusses are great and wonderful things. However, most people lack expertise necessary to know right from wrong when purchasing highly engineered components. As […]

Fairgrounds Pole Buildings (Photo by Patricia Guthrie/Whidbey News Group) A new position, Island County Fairgrounds’ director, was created by Port of South Whidbey since it assumed fairgrounds ownership in March 2017. This directorship position was subsequently filled by Larry Lehtonen. Island County Fairgrounds’ original structure, a pole building, was built in 1937. Lehtonen takes a […]

Planning Your Equestrian Facility   Those of you loyal readers who actually read links in this article are going to see our daughter Bailey Momb’s name frequently. 2018 Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration made for me being a proud dad with Bailey riding to a World Grand Championship (link has results): https://twhnc.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/RESULTS-TUESDAY-EVENING-8-28-18.pdf.   Moving forward, reader […]

Domestic Cat Pole Barns I know my loyal, long time column readers think I am stretching way out there when I start writing about domestic cat barns. Reality being stranger than fiction, one of them exists! Now neither our mom, nor any of our grandmothers were crazy cat ladies with housefuls of feline friends. Even […]

Boat Storage Pole Barns Summertime growing up Newman Lake, Northeast of Spokane, Washington – nearly to Idaho was where my younger (and only) brother and I usually could be found. Our grandparent’s lake cabin was located there, as was our parent’s ski boat. Interstate 90 did not yet connect Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to Spokane, so […]

A Sad Pole Barn Tale I so like happy ending stories, however this sad pole barn tale doesn’t appear to have an immediate happy ending – although over  20 years some victims might see some or all of their hard earned money returned. I’ve previously written about this case, however it has grown exponentially since […]

Besides being a semi-regular contributor to Rural Builder magazine, I have also had articles published in several other lumber and wood truss periodicals. I’ve been asked to write an article for The Advertiser (https://www.componentadvertiser.com/), which I share with you below: Increase Your Post Frame Sales Nearly every U.S. and Canadian metal plate connected wood truss […]

Secrets of a Pole Barn Salesperson Back in 1980 I was a pole barn (post frame) building industry newbie. So new, I considered myself to be rather clueless. Then I was working for a now long defunct company, Mac Truss in McMinnville, Oregon. I’d pick the brains of anyone who was willing to listen to […]

Post Frame Scissor Trusses I’d spent summers working for my dad and uncles framing buildings and being low man when it came to a totem pole of laborers, I did my fair share of strong back, weak mind work – such as setting trusses. As a teenager, I had not given much thought to complexities […]

Mike the Pole Barn Guru’s World When I began this blog back in June of 2011, I surmised getting to a total of 100 articles would be a stretch, but yet a worthy goal. Well, I have surprised even myself… welcome to article number 1500! What amazes even me – how many possible topics have […]

Today we’d like to revisit the “Evolution of The Pole Barn Guru and his Building Philosophy” In my early years, tremendous quality was not necessarily the strong point. It was the ability to offer a very reasonably priced building and deliver it quickly. My buildings were pretty much the same as everyone else I competed […]

How to Install a Steel Roof Over Shingles Absolutely true story, with me as part of it! My lovely bride bought a raw weed covered property along the South Dakota shore of Lake Traverse in the early 1990’s. For a home, she had a double wide manufactured home set up on the property. A few […]

My Cousin Did Not Buy a Building From Me I truly love my cousin Randy. In the past few years he and his lovely bride have had a home and a post frame shop constructed on their farm southwest of Spokane, WA. Through a set of unfortunate circumstances Randy did not get a Hansen Pole […]

Construction Marketing Ideas Reviews This Column Construction Marketing Ideas holds an annual competition for the best blog in the construction industry, world-wide. This column happens to be one of only 17 selected to compete – win or lose, it affirms the message is being shared effectively. My thanks to Mark Buckshon for his review, which […]

Manure Storage Pole Barns Here is a combination which seems doomed from the get go: young man, girl 60 miles away from said young man’s home, late night darkness, a crotch rocket, slow speed zones, Idaho Highway patrol and unfamiliar roads. After our youngest son had surgery to repair his broken hip, Dad had very […]

Hangar Doors in Eave Side of Buildings Reader KEN in ZEPHYRHILLS writes: “To facilitate use as an aircraft hangar can the sliding doors be located on the side rather than the end walls?” I have been involved in more than a fair number of airplane hangars, starting way before my days in the post frame […]

We Are Number One  Hopefully you can survive the obnoxious YouTube commercial at the beginning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04854XqcfCY. Unlike the champions in Queen’s iconic 1977 hit “We Are The Champions”, Hansen Pole Buildings has merely won, from BUILD Magazine, their “Award for Outstanding Pole Barn Kits – USA” for 2018. It isn’t the world, however we like […]

As I keyboard this, it is the seventh anniversary of the passing of my Uncle Neil Momb. I had reminded his daughter, my cousin Amy, of how I loved her Dad’s ability to make profound statements with a smile. Back in 2014 I wrote a couple of articles about my uncle’s adventures in building in […]

2018 ARCHITECTURE AWARDS For the second consecutive year Hansen Pole Buildings, LLC has been nominated for BUILD News’ Architecture Awards. Pretty heady stuff, however it seems after 16 years of promoting building excellence and delivering “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™”, our hard work and due diligence is paying off. From BUILD News: Shaping the […]

Insulating a Semi Trailer The beauty of being available to answer questions on the ‘net is one hears just about everything – even challenges which do not involve buildings! Here is a recent one asked by reader BOB in NORTH CAROLINA: “PolebarnGuru, Purchased a 53foot x 8.5ft dry van all metal trailer (like tractor trailer) […]

Public Works Pole Barns, and Labor Costs Many town/city jurisdictions in the United States have a Department of Public Works, which depending upon the individual municipality it may be responsible for a wide variety of activities including maintenance of streets and roads, maintenance and operation of drainage facilities, sewer collection lines, maintenance and operation of […]

Salt Bagging Pole Barns I would imagine most of us do not give much thought as to salt, which is rather surprising considering 255 million metric tons were produced in 2016 alone (over 20% from China)! The first time I ever really thought about salt (other than at the supper table or in a water […]

Why Property Owners Should Obtain Their Own Permit Back in the day, when I was a post frame building contractor, we always required our clients to obtain their own buildings permit. It wasn’t due to us being lazy, it was because if the building needed to be relocated on the site, or the permit office […]

From a February 1, 2018 article by Lois Swoboda at www.apalachtimes.com: “At the Jan. 9 county planning and zoning advisory board meeting, and the Jan. 16 county commission, County Attorney Michael Shuler performed the first public readings of a proposed ordinance governing the use of metal structures and pole barns as single family residences.. The […]

Best Construction Blog? For certain I know in my heart of hearts this blog is absolutely the best in the post frame (pole barn) building industry….no one, I repeat no one has penned over 1400 articles and answered over 2300 questions from readers in post frame building blogs, like I have. Time to take it […]

One of our clients has been erecting a post frame home in Colorado Springs, which is over a crawl space. Here is our discussion in regards to insulating the crawl space. “While I have your ear, I had asked you a question earlier about getting the code required R30 in the 2×6 floor joists of […]

What do Rock Climbing Holds have to do with Pole Barns? Among other things my late cousin Kim Momb was an avid rock climber, before he became world famous as a mountaineer. (Read about some of Kim’s exploits here: https://www.everesthistory.com/climbers/kimmomb.htm). Well Kim was a rock climber way before it became popular and a proliferation of […]

Temporary bracing in post frame buildings come without a prescription – there is nowhere which spells out “do it this way and all will be good”. There are some things which can be done to minimize the potential of mishaps similar to the one in the photo. Buildings in their framing stages are the ones […]

My Response: Why We Need Building Codes As promised, here is my response to the Coeur d’Alene Press article of December 5, 2017 (exactly as I wrote in the comments portion following the newspaper article regarding adoption of building codes): I will first qualify myself – I attended the University of Idaho in architecture. I […]

How to Keep the Water Out of a Pole Barn The post frame (pole barn) building has moved from the farm to suburbia. With the transition in building uses, having water flowing into a post frame business or residence is far less than desirable. Dear Pole Barn Guru: My parents lived in a pole barn “lodge”. […]

I personally have a great deal of fun working with the majority of our clients, most of whom are truly wonderful. The most rewarding part is when those who have done the work themselves share with us what I refer to as “post frame satisfaction”. This satisfaction is in part due to the new building […]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey nearly all Americans have seen video of the devastation across the coastal lowlands of Texas. Over and over photos of water logged drywall and carpets being torn out of homes which were flooded by epic rainfalls of biblical proportion were enough to churn my gut. Especially as so much […]

A loyal reader writes: “Hi. Good morning! As I read your post about a wood floor in a work shop, it reminded me of my research into a garage with a wood floor. I have often wondered, can this be done? So I ask you, can this be done? I am not a rich man, […]

When building a pole barn, economy of scale can be your ally. Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Doug passed along to me this message from a client of his: “The last quote was for a 45′ x 42′ building with 2 garage doors and one person door. The new quote was for a 18′ x 42′ […]

Some things in life amaze me – magicians are one of them. I have no idea how the do what they do, but I am totally fascinated by them (you can read about my college experience with a magician here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/08/lumber-bending/). One of the other things which amaze me are how clients will invest tens […]

Best Agricultural Building Supply Company – Midwest USA The awards just keep rolling in as Hansen Pole Buildings has been named the Best Agricultural Building Supply Company in the Midwest USA by Build-News! Now we would like to believe we do a pretty fair job at providing “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™” to our […]

Progress in Technology: Dirt Late Model Auto Racing I am not as mechanically challenged as my lovely bride would have people believe. Modern technology has taken some things to the point where the average person just cannot do the work. Personal case in point, here is the story: I have been riding motorcycles since not […]

Sometimes There Are Just Not Words to Express…  Building Disaster How horrifically a build can be botched.   In a scene from 2013’s box office flop The Lone Ranger – Tonto (played by Johnny Depp) and the Lone Ranger (played by Armie Hammer) the heroes get themselves buried in the sand up to their necks. […]

Hansen Pole Buildings receives numerous requests every day from potential new post frame building owners, who are looking for a builder (in my terms technician) who can assemble their building kit. I am going to do both of us a favor and explain why we do not recommend any builders. Hansen Pole Buildings is a […]

The Day a Bollard Saved my Family’s Lives According to the sum of all knowledge (Wikipedia): A bollard is a sturdy, short, vertical post. Although it originally described a post on a ship or quay used principally for mooring boats, the word is now used to describe posts installed to control road traffic and posts […]

Hansen Pole Buildings, LLC has been nominated for BUILD News’ 2017 Architecture Awards. Pretty heady stuff, however it seems after 15 years of promoting building excellence and delivering “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™”, our hard work and due diligence is paying off. From BUILD News: Shaping the built environment is a tough challenge for […]

Totally Unsolicited Hansen Buildings Testimonial When I was actively selling post frame buildings, I became adept at asking for written testimonials. They were actually quite easy to get. Immediately after the client has invested in his (or her) new post frame building, I asked them these four questions: Why did you invest in a new […]

I’ve written in the past about our oldest daughter, Bailey. Bailey is a professional horse trainer (Tennessee Walkers) and is well respected within her industry at the now ripe old age of 27. She is a smart lady – she wanted overhead doors with electric openers on the sliding doors of her barn aisleways.. Why? […]

(Rob Hammer photograph) Our youngest son, Brent, will be graduating from Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington) in May with a degree in Kinesiology. Some of you may recognize the name Gonzaga as the team which just came within a minute or so of being the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) men’s basketball champions. Kinesiology means Brent […]

Why Your Airplane Hangar is Probably Exposure C I had the joy of growing up “hanging out” (pun intended) at airplane hangars and doing a lot of flying including having my hands on the controls of a Cessna 182 for many hours before I became a teen. One thing for certain about airplane hangars – […]

Attic bonus rooms seem to be the rage – Hansen Pole Buildings does more than a few of these and the trend seems to be increasing in popularity. With this comes how to properly insulate an attic bonus room. There are more than a few challenges when it comes to utilization of attic space for […]

I’ve been blessed with being able to have extensive tours of two very sophisticated lumber mills. The first being the Seneca Sawmill in Eugene, Oregon. Seneca Sawmill Company is one of the largest producing single-location sawmills in the United States. Their mills are capable of producing over 650 million board feet per year of premium grade […]

I’m a seat of the pants journalist – my training was as editor of the Post Falls High School newspaper back in 1975! This blog is one of several finalists in the 2017 Best Construction Blog competition. In the event you have been entertained or have learned from my articles, your vote would be appreciated […]

Best Construction Blog? For certain I know in my heart of hearts this blog is absolutely the best in the post frame (pole barn) building industry….no one, I repeat no one has penned over 1200 articles and answered over 600 questions from readers in post frame building blogs, like I have. Time to take it […]

How to Cut and Install Base Trim at a Corner In yesterday’s column, I mentioned how the base trim was improperly installed. Back in the 1990’s when I was constructing buildings, one of my building crew chiefs shared this trick with me. When properly done, it eliminates the ability of critters to climb up inside […]

New in the Hammering World     Estwing AL-Pro When the latest and greatest comes around, I try to be on top of providing information to my valued readers, many of whom have become trusted friends. Here is a new one for your reading enjoyment! Best known for its single-piece steel hammers Estwing is about to […]

BUILD magazine Just announced – Hansen Pole Buildings, LLC has been selected by BUILD magazine in their Engineering Leadership awards. According to Dominic Lloyd, Feature Executive at BUILD (www.build-news.com), “Hansen Pole Buildings LLC has stood out from the thousands of potential contenders due to your creative movements, dedicated team and brilliant quality of production and […]

Another great and well thought out question, which is best answered at length. Dear Pole Barn Guru: The construction manual states that concrete slab floors should be poured so there is 3-3/4” of skirt board left exposed above the slab. What do you do if you want or need to have a typical slab slope toward […]

Recently Eric Graff, managing partner of Hansen Pole Buildings, and I have been discussing the possibilities of a new post frame building at our home distribution center in South Dakota. Eric is a shrewd buyer and has negotiated some significant discounts from vendors for the purchase of materials in bulk quantities (think of a semi-truck […]

From the age of six, alpine (aka downhill) snow skiing has been a part of our family culture. As my three youngest children (Bailey, Allison and Brent) graduated from being toddlers – I took them to the slopes and taught them to ski as well. It was not my being the greatest skier on the […]

Power Lifting Pole Barns They might seem like typical teenagers, but Joshua and Kaitlynn Naert are worlds apart from most pair of siblings in Michigan. The brother-sister combo come from a good, blue-collar home, living with their mother and father, Tracy and Jeff, and their dogs. It’s not until Joshua, Kaitlynn and their father step […]

Trail Maintenance Buildings All across America old railroad beds are being converted into trails for uses such as walking, running and biking. According to www.railstotrails.org over 30,000 miles of trails now criss-cross our country. My personal favorite is the Hiawatha Trail (www.ridethehiawatha.com) which begins in Western Montana (near what was once the boomtown of Taft) […]

Event Centers A little over four years ago, I introduced you, my gentle readers, to my late Grandma Jerene and her boyfriend Bob, the “Weather Cat” (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2012/07/weather/). They are going to play a part in this story. Earlier this summer my lovely bride and I had just gotten home when a couple pulled up in […]

I started snow skiing back in 1963, shortly after my sixth birthday. My dad and uncles were the framing contractors for the first condominium units at Schweitzer Basin, near Sandpoint, Idaho and somehow we ended up with a unit shared with the families of my uncles Lyle and Gil. Uncle Lyle’s wife, my Auntie Joyce […]

How to Avoid a Disastrous DIY Pole Barn Project This is part three in a three part series on how to better ensure a great pole barn project, by getting rid of the pitfalls. I’d like to thank Bret Buelo of Wick Buildings for the basis of this article, which appeared on the Wick Buildings […]

Part two of a three part series. See yesterday’s blog for part one. I’d like to thank Bret Buelo of Wick Buildings for the basis of this article, which appeared on the Wick Buildings website (www.wickbuildings.com) August 12, 2016. Information from Bret’s article appears here in italics along with my comments as well. Part of […]

Colorado Springs, Colorado Post Frame Buildings “It’s all about the building”, one of my favorite quotes from my favorite writer – me. In all seriousness, the quote is one of my favorite sayings, and I have lots of favorite writers with far better literary skills than I. Part of what, “It’s all about the building”, […]

Back in 2000, I had the pleasure of working with Dale Schiferl when we were both with Gruenwald Engineered Laminates, Inc.™ (https://gruen-wald.com/) , manufacturers of (among other things) glu-laminated columns for post frame (pole) buildings. Dale and I both moved on, Dale to open Timber Technologies, LLC, the manufacturer of Titan Timbers™. Dale and his […]

When I attended Bowdish Junior High School in the early 1970s it was located in a rapidly growing area of the Spokane Valley of Washington. When the classrooms were filled beyond capacity, the school district opted to throw their resources into the rental of temporary classrooms (also known as portables). As an adult, and knowing […]

You Want It When? A week from Tuesday is going to find a life milestone has been passed – it will be after Labor Day. Or as we know it in the pole barn industry, the Panic Point. When I was a post frame (pole) building contractor in the 1990’s based in Northeast Washington state, […]

Please keep in mind, I was a post frame (pole) building contractor in a past life. With as many as 35 crews erecting buildings in six states – if something could possibly go awry, one of my crews would find a way to achieve it! Seriously. Some of them were creative in methods which I […]