Pondering a Cabin Dilemma With barndominiums, shouses (shed/houses) and post frame homes becoming increasingly popular, there are many who gaze fondly at existing pole barns and consider converting some or all of these spaces into living areas. Reader MATT writes: “Hi, I’ve been following your links and comments on different pages and trust your opinion […]

Today’s PBG discusses “how tall a pole barn” can be, opening on a monitor style building, and planning a buildings for and shop and car storage. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: How tall can pole barn be in Cape May County? BUD in CAPE MAY DEAR BUD: This will depend upon how your property is zoned, […]

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 […]

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 […]

This week the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about elevated floors, heavy snow loads, and what species of lumber posts are cut from. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: We own a site that was fully treed so the soil is not so great. We are interested in doing a pole barn design however a few engineers […]

Today the Pole barn Guru discusses questions about Gambrel buildings, a minimum ceiling height for a loft, and RV storage solutions. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Do you make plans for 18 x 20 gambrel roof pole barns? BEN in HOWELL DEAR BEN: Hansen Pole Buildings can provide materials, assembly instructions and engineer sealed plans for […]

Mike answers questions about spray foam releasing agents, Going up instead of out, and a Post Frame Basketball Court. DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Thank you for this blog of informative words on the world of post frame construction. I am a confirmed fan of spray foam insulation. What are your thoughts on the use of […]

Considering a Retrofit to a Mezzanine in a Converted Racquetball Court Reader JOHN writes: “…… is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization rooted in Bayfield, WI (population 500). We provide and support affordable access to facilities, programs, classes, and events that promote health, activity, and fun. We have a racquetball court that has been converted to a […]

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 […]

When I was first in the metal connector plated wood truss industry back in 1977, my employers – Dutch Andres and Tom Vincent at Spokane Truss, had just invested in a machine which would fabricate what would be called a 4×2 floor truss. These trusses revolutionized the way floors could be constructed – freeing up […]

Scary Design A one-time potential Hansen Pole Buildings’ client, who is a friend of mine on Facebook, didn’t invest in one of our engineered post frame buildings. Most likely it was due to price – people so easily believe they have gotten a great deal, when instead they set themselves up for nothing but potential […]

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: The Hansen Pole Buildings Construction Manual indicates the roof insulation is installed eave to eave over the ridge. How does this affect the ridge vent, seems like it would defeat the purpose and not allow proper ventilation. Can you advise me on this, I’m ready to install my metal and don’t […]

Hansen Pole Buildings has seen a dramatic increase in the number of post frame buildings which utilize either a partial or full second or third floor, or bonus space within attic trusses. Seemingly the average pole builder, or pole building supplier, has a limit knowledge of what is involved in the proper structural loading of […]

It Takes a Hole to Raise a Stair Or at least a hole adequate to get the stairs through to the floor above! I’m a big guy – 6’5” in my bare feet. When stairs have inadequate headroom, my forehead pays the price. When it comes to calculating adequate headroom, most people display their skills of […]

Here is the picture – pole building with a 16’ eave height. (For details on how eave height is defined read: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2012/03/eave_height/) Said building has a partial second floor (mezzanine), with the top of the floor at nine feet above grade. Deducting the six inch thickness of the roof system, leaves all of 6’6” of […]