Tag Archives: cantilevered deck

Barndominium is Popping Up Everywhere

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 Cool”.

Read more about barndominium here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2014/02/barndominium/.

My first personal barndominium, built in 1994, was actually more of a shouse – a 40 feet wide by 36 feet deep, but not rectangular, post frame building! Seriously, it was built as a parallelogram 14 degrees out of square to follow property lines of a very narrow lot. Shop portion is on the ground floor – a garage level with three overhead steel sectional doors 9’ wide x 8’ tall, 10’ wide x 11’ tall and 8’ wide x 7’ tall. I would never recommend the latter of these for an automobile, but it works superbly for motorcycles and our log splitter.

Gambrel roof pole barnThis building is entirely clearspan – no interior columns to have to work around. Second floor has a 10 foot wide step-down by four feet. This area has its own vaulted ceiling at a 7/12 slope and is used for exercise equipment. With a series of nine windows overlooking a beautiful lake, it takes one’s mind off the agonies of treadmilling and lifting weights.

Upper level is only 30 foot by 36 foot, however it has a vaulted ceiling with a 4/12 interior slope. Another set of nine windows for lake view and a cantilevered deck facing eastward – perfect for a BBQ, with access from a sliding glass patio door.

A June 11, 2019 article by Becky Bracken and provided by www.realtor.com tells a story of bardominiums for sale from coast-to-coast: https://m.chron.com/realestate/article/Barndominiums-Blooming-The-Popular-Style-Is-13967497.php.

Ready to make your custom home dreams into an affordable reality? Then a post frame barndominium or shouse might be exactly what you need. Call 1(866)200-9657 to discuss your wants and needs with a Hansen Buildings’ Designer today.

Decks and Exterior Balconies of Post Frame Buildings

Decks and Exterior Balconies of Post Frame Buildings

Post frame buildings and residential construction have finally met and the marriage happily looks to be a long term one! Along with this marriage, post frame has to familiarize itself with structural areas which were previously unfamiliar. Amongst these are decks and exterior balconies.

The 2018 IBC (International Building Code) addresses these areas in Chapter 23:

2304.12.2.5 Supporting members for permeable floors and roofs.

“Wood structural members that support moisture-permeable floors or roofs that are exposed to the weather, such as concrete or masonry slabs, shall be of naturally durable or preservative-treated wood unless separated from such floors or roofs by an impervious moisture barrier.”

In layperson’s terms – decks or balconies which are exposed to the weather should be constructed from pressure preservative treated lumber. Pretty simple.

At Hansen Pole Buildings, we design a fair number of residential decks which are cantilevered off of the main enclosed structure.

Why?

Because those columns below are a target waiting to get run into by something big enough to cause “fall down, go boom”. We prefer once something has been constructed, for it to continue to remain standing.

 

The floor joists which will cantilever out will need to be pressure preservative treated, as will the blocking between the joists where they cross the beam in the exterior wall.

What about the transition between interior and exterior walking surfaces in a cantilevered situation?

The floor joists on the interior portion of a building are normally sheathed with ¾” underlayment grade T & G OSB (tongue and groove oriented strand board), while most decking material is either 2×6 (1-1/2” thick) or a composite product (which normally is 1-1/4” thick). To compensate for the differences, the floor joists in the bay closest to the wall only are lowered 1-1/2” below the balance of the floor joists. 2×4 is then placed flat at 90 degrees to the joists, spaced every two feet within the building interior, to bring the top of the interior framed surfaces to the same level.

The cantilevered floor joists have their strength characteristics adjusted downwards due to being in a wet use condition. If these joists are a species other than Southern Pine, they were probably incised during the pressure preservative treating process, further reducing their load carrying capacities. This may require the cantilevered joists to be spaced closer together than their untreated, building envelope treated counterparts.

All of this appear daunting?

The best solution, if your new post frame building will have a deck or balcony, is to invest in a custom designed post frame building kit package which includes plans which are specific to your building signed and sealed by a RDP (Registered Design Professional – architect or engineer).