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San Diego County, Wind Speeds, and Wet Set Column Brackets

This Wednesday the Pole Barn Guru answers reader questions about whether or not Hansen has sold a building in San Diego County, CA, a building with a design wind speed of 150mph, and a recommendation for use of PermaColumn wet set brackets.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Have you sold pole barns in San Diego County, CA? KEN in RAMONA

DEAR KEN: It is a challenge to find any county in America without a Hansen Pole Building (or several) in it. We have provided close to two hundred fully engineered post frame buildings to our clients in California – including in San Diego County.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello, Our codes recently changed to 150 mph plus for wind load and I want to build a post frame home. Do you have engineering to satisfy that for any pole barn kit/trusses/etc that you may offer for sale? I’ve attached a file and have the spacing showing in red squares as 10 ft-10 ft-8 ft-10ft-10ft. Thanks. JEFF in MARIANN

DEAR JEFF: Thank you for your interest in a new Hansen Pole Building. We are able to engineer for design wind speeds in excess of 200 mph. One of our Building Designers will be reaching out to you shortly, or call 1.866.200.9657 for immediate assistance.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello Mr. Mike. I have attached our plans and had a couple questions. What do you think about perma column brackets for this type of build? What do you think about our plans in general? Any issues? We are building in south Georgia. Thank you so much. JASON & ERIN in THOMASVILLE

DEAR JASON & ERIN: Your plans did not arrive as an attachment, so I am unable to speak to them. If your concern is with properly pressure preservative columns prematurely decaying when embedded in ground, then Permacolumn Sturdi-Wall Plus brackets are indeed your best design solution. Unlike other, cheaper, brackets, these actually will resist moment (bending) forces and have ICC-ESR approvals as being Building Code conforming. For extended reading on Sturdi-Wall Plus brackets: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/05/sturdi-wall-plus-concrete-brackets/

Please forward your building plans, site address and best contact number to Caleb@HansenPoleBuildings.com, as our team can evaluate them for practicality as well as providing a firm price quote.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, Pole Building How To Guides, Pole Barn holes, Pole Barn Planning, Barndominium, Concrete, Footings, floorplans, Professional Engineer, Columns, Pole Barn Questions and tagged Post brackets, wet set brackets, hansen locations, permacolumn, wind loads, San Diego County, Engineered buildings, wind speed on February 28, 2024 by admin.

The Argument Against Building Codes

The argument against building codes isn’t a haphazard attempt to loosen restrictions. Instead, it’s often made by experienced contractors and other industry veterans who are frustrated by certain trends and aware of hazards or risks the general public may not realize.

When construction teams “build to code,” what does this really mean? Unfortunately, it often means complying with the bare minimum of legal requirements.

Building-Plans2 Ponder this one carefully – “the bare minimum”. Or, in other terms just enough to get by. Would you prefer to fly in jet aircraft designed by engineers who were 4.0 students in college, or ones who barely scored high enough to graduate? How about buying a new car, with a highest speed capability which is equal to the speed limit, and no greater?

No reputable builder or building supplier will defy codes intentionally, but if the only goal is to make sure a property isn’t illegal, they may not have incentive to go above and beyond with quality or safety.

You don’t have to see into the future to know what happens when only the bare minimum requirements are followed. Martin Holladay, who serves as a Green Building Advisor (GBA) Senior Editor, points to historic Vermont homes with rotten sills, undersized rafters and bulging foundations as examples of corner-cutting craftsmanship which only barely complied with the building codes of the time.

Of course, safety is still the primary purpose of building codes. However, because construction crew training isn’t required and building owners aren’t necessarily savvy about the best materials and building practices, construction teams can continue to neglect the quality of their work.

What can the average post frame (pole building) future building owner do about it?

Don’t buy to minimum standards.

Repeat – don’t buy to minimum standards.

Just. This. Simple.

Oftentimes the investment to upgrade climactic loads (wind and snow) to standards more rigorous than the minimums is negligible.

I see lots of proposals from pole barn suppliers and builders, which do not even specify the design loads of the buildings being proposed! And even more amazing – PEOPLE BUY THESE BUILDINGS!!

Don’t be a fool, for a fool and his money are soon parted. Know what the minimum loading requirements are (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2013/01/building-department-checklist/).

Demand to have the design wind and snow loads specified on any quotation and most certainly upon any order.

Ask – how much more would it be to increase the design wind speed by 5, 10 or even 20 miles per hour. Ask – about the extra investment to increase snow load capacity.

And after all is said and done, don’t invest in a building which does not come with plans and calculations specific to your building, at your site and sealed by a registered design professional (RDP – engineer or architect).

For more reading on engineered buildings: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2011/12/engineered-buildings/

This entry was posted in Building Department, Pole Barn Structure and tagged building engineer, engineer, Engineered buildings, minimum standards on June 9, 2016 by admin.

Buying a Non-Engineered Building

The One Simple Secret to Pole Buildings Which Stand Up

HINT: It has nothing to do with how it is built!

Regardless of what anyone pays for a new pole building, whether investing in a complete kit package, piece mealing it together, or having it constructed – the general idea is to have the building stand up.

Obvious, right?

Properly designed pole buildings have every component and connection checked by rigorous engineering calculations to insure the ability of your new building to meet the applicable wind, snow and seismic conditions being applied to the structure.

This is a lot of calculations – on an average pole building, it could be 200 pages worth. Single spaced.

I told you I was going to share a secret.

WL^2 / 8

Cool, isn’t it?

Well, only if you know what it is. For engineers and other skilled professionals – it is the formula for a uniformly loaded simple beam, supported at each end.

W is the load being applied to the beam.

L is the length of the beam (which is squared)

Multiply the two and divide by 8 to calculate the bending moment (read what bending moments are all about at: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2012/09/bending-moment/).

Why is this a secret?

Most of the folks who are trying to sell you a non-engineered building have no one in their organization who knows what this formula is. And even fewer know how to use it!

The person who sells me a new car doesn’t have to know why the car works – they have highly paid brilliant engineers who do those things.

WOULD YOU SERIOUSLY BUY A NEW CAR WHICH WASN’T DESIGNED BY ENGINEERS?

Anyone considering investing in a new pole building should do what I call “due diligence”. Make sure there is someone (hopefully a registered design professional) involved in the design who knows the secret…and better yet, is skilled at using it!