Tag Archives: lap siding

Gable Rake Trim, 24″ oc Framing, and Lap Siding Options

Today the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about cutting the rake trim at the gable end, Mike’s thoughts on 24″ oc framing for drywall, and types of lap siding options.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can you advise me on how to cut sculpted rake trim at gable.  Pitch is 4/12.  This trim is a little hard to work with due to the angles that I suppose give it the name “sculpted.  Wanting to overlap the two pieces. 

Thanks, HEATH

DEAR HEATH: This excerpt from Hansen Pole Buildings’ Construction Manual should assist you:

At peak, See Figure 22-5 (when I piece ‘folds’ over peak) or Figure 22-6

Figure 22-5: Gable Trim @ Peak Cutting

 

Interior Wall FramingDEAR POLE BARN GURU: With lumber prices being what they are, what is your take on doing all interior framing on 24 inch centers and using all 5/8 drywall everywhere? Do you feel like it would be a significant enough savings to warrant it. I know that builders typically struggle with achieving dead flat walls even with 16 inch center framing. I’m willing to invest the time in choosing my framing materials to minimize the potential for waves. I guess it really just boils down to being able to accept slight imperfections in the wall in order to keep the project affordable. I’ll invite any opinions on this as long as it’s civil. RUSS in PIPERSVILLE

 

DEAR RUSS: I am a huge fan of using 5/8″ Type X drywall everywhere. In fact, I used it in our own shouse (shop/house). It offers several advantages, besides just an increase in fire protection. Its added stiffness hides a plethora of framing imperfections and it tends to lay smooth over framing two foot on center. We have found it to be very durable in holding up to my paraplegic wife’s power chair (yes, collisions do occur). Another often overlooked virtue – it dampens sound transmission through walls. For a couple of cents per square foot of material in my humble opinion it is a no brainer.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Do you have a siding option that resembles vinyl lap siding? CHUCK in HOGANSVILLE

DEAR CHUCK: We can provide an exact match – vinyl lap! https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2017/06/vinyl-siding-pole-barns/

 

Soffit, Framing Options, and Increasing Eave Height

The Guru has had so many questions sent over email and social media, we thought we’d play catch-up for a few days. Today he answers questions about adding soffits or overhangs to a structure, options for framing a building with lap siding, and the feasibility of lifting a building to add to the eave height.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Should I have a soffit on my pole barn? CLIFF in SOUTHSIDE

DEAR CLIFF: Personally if my budget was so tight I could only afford doors or enclosed overhangs, I would do overhangs and leave door openings to install later when funds became available. You can always add doors, however you only get one opportunity to do overhangs – at time of construction.

Overhangs will keep your building from looking like an industrial warehouse. They will push ‘weather’ (rain runoff or snow slide off) away from your building walls – keeping your building cleaner and reducing potential for trapped water to build up and enter your building. With ventilated eave soffits, you have an air intake required for any dead attic spaces.

Invest in them and you will have no regrets.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Okay, I have been researching horizontal lap siding options for my detached garage project I plan on building next summer. I have seen many opinions on the necessary framing to support the engineered wood horizontal lap siding that matches my house and my wife is requiring my garage to match. Most people talk about installing furring strips over OSB, having the OSB cover the horizontal girts. But what about mounting regular 2×6 studs INSIDE the girts? Then covering the girts with Zip Sheeting. This would provide a continuous building envelope, superior nailing support for the siding, and vertical support if I choose to finish the interior in the future. Thoughts? SCOTT in BROOKSTON

DEAR SCOTT: While you could build a stud wall inside of exterior mounted wall girts, it would seemingly make more sense to use bookshelf girts instead, solving challenges in one fell swoop. Should you decide to finish your interior, bookshelf girts are also ideal for drywall applications. https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2019/09/11-reasons-post-frame-commercial-girted-walls-are-best-for-drywall/

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: My 30×60 pole barn has 8 foot eaves. I need 10 foot eaves. Can I lengthen poles to get added height? JEREMY in COLUMBIA CITY

DEAR JEREMY: With input from a Registered Professional Engineer you may be able to however you are talking about a fairly monumental undertaking, fraught with peril in trying to raise it up without destroying what you have. Besides coming up with a satisfactory column splice, you are going to have to slowly raise the building up at each column equally. Get one column too far ahead or behind and you risk ripping steel roofing around screws – then you have leaks. If a lift point slips off from jacks you could end up with a scrambled mess. Provided you are able to successfully lift and get columns spliced, you now have siding being too short to contend with.

Personally, provided I had the space and it was allowed by my jurisdiction, I would build another taller building. And make it taller than 10′ eave – so you have some future resale value for someone with tall stuff.

 

 

Horizontal Sheeting, Framing for Insulation, and Alternative Siding

Today the Pole Barn Guru answers questions about overlapping horizontal sheets of steel, the best plan for framing to insulate, and best way to install vinyl lap siding on a post frame building.

Horizontal Steel SidingDEAR POLE BARN GURU: When installing horizontal sheeting, does the top sheet always cover the bottom sheet when joined? GARY in EUFAULA

DEAR GARY: In order to prevent water infiltration, yes. Provided overlaps have sufficient overlap, gravity will pull water downward across this overlap.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am looking to have a pole barn put up and wanted your opinion on how to best construct the shell if I want to insulate it down the road. From some of the things I have read I should include some type of foam board under the roof sections and maybe tyvek under the metal walls? Please let me know your thoughts. ROBERT in TIPP CITY

DEAR ROBERT: You do not want to place foam board between roof steel and roof framing as this will create a potential ‘slip’ between steel and framing, reducing or eliminating your roof’s diaphragm strength and resistance to wind loads.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I want to put vinyl siding on my pole shed. Do I need to frame 16″ on center walls between poles? What do you recommend? Thanks. TRAVIS in ANDOVER

DEAR TRAVIS: I would recommend using roll formed steel siding.

If your building is not yet erected, contact your engineer who designed your plans to have him or her confirm this is adequate. Place 2×6 wall girts bookshelf style between columns, with outside of girt and outside of columns flush. Install 2×4 Standard & better with wide face to wind at 24 inches on center vertically between pressure preservative treated splash plank and eave strut – nailing 2×4 to each girt with two 10d common nails. Toe nail at top and bottom.

Install 7/16 inch OSB or ½ inch CDX plywood to 2×4 per engineer’s recommendations. Wrap with a Weather Resistant Barrier and install vinyl siding.

 

 

 

LP Siding, Ceilings, and an Inspector’s questions!

This Monday, the Pole Barn Guru discussed attaching LP siding on a post frame home, installing ceiling panels, and an Inspector’s questions.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am looking at the possibly of installing standard LP lap siding on a post frame home, in that case it would seem like I would need to go with vertical studs. As a look at cost and installation time, metal siding is starting to look a little better. TRENT in WALLA WALLA

DEAR TRENT: My own home features steel siding and wouldn’t consider doing it any other way. Besides being less expensive to install (both material and labor), steel siding will prove to be extremely durable and requires no maintenance. For sidings such as LP lap, you can still use bookshelf girts, reducing girt dimensions from 2×8 to 2×6 and placing vertical 2×4 nailers every two feet upon girt exterior face running from pressure preservative treated splash plank up to soffit supports. This results in a savings of around 20% in assembly framing lumber.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: How far apart should the strapping be for installing metal on a ceiling. Trusses are 4ft apart metal is Tuff Rib 3/4 inch I think. BERNIE in ARMSTRONG

DEAR BERNIE: By “strapping” I will guess you are meaning supports for the steel ceiling liner panels. If you install panels perpendicular to trusses you can screw directly to bottom chords without any additional framing.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: My building inspector is requesting information on the direct to ground treated aspect of the glulaminated timbers in my building.  The wording on the posts for the direct to ground side are covered with concrete.  The color alone isn’t enough.  Where can I get this info?  Also the LU28 hangars call out 3 1.5 inch nails per side to truss, and 2 1.5 per side to Purlin. Which is 10 mails per Purlin bracket. He is requesting all holes being filled.  Do I argue or do I fill the holes? RICK in PARMA

DEAR RICK: Justine forwarded to you manufacturer’s warranty information in regards to your building’s glulaminated columns, specifying level of treatment as adequate for structural in ground use.

Your inspector will be merely enforcing information denoted upon your engineered building plans. Unless called out for otherwise, all holes in hangers having wood to nail into must be filled. If nailing into a two ply member (e.g. double truss) 10d common x 3″ nails should be used. I also just happened to have a Simpson LU28 sitting next to me atop my desk – I count three holes per side to nail into purlin and four holes per side to nail into truss, total of 14 holes per bracket.