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Engineer Sealed Drawings, Materials Lists, and Footing Sizes.

This Tuesday is another bonus “ask the Guru” discussing questions about engineer sealed drawings, a materials list for a post frame garage with sideshed, and footing size questions.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Does it come with engineered Seal drawings as part of the cost? RON in OMAHA

DEAR RON: Every building we provide comes with full sized blue-prints sealed by an engineer registered in your state and includes verifying calculations. There is no extra charge for this service, as we believe all buildings should be engineered.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can I get a breakdown materials list for 42×42 x10′ pole barn garage with an 12×82′ lean to shed attached to the side. TIM in PARKERSBURG

Lumber OffloadingDEAR TIM: Once our engineer has sealed the final plans for your building, we will prepare an exact materials list (down to the last screw) and it will be available at your online login. Most of the items you will find on the list cannot be found in lumberyards or big box stores (here are just a few):

Glulam columns made from 2400msr lumber
Splash Planks & Sill plates: 2x #1 UC-4B Pressure treated FDN rated
2×6 2100msr girts or purlins (in most instances)
Structural screws for wood-to-wood and hanger to wood connections
Kiln Dried Douglas Fir 2×4 through 2×10 #2 and #2 premium girts and purlins
Simpson PFDS ‘slip on’ purlin hangers
Prefabricated wood roof truss with all lumber at least #2 grade
Powder coated diaphragm screws with EPDM gaskets

Hansen Pole Buildings are the strongest and highest quality – because we care enough to be best.

https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2024/04/things-hansen-pole-buildings-does-better-than-any-other-post-frame-building-provider/

One of our Building Designers will be reaching out to you to further discuss your exact wants and needs, or call 1.866.200.9657

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am building my 30x60x12 post frame house. What depth and width is the best for my pier footings and is it necessary to finish it with a bell auger? Also, my post frame house will be made out of composite roof and LP siding. So that’s it another factor to take into consideration for the bearing weight of each column on my footings. And is 10′ bay a good spacing between each column for the weight of this roof and siding? Also, when it comes to pouring the floor, I have found nothing online about how to pour my slab at the pier footings with a rat ledge. ANGEL in SEALY

DEAR ANGEL: Your dimensions happen to fit perfectly within those available for our ‘most practical dimensions’ discount: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2024/04/things-hansen-pole-buildings-does-better-than-any-other-post-frame-building-provider/

In most instances, our engineers are going to specify a 40″ hole depth. Diameters will be based upon live and dead loads and will be again properly accounted for by our engineers. You will not need to use a bell auger. With shingles and LP siding, deflection criteria of framing members becomes crucial, our engineers account for that as well. While 10′ bays work, 12′ is more typical and results in being able to handle fewer components, speeding in assembly.

With post frame construction, your internal slab is poured up against a pressure preservative treated splash plank – so top of slab is above exterior grade by 3-1/2″. This will be true whether using embedded columns or columns attached to wet-set brackets in piers.

This entry was posted in Professional Engineer, Lumber, Pole Barn Questions, Columns, Pole Barn Design, Pole Building How To Guides, Pole Barn Planning, Barndominium, Trusses, Concrete, floorplans, Footings and tagged , , , , , , , , on by .

MSR Lumber Producers Council Today

MSR Lumber Producers Council 

Today I am a MSR Lumber Producers Council presenter in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lumber grades take into account natural characteristics, including knots, splits, checks, shake, and wane. Lumber design values are assigned to lumber grades to provide a means for using this material in structural applications. These values are published in Design Values for Wood Construction, a supplement to National Design Specification® (NDS) for Wood Construction. These six design values are bending (Fb), shear parallel to grain (Fv), compression perpendicular to grain (Fc⊥), compression parallel to grain (Fc), tension parallel to grain (Ft), and modulus of elasticity (E and Emin).

Because machine graded lumber has strength properties assessed during production, Machine Evaluated Lumber (MEL) and Machine Stress Rated Lumber (MSR) grading automatically adjusts to changes in internal quality of lumber. Changes to visual grades have no impact on design values of MSR and MEL because of how these products are manufactured and tested.

 

Produced for six decades, MSR lumber has documented and tested structural design values. In contrast to visual grades, machine graded lumber is produced by measuring physical properties of each piece of lumber in production lines. Manufacturers are required to test samples during each shift and this entire quality assurance process is audited by independent third parties to confirm conformance with published design values. MSR and MEL lumber consistently meet design value requirements even as timber growing practices and environmental conditions change.

Sadly, we’ve had this technology available to reliably test lumber for strength, independent of human eye variability (visual grading) for well over half a century – and we do not universally use it. Visit any local lumber yard, and ask if they have MSR lumber for sale. Chances are your answer will be a resounding “no”. Pick up a “visually graded’ 2×6 at a lumberyard, and you have no idea how strong it really is. Did this lumber grader have a bad day? Was he or she really paying attention on when they were grading lumber? Does it have a huge defect hidden from naked eyes? Can you depend on it to perform how it you think it should?

Engineers and architects are confident in both strength and performance of MSR and MEL lumber. Designers can rely on machine graded lumber properties, use full-design strength, and avoid overbuilding. MSR and MEL lumber have proven to be cost-effective, quality lumber products for component manufacturers and builders. As MSR Lumber Producers Council tag line says, “We Stress Quality”.

Read more about MSR Lumber Producers Council at: http://www.msrlumber.org/

This entry was posted in Barndominium, Lumber, Pole Barn Design, Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Trusses, Professional Engineer and tagged , , , , , , , , on by .

NEW Hansen Pole Buildings’ Shed and Wing Rafters

NEW Hansen Pole Buildings’ Shed and Wing Rafters

For most people, provided their main building eave height is adequate, placing an attached shed roof on one or both sides seems to be a simple task. With monitor (also known as raised center) style rooflines, shed (wing) roofs are placed on each sidewall, with high end of shed below center eave height.

Well, this is not nearly as simple as one might originally believe.

Main building sidewall and corner columns and their footings, must be engineered to account for roof live (or snow) and dead loads being added by shed/wing roofs. In snow country, drift zone on side of ridge opposite shed/wing become greater in width.

When top of shed comes in below main roof eave height, shed rafters and roof purlins near high end require some added engineering. This is needed to account for both snow sliding off taller roof and for drifting against knee wall created above high end of wing.

Some thoughts on monitor roofs in high snow ca be found here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2015/05/monitor/

Shed off endwalls have their own unique set of circumstances, as they must be designed to account for snow blowing off entire main roof. This can create tremendous drift loads on top of end sheds. This is one reason to consider an extension of main roofline, rather than an end shed. Other reasons are increased clear height and ease of assembly.

Typically shed/wing rafters had been either as many as two #2 graded dimensional lumber rafters on each side of columns or very expensive LVLs.

By bringing into our inventory very high graded MSR lumber, it allows our engineers to do more with fewer pieces, greatly simplifying construction.

Previously, these rafters were connected to columns by use of a plethora of nails and often required a bearing block to be added below (with even more nails). Now, Simpson SDWS16300 structural screws can be used, greatly reducing number of required fasteners.

Fewer parts, fewer fasteners leading to a quicker to assemble and reliable structural system.

Call 1.866.200.9657 TODAY to participate in “The Ultimate Post-Frame Building Experience”.

And, don’t forget to watch for our next article!

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, Roofing Materials, Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Budget, Fasteners, Barndominium, Lumber and tagged , , , on by .

Finger Jointed Lumber

The recent National Frame Building Association (NFBA) 2014 Frame Building Expo was a reunion event for me with several long-time friends. One of these is Ferg Evans.

In the 1990’s I was elected to the first of five terms I was to serve on the Board of Directors for the Machine Stress Rated Lumber Producers Council (www.msrlumber.org). One of my fellow board members was Ferg Evans.

The MSR Lumber Producers Council was coincidentally formed on my 30th birthday, with Ferg Evans as one of the original board members!

Ferg is now the Managing Partner of Canadian Engineered Wood Products, Ltd. (www.cewp.ca). Canadian Engineered Wood Products are the distributors for what I feel is a pretty slick product (at least from my pre-fabricated metal connector plated truss background).

finger-jointed-lumberManufactured by Pinkwood, Ltd. (www.pinkwood.ca), of Calgray, Alberta, Canada is FJLumber. FJLumber (finger jointed lumber) is quality long length lumber designed specifically for the truss industry (although I can think of many other uses for it). It is produced in one foot increments up to FORTY-EIGHT feet long!! In 2×4 and 2×6 it is available in msr grades of 2100f and 2400f, and in 2×8 1950f.

In the manufacturing process, short lengths of lumber are graded for strength first. Next, these short pieces are structurally finger jointed to each other using an ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) approved, heat resistant adhesive. Each newly created finger joint is in-line tension tested to 1.5 times the design specifications to insure structural integrity.

Consider this – a 2×6 #2 grade in Douglas Fir has an Fb (fiberstress in bending) value of 1170 psi (pounds per square inch); Canadian Spruce-Pine-Fir (SPF) 1137.5; U.S. Hem-Fir 1105 and Southern Yellow Pine 1000. This makes a 2×6 2400f msr graded board over TWICE as strong in bending as any of the above listed popular framing lumber!!

Now I’ve spent years look at trusses, and have a fair idea of what it is I am seeing. For a lay person, they might notice the horizontal bottom member (or bottom chord) of a truss, is not a continuous single piece of lumber (unless the span of the truss is very small). The bottom chord is typically comprised of several pieces of lumber, which have been spliced end-to-end by pressed in steel connector plates.

For a truss manufacturer, being able to get 48 foot long finger jointed lumber eliminates most instances of having to use metal connector plates for chord splicing. Besides the labor savings and cost of the plates, it also allows for greater flexibility of the truss fabricator on where webs (internal truss members) can intersect the chords (there are rules about where webs can be placed in relationship to splices).

Besides solving problems for the truss people, I’d think this could be a pretty handy way to solve some structural issues with pole building wall girts. As a builder – walls would certainly frame up quick, with the use of only a single board to do an entire girt row on a 48 foot length building!

 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized, Lumber and tagged , , , , on by .

Machine Graded Lumber

Lumber grades take into account natural characteristics, including knots, splits, checks, shake, and wane. Lumber design values are assigned to lumber grades to provide a means for using this material in structural applications. These values are published in Design Values for Wood Construction, a supplement to the National Design Specification® (NDS) for Wood Construction. The six design values are bending (Fb), shear parallel to grain (Fv), compression perpendicular to grain (Fc⊥), compression parallel to grain (Fc), tension parallel to grain (Ft), and modulus of elasticity (E and Emin).

Dry LumberThe current changes in design values affect visually graded lumber only. Specifically, the changes being made to southern pine lumber in 2012 are the result of laboratory testing of the strength properties of visually graded lumber. These changes resulted in a devaluation of the design values for 2×4 southern pine. Because machine graded lumber has strength properties assessed during production, Machine Evaluated Lumber (MEL) and Machine Stress Rated Lumber (MSR) grading automatically adjusts to changes in the internal quality of lumber. Changes to visual grades have no impact on the design values of MSR and MEL because of the way these products are manufactured and tested.

Produced since the 1960s, MSR lumber has documented and tested structural design values. In contrast to visual grades, machine graded lumber is produced by measuring physical properties of each piece of lumber in the production line. Manufacturers are required to test samples during each shift and the entire quality assurance process is audited by independent third parties to confirm conformance with published design values. MSR and MEL lumber consistently meet design value requirements even as timber growing practices and environmental conditions change.

Sadly, we’ve had the technology available to reliably test lumber for strength, independent of the variability of the human eye (visual grading) for half a century – and we do not universally use it. Visit the local lumber yard, and ask if they have MSR lumber for sale. Chances are the answer will be a resounding “no”. Pick up a 2×6 at a lumberyard which was “visually graded”, and you have no idea how strong it really is.  Did the lumber grader have a bad day?  Was he really paying attention on the day he was grading lumber? Does it have a huge defect hidden from the naked eye?  Can you depend on it to perform how it you think it should?

Engineers and architects are confident in the strength and performance of MSR and MEL lumber. Designers can rely on machine graded lumber properties, use full-design strength, and avoid overbuilding. MSR and MEL lumber have proven to be cost-effective, quality lumber products for component manufacturers and builders. As the tag line of the MSR Lumber Producers Council says, “We Stress Quality”.

Read more about the MSR Lumber Producers Council at: http://www.msrlumber.org/

 

This entry was posted in Lumber and tagged , , on by .
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