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Through Screw Steel Roof Leaks

Through Screw Steel Roof Leaks

Reader DEBRA in KERSEY writes:

“20 years ago my husband Jim and I bought a 40×60 pole barn and it’s been wonderful except for the leaks in the roof. After reading some of your online articles about roof leaks, I wanted to get in touch with you and see if any materials had improved since 2004. Jim wants to reseal with sealant every screw in roofing so I want to make sure we know if there are any upgraded materials you are selling for your older building kits that might help with this issue. Jim is now 77 and I really don’t want him up on that roof for this job and am hoping you have an alternate idea for me Looking forward to hearing from you.”

Properly installed, through screwed steel roofing, with correct screws, on a fully engineered post frame (pole barn) building should never pose a leaking challenge.
Mike the Pole Barn Guru says:
Let’s look at why buildings leak.

If leaks are discovered immediately following construction completion they are most often from:

Roof steel lapped in wrong direction (three-quarter lap goes OVER full lap – even “professional” builders make this error)

Screws not properly being seated (under driven or driven at an angle allowing water to seep in around shank of screw, or over driven crushing gasket under screw head)

Screws missing roof purlins (most often due to roof steel not being pre-drilled, or purlins not being adjusted to straight during installation)

No provision to control condensation (this is most often seen in Spring and Fall when dew points are higher than ambient air temperatures). This truly is not a leak, but feels like one. It can be solved by application of two inches of closed cell spray foam to the underside of roof steel.

Closures missing from beneath the ridge cap.

Leaks over time:

Improper screw patterns (screws must be placed into each roof purlin, at the side of steel ribs away from overlap then every nine inches. At eave and ridge, screws must be each side of each high rib)

Screws were placed in high ribs, rather than in flats (it is impossible to perfectly seat every screw into crowns of high ribs. Even using a screw gun with a clutch, variations in stiffness of roof purlins cause screws to not all be identically driven. As wind cycles into your building roof, shank of screws in void between crown of high ribs and purlins will flex slightly and over time cause slotting around shanks)

Inadequate screw diameters – we subjected a full scale roof to cyclical loads, to failure. We found industry standard #10 screws in areas of high shear loads (at eave and ridge) began slotting below fastener heads. When slots became long enough, roof leaked.

Screws without EPDM gaskets below grommets – most screws have neoprene rubber gaskets. Neoprene is not UV resistant and will deteriorate in a matter of very few years.

Poor screw coatings – cheap screws have only minimal electroplated galvanization. Once this wears through, screws will rust and decay quickly.

There is no sealant capable of adequately solving individual roof leaks beyond just a very short term. I have tried it myself and it is not an approved method of correcting leaks endorsed by any steel roll former. There are roofing coating systems advertising their ability to completely seal entire roofs. I have never used one, so cannot speak to their effectiveness, durability or how they look.

Without knowing more about your building’s leak specifics (where does it leak, when does it leak, how long has it leaked) it is difficult to recommend a possible solution or solutions. In most cases, provided ridge closures are intact and not decayed, if screws were placed in flats – replacing all screws with larger diameter, longer screws, powder coated with EPDM gaskets can resolve leak issues.

This entry was posted in Fasteners, Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Structure, Steel Roofing & Siding and tagged , , , , , , on by .

Snow Load, Clear Span Scissor Trusses, and a Window Replacement

This Wednesday the Pole Barn Guru answers reader questions about whether or not a 30 year old building correct snow load, the possibility of clear spanning scissor trusses to eighty feet, and assistance with the replacement (or repair) of a window in a Hansen Building from 2014.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: How do I figure out the snow load rating for my Morton barn since it is 30 years old and it has poles, trusses and purlins. The purlins are 2 x 8 and 20″ on center with 36 of them over 50 feet and 6 trusses nine feet tall and spanning 50 feet in length and 8 feet apart. Is the rating more than 55psf or not? MARK in PORTVILLE

DEAR MARK: Your roof purlins appear to be adequate to support this type of a snow load. As to trusses, I would reach out to Morton Buildings with your site address and they should be able to pull up truss drawings for your building. If not, you would need to retain services of a Registered Professional Engineer who could do an actual inspection of your trusses and run calculations to determine exactly their capacity.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can you 80 foot clear span scissor truss on a 14-16 foot eave? Commercial shop use. Northern Indiana. ANDREW in AVILLA

DEAR ANDREW: Can and should are not often same.

Yes, an 80 foot clearspan scissor truss can be done, expect it to be either designed with a flat top and a peak “cap” or to be parallel chord with a deep heel and joined together onsite at center. It will prove to be far more economical to utilize flat bottom chord trusses with a taller eave height – this would also allow for full height interior clearance from wall-to-wall. One of our Building Designers will be reaching out to you to further discuss your building needs.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I built my Hansen monitor pole barn in 2014. It took this long but a nasty storm broke out my window in the upper floor of the building. What’s the best way to replace a window and frame in a metal sided building. Do I need to remove the surrounding ribbed sheet metal panels and are there any tricks to that? With an eight-year-old build should I use new screws as the gaskets might be dried out from baking on the southern facing wall? Any methods you can suggest to get me going are appreciated. Thanks DAVE in FERNLEY

DEAR DAVE: Unless your window’s vinyl frame was actually damaged, in most instances a glass company can do a repair of just broken glazed portions. I would suggest a call to Capital Glass in Reno (775)324-6688 as this appears to be in their wheelhouse and they service Fernley.

Rarely does glass repair require steel panels to be removed. In an unusual case where there is no alternative, and steel must be taken off, your siding screws have EPDM gaskets. These are UV resistant and have a manufacturer’s warranty they will outlast your steel siding.

Should you have some photos of your completed building, we would greatly appreciate your sharing them with us.

 

This entry was posted in Building Interior, Pole Barn Questions, Roofing Materials, Constructing a Pole Building, Pole Building How To Guides, Pole Barn Structure, Trusses, Windows and tagged , , , , , , on by .

Basic Stats for Post Frame Home Floor Plans

Basic Stats for Post Frame Home Floor Plans

If there is a single commonality among us humans it is this – we are dimensionally challenged. This situation is even more so crucial when it comes to planning your new post frame home.

Here are a few tips to help you out:

EAVE HEIGHT

Measure from the pressure treated splash plank bottom, to intersection roofing underside at sidewall columns. This is not to be confused with ceiling height (also known as interior clear height).

HOW TO GET AN EIGHT FOOT FINISHED CEILING

For discussion’s sake (and as most post frame homes are concrete slab on grade), set a “zero point” at exterior grade (pressure treated splash plank bottom), slab top will be at +3.5 inches.

To create eight foot finished ceilings requires 8’ 1-1/8” (allows for 5/8” sheetrock on ceilings). This puts us at 8’ 4-5/8”.

Now allow for roof system thickness. With recessed (joist hung between trusses) roof purlins, 6-1/16″ for truss heel height with 2×6 top chord at 4/12 slope (provided you are using closed cell spray foam insulation between purlins).  Minimum eave height would then be 8’ 10-11/16”. If using blown-in insulation truss heel height should be insulation R value divided by 3 plus 2″ to allow plenty of eave to ridge air flow above insulation.

What about two floors?

In order to be able to run utilities (e.g. plumbing and ductwork) through second floor supports, I highly recommend 4” x 2” prefabricated wood floor trusses. Generally truss depth will be about an inch for every clear span foot with a 12 inch minimum.  Adding an arbitrarily chosen 16” deep floor truss and 8’ ceiling on second floor to example in previous paragraph puts eave height at 18’ 4-9/16”.

Stairs challenge even many experienced builders. Finished width must be no less than three feet (if planning allows, four feet is so much nicer), allow for drywall on each side when determining interior framing of stair opening width. In most jurisdictions maximum tread rise is 7-3/4” and minimum run is 10”. In above example, second floor top is 9’ 5-7/8”, so stairs would need at least 14 treads, taking up at least 140” (11’ 8”) horizontally. At stair top and bottom a space, in travel direction, equal to stair width must be provided. Headroom along every point of finished stairs must be no less than 6’8”.

ALLOW FOR WALL THICKNESS

Different providers measure their building footprints differently – some use wall girt outside at ‘call out’ while others use column outside and are three inches greater in width and length, this will need to be accounted for in room dimensions.

Exterior walls with bookshelf girts will be wall column thickness plus 1-1/2” for girts protruding outside of columns. With 3 or 4 ply 2×6 glulams or 6×6 columns allow 7-1/4” plus interior sheetrock thickness. Interior 2×4 walls with ½” sheetrock on each side end up 4-1/2” thick.

APPROPRIATELY SIZE SPACES

Below are popular post frame home rooms and their average square footage, in three categories (listed as small/medium/large):

Entry Foyer (65/89/138)
Kitchen (193/275/423)
Walk-In Kitchen Pantry (17/31/51)
Great Room (487/481/680)
Dining (148/196/281)
Living (256/319/393)
Family (311/355/503)
Recreation (216/384/540)
Entertainment/Media (140/192/280)
Master Bedroom (231/271/411)
Master Bathroom (115/144/210)
Secondary Bedrooms (130/139/178)
Other Bathrooms (93/146/313)
Laundry (67/87/145)
Utility/Mud Room (30/48/80)

Always allow adequate space for hallways (same minimum width rules apply as stairs).

This entry was posted in Columns, Pole Barn Design, Pole Barn Homes, Pole Building How To Guides, Post Frame Home, Pole Barn Planning, Shouse, Trusses and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on by .

Roof Purlins for a Bar Joisted Lean-To

Roof Purlins for a Bar Joisted Lean-to

Reader JIM in MOORESBURG writes:

“First, I have spent the last 3 hours reading around your site and am impressed. I appreciate the manner you answer questions on your site”, respectful and factual with no hint of disrespect (even if deserved) in your replies. Professional and well done! Second…My question is about correct purlin sizing/spacing on a lean-to shed roof 48ft long 25ft deep with 12ft bar joist spacing spanned by these purlins. (this is an open front machine shed). I wish to size for the snow load that occurs here (mountains of East Tennessee!) about once every 15 yrs which is 2 ft of snow. Purlins will be bolted into “U” shaped brackets welded to the tops of the bar joist similar to the design used on many kit pole barn metal trusses. My attempt to calculate purlin size/spacing results in using 2x8x12′ purlins at 24″ spacing but too many assumptions on my part to be comfortable yet other detail…Bar joists attached to post (in ground) adjacent to an existing wood barn. Roof Metal is Type “R” deep rib. Yes…this is DIY with materials from my surplus pile:) thanks.”


Thank you for your kind words. Our eldest son and his lovely bride lived in Maryville for many years, so I know where you are and have driven in your area.

Two feet of snow should give roughly a 25 psf ground snow load (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/calculating-loads/). Without an engineer’s review, your attempt at calculations look as though they should be plenty adequate – PROVIDED:

Roof slope of existing wood barn and lean-to are the same and in the same roof plane.

Otherwise you will have either an accumulation of snow at a steeper-to-flatter roof plane, a slide off load, or drifting to account for. If any of these are your case, then you should contract a Registered Professional Engineer for an accurate structural design. Any of these situations could easily cause an overload of your bar joists as well and should be validated.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Questions, Pole Barn Design, About The Pole Barn Guru, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure and tagged , , , , , , on by .

Don’t Let Valleys Get You Down

When it comes to post frame barndominiums, rooflines run from simple gabled roofs, to complex designs including hips, valleys, reverse gables, etc. Basically, if you can imagine it, post frame can provide a design solution.

Loyal reader (and my Facebook friend) RUSS in PIPERSVILLE writes:

“Hello Mike. As we get a little further along with our design I would like to ask for your opinion. I read in past blog topics that you don’t recommend designing roofs with valleys when going metal over purlins. Our current plan has a large reverse gable on the front of the house covering the entry and porch and our utility mechanical room is a reverse gable room attached at the rear. All roofs are 6/12 pitch. I’m a bit worried about getting the details right. Is it that difficult to install the metal roof correctly over purlins, or should I just consider installing solid sheathing with metal over? Perhaps forego the metal and return to wood deck and shingles? Tom Z. has been a help in explaining how the gables must be framed but I must confess that the details don’t leave me all warm and fuzzy about the roof construction. Any insight you can offer is always appreciated.”

Mike the Pole Barn Guru says:
If I led you to believe I have issues with valleys on steel roofing over purlins I somehow took you astray.

In order to have a successful valley, these steps are followed:

Main roof is framed up, including purlins across area where reverse gable will intersect. 2×12 blocking is then placed between main roof purlins, centered on what will eventually be the middle of the valley. This provides a landing point for intersecting roof purlins from reverse gable (next to be installed). Once these purlins are in place, any reflective radiant barrier (RRB) is installed (I prefer using roof steel with Integral Condensation Control to a RRB). Valley flashing is then installed. We furnish Emseal® self-expanding foam closures to seal between valley flashing and roof steel, following slope of valley flashing. Roof steel is then applied and you are buttoned up tight.

Most challenging parts of assembly are cutting intersecting roof purlins (besides cut being at a 26.6 degree angle along wide face of purlin, cut also needs to be done at 26.6 degrees from perpendicular to compensate for slope of intersecting purlins from vertical) and cutting roof steel at valley to end up with a nice straight line up valley. Neither one is actually beyond most people’s abilities.

There really is no structural advantage to solid sheeting your roof and even the best of shingles have a very poor warranty and I cannot, in all good conscience recommend them as a practical design solution.

For extended reading on Emseal® closures: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2016/03/emseal-self-expanding-sealant-tape-closures/

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

Temporary Client Insanity – Truss Problems?

Temporary Client Insanity – Truss Problems? 

Long ago someone told me during the course of any construction project there comes a time when every client goes absolutely bat-pooh crazy. Personally, even knowing what I know, I am guilty of freaking out and having had a case of temporary client insanity during our own remodel and construction projects for our home.

For hyperventilation they have people breath from a brown paper bag, in my case – perhaps a plastic bag over my head and tied tightly about my neck would have been more appropriate.

Below I will share a client’s concerns. He remained much calmer (totally appreciated) during this process than I might have. He wrote to Justine (Hansen Pole Buildings’ Master of All Things Trusses):

“Justine, one more thing, the top chords of the trusses show 2×8 and the trusses were delivered with a 2×6 top chord, so all the bracing (purlins) will be hanging down. This roof is going to be insulated.

Also, the double trusses are not fastened together and I think I should have more than 1 set of scissored trusses.”

Our Technical Support response:

Building plans are drafted prior to receipt of truss drawings, so trusses as drawn on your plans are merely a depiction of what they may look like. Top and bottom chords as well as internal diagonal webs may be entirely different. The roof slopes will be accurate. Your building’s roof purlins certainly may hang below roof truss top chords, as this has no bearing upon your ability to insulate (please refer to Figure 9-5 of your Hansen Pole Buildings’ Construction Manual). As your roof has a Reflective Radiant Barrier, if you intend to use batt insulation between purlins, make sure to use unfaced insulation without a vapor barrier on underside, otherwise moisture can become trapped between two vapor barriers. This can lead to ineffective damp insulation as well as potential mold and mildew issues.

Per change order #3 your building is to have standard trusses in front 24 feet and a vaulted ceiling in rear 24 feet. With a pair of scissor trusses at 12 feet in front of rear endwall, this allows for the rear 24 feet to be vaulted and front 24 feet to have a level bottom chord.

Truss assembly people are not carpenters – and rarely do truss manufacturing facilities even have nail guns. It also avoids nail wounds from inexperienced or inappropriate use. As an example – back in 1979, I was shopping for a new employer designing and selling trusses. I interviewed with Tilden Truss, near Seattle. They used air guns firing a “T” staple to initially set steel truss plates. Their fabrication shop ceiling was covered with hundreds (if not thousands) of these “T” staples!

You will find it much easier to maneuver single trusses around your building site, than twice as heavy double trusses.

Please feel free to address any building assembly concerns to TechSupport@HansenPoleBuildings.com.

Another crisis averted.

This entry was posted in Insulation, Pole Barn Design, Pole Barn Structure, Trusses and tagged , , , , , , , , on by .

The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience

Hansen Pole Buildings is on a mission to provide “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™”. (Read about “The Ultimate Post Frame Building Experience™” here: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2016/06/ultimate-post-frame-experience/) In doing so, we often make what I will refer to as ‘tweaks’ to make not only our clients’ experiences better, but also their new post frame buildings better.

About Hansen BuildingsWe look for trends in questions asked by owners of existing pole barns – usually not even those we provided! There are a couple of these our team has decided to address and we have so far done a very poor job of letting our clients know we have done so.

Lesser of these items are folks who decide, for whatever reason, they would like to add either plywood or OSB between their new post frame building’s roof purlins and roof steel (https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/2017/03/osb-steel-roofing-pole-buildings/).

Near universally pole barn builders and kit suppliers (as well as most truss manufacturers) have designed trusses with barely enough load capacity to meet minimums. In most instances, actual weight of materials (dead load) of roof truss top chords is around 2.5 psf (pounds per square foot). This is enough to account for truss weight, roof purlins, some sort of reflective radiant barrier or other minimal condensation control, as well as light gauge steel roofing. We have been using 3.3 psf just to give a little extra cushion (roughly 1/3rd more capacity).

½-inch plywood and 7/16-inch OSB both weigh 46 to 48 pounds per four foot by eight foot sheet or 1.5 psf. In order to account for possibilities of someone wanting to add one of these sheathings during building assembly, Hansen Pole Buildings has opted to increase our design top chord dead load to five psf for clearspan trusses up to and including 40 feet. This is DOUBLE minimum requirements.

Tomorrow, I will share with you a solution to an all too frequent challenge.

Stay tuned……

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, Roofing Materials, Pole Barn Planning, Pole Barn Structure, Steel Roofing & Siding and tagged , , , , on by .

Dancing With the Posts

Reality television watchers have suffered through 384 episodes of the ABC networks, Dancing with the Stars hosted by Tom Bergeron since 2005. On occasion, it seems some of our clients (or much more often their builders) have done some posts (as opposed to pole) dancing when placing columns for their new building. A certain amount of randomization can be accommodated, as found in this real life scenario:

Our client contacted his Hansen Pole Buildings’ Designer Rick recently, with this information:

“(name withheld) has a question about what to do with the bottoms of his posts being off and how it will affect his roof purlins. 

He sent this diagram showing how his posts are off: 

pole layout

Red circle is 3 inches off 

Blue circle is 1 ½ inches off 

The question is, does he just set the tops of his columns where they are supposed to be, or does he add a 2×6 to the side of one post?”

From front to back on the left side of the building the now poured into concrete column spacing is: 120”, 144”, 144”, 144”, 119.5”. Other than the rear bay being ½” short, it is spot on.

Now, for the right side – 117”, 145.5”, 144”, 144”, 121.75”. Those of you who pulled out your calculators already know the right side is ¾” longer than the left, as well as the columns not aligning.

In the most typical (as it allows for least cost, fewest holes to be dug and more long term design flexibility) Hansen Pole Buildings construction, double trusses are notched into the sidewall columns and 2x purlins are joist hung on edge between them. For ease of construction and builder sanity, it is ideal for the purlins in each bay to be able to be cut to the same length.

There is a solution, which I passed along:

“Construction Tolerances Standard for Post-Frame Buildings” allows for columns to be 1% out of plumb, which on a 16′ eave would be 1.92″.

He certainly wants to have trusses placed on columns so as to be able to cut all of the purlins to the same length in each bay.

Working from bottom of page up –

First pair up page (diagram sent by client) – tip left column forward (down page) 1-1/2″, right rear (up page) 1-1/2″

Next three on left tip forward 1-1/2″

Rear – left corner tip outward (back) 1/2″ right corner tip forward 1/4″

The posts will easily flex this far, so it shouldn’t be a huge issue.

This is just one of many reasons why post frame building roofs should be framed (as well as sheathed) prior to any wall framing being done. In the event the walls would have been framed prior to this, solving the challenge would have proven to be difficult, at best.

Thankfully, we have a very astute client who contacted our Technical Support Department for assistance as soon as they were aware of something gone awry.

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

Dear Pole Barn Guru: Toe Nail Purlins or use Hangers?

Welcome to Ask the Pole Barn Guru – where you can ask questions about building topics, with answers posted on Mondays.  With many questions to answer, please be patient to watch for yours to come up on a future Monday or Saturday segment.  If you want a quick answer, please be sure to answer with a “reply-able” email address.

Email all questions to: PoleBarnGuru@HansenPoleBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:It looks like your double truss system uses hangers between the trusses rather than the boards running on top of the trusses.

When I see these used on decks it sometimes looks like the nails that are toe-nailed into the connectors don’t do anything as they are at the very end of the board. The board splits or chips out.

Have I just seen it done improperly or perhaps I’ve seen the wrong types of hangers or nails being used?

I’m guessing you’ve seen your fair share of improperly installed connectors so I’m looking forward to what you have to say.

Thanks NOVICE IN MILTON

DEAR NOVICE: The Hansen Pole Buildings double truss system (as well as the special requests we get for widely spaced single trusses) do utilize engineered steel connectors to attach the roof purlins to the sides of the trusses.

As an experiment, I looked today at the hundreds of hangers we have installed on a 42’ x 120’ self storage building being constructed for Eric (one of the Hansen Pole Buildings owners). All of the hangers for the project are manufactured by Simpson Strong-Tie:

https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/08/simpson/

The hangers installed are their LU26, LU28 and H1 brackets.

The roof purlins being nailed into are kiln dried 2×6 and 2×8 of Douglas Fir (DFir) and SPF (Canadian Spruce-Pine-Fir). All of the nails used in the hangers are joist hanger nails (#10 x 1-1/2” long) which are designed specifically for use in engineered metal connectors.

https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/01/tico-10d-common-nails/

I was unable to find a single case on Eric’s large building with hundreds of joist hangers where the nails contributed to an end split in a purlin or a portion of the roof purlin being split away.

I do have some theories as to what may be the cause of what you have seen on decks.

Theory #1 – other than a few specially designed brackets, joist hangers are designed for the nails to be installed at right angles to the wood. Toe-nailing (driving the nails in at an angle) could be responsible for splits.

Theory #2 – in your part of the country, the vast majority of lumber used for decks is pressure preservative treated Southern Yellow Pine (SYP). It could very well be the SYP lumber is more susceptible to splitting than the species of wood provided for use in the building we are currently constructing.

Simpson Strong-Tie produces millions upon millions of engineered steel connectors every year – if there existing an inordinate (or any) number of failures due to the use of their products, they would be on top of making changes in the design to prevent them.

Me – if my choice is to nail a purlin over the top of the truss (which in the great majority of cases does not calculate out to be adequate structurally) or to use an engineered connector – the connector is going to win every single time.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am currently assembling a Hansen Pole Building kit package. The building has a transition in roof slope from a steeper slope in the enclosed area, to a flatter slope in the open attached side shed.

In following the instructions in your Construction Guide, I note the solid wall between the enclosed and open portions is to have the wall framed and wall steel installed prior to placement of the roof steel.

My questions are these – I’m running the J trim at the top eave girt between the enclosed wall and shed.  Do I need to flow around the shed rafters with the J trim? Will I be able to square the roof if I put the wall steel on? STUMPED

DEAR STUMPED: Yes – the J Trim goes around the rafters which project through the wall. And as long as this wall is plumb before installing the wall steel, it will not interfere with being able to square up the roof.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Questions and tagged , , , , , on by .

The Great Purlins Caper

Here is the scene….

roof framing plansOur client has ordered a pole building kit package which is designed around sidewall columns spaced every 14’. For those who care, the building has a design roof snow load of 30 psf (pounds per square foot) and the actual roof dead load carried by the roof purlins (including the purlins themselves) is 1.626 psf. Our engineer designs a roof system with a pair of trusses at each sidewall column, and 2×8 #2 roof purlins joist hung between the trusses and placed 24 inches on center. The engineer prints off two sets of plans and supporting calculations, places his seal and signature on them, and sends them off to our client.

The client submits his plans and obtains a permit to build, which he proceeds to do.

Once under construction, the client sends this email to our office:

“My planning department made a notation on my plans that the roof purlins on the 14′ bays either need to be 16″ on center or use MSR 1450 rated lumber. The plans call out purlins 24″ on center and I don’t believe the wood I was shipped is rated MSR 1450. What is the resolution to this issue?”

The real issue, in my perhaps narrow mind, is a plans checker with perhaps limited ability to perform structural calculations, has made edits to an engineer sealed plan. Effectively, and probably unknowingly, this person has made themselves into the EOR (engineer of record) for this project, putting themselves and their Building Department into a potential position of liability should the building happen to fail structurally.

I wrote at length about this very issue earlier this year: https://www.hansenpolebuildings.com/blog/2013/07/building-official/

A couple of things to know about engineers (a broad generality of course) – their time does not come free, and they can get pretty bent out of shape when someone other than a Registered Design Professional questions their work.  After all, they spent considerable time and money getting their degree to be the “professional” assuming liability for every set of plans they seal.

In order to expedite a solution and keep the peace, I make a call to the plans checker. In the call I discover they have used 10 psf for the dead load on the roof purlins…..over six times the actual load! This sort of dead load would be much more appropriate for a building sheathed with OSB (oriented strand board) or plywood, with a shingled roof!

After a quick and happy conversation, the plans checker and I are now buddies, the crises is averted and the client is out building away on his building, using the plans as designed by the engineer.

This entry was posted in Pole Barn Design, Building Department, Professional Engineer and tagged , , on by .
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