Tag Archives: vented ridge cap

Moisture Control, Insulating Existing Structure, and a Post Rot Fix

Today the Pole Barn Guru answers reader questions about moisture control, insulating a building with a ridge vent, and a solution for replacing posts that have rotted out.

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Thanks for the abundance of technical information you provide your readers. Like many of them, I inherited a pole barn with the same ceiling sweating, heat, cold issues and need a post construction solution. The slab sweats only in some places. I have a typical wood post with 2×4 horizontal purlins, wood truss and purlin roof, and metal skin walls and roof. My goals are, #1 stop the moisture inside, #2 insulate for moderate comfort (no codes to comply with and I can heat with a wood stove and abundance of wood) , and #3 if I can afford it, skin the walls with T-111 or other wood for an attractive look inside. I did not see any suggestions about double-faced radiant barriers in your other articles. Do you think expanded polystyrene cut to fit in the 1.5 inch cavities to flush with purlins, and then add the radiant barrier (bubble type) stapled over that directly to purlins would be appropriate and not trap moisture? If so, should I allow and air space between the polystyrene and radiant barrier? Many thanks, Mr. Retired…finally! JOHN in CHEROKEE VILLAGE

DEAR JOHN: Thank you for your kind words. If your slab sweats at all, it is likely there is no vapor barrier under it and it would behoove you to apply a sealant. 1.5″ expanded polystyrene (EPS) boards cut to fit tightly and with all seams tightly sealed would give you some degree of insulation (roughly R-7.5 other than at girt and purlin locations). You could add unfaced rock wool batts to increase insulation. Radiant barriers provide next to no insulation value and only function if seams can be perfectly sealed, we’ve actually opted to no longer offer them to our clients.

Unless you want to heat area in triangle of trusses, you may want to consider insulating at ceiling level, then vent dead attic space above.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Hello Mike. I came across your website while trying to learn more about what to do with the ridge vents in a pole barn when you plan on insulating it with closed cell foam. My wife and I purchased a property that has a 36w x 48L unconditioned pole barn with 8 skylights, a couple of ridge vents and (2) sets of huge doors on each end. While we know this will never be a tight building, we need to insulate it for our pets (10) dogs and (11) cats, and for a hangout area for us to spend time with them rather than inside our home.

We have a high-end American Standard heat pump split system that will condition the entire space.

Would you be able to give me any advice on what you recommend I do regarding the existing ridge vents? I’m not sure if I should insulate around them and leave them as they are…open. Or, should I temporarily trim out around them and seal them for the time being?

Any information you could provide me on this topic would be greatly appreciated. ROGER in HOUSTON

DEAR ROGER: With those large sliding doors, your investing in closed cell spray foam may be for naught. If your expectation is to be able to control any sort of heat loss/gain you should consider replacing them with insulated steel sectional overhead doors.

On to your question – seal off ridge vents and spray foam across skylights (or, even better) replace them with steel roofing before insulating.

 

DEAR POLE BARN GURU: What are my options on repairing 32×40 all 6×6 posts are rotted off ground level. Floating slab, perma colum, helical peir, or strongway sleeve. CHAD in GREAT BEND

DEAR CHAD: I would repair one column at a time. Temporarily support roof system being supported by a column. Cut column off above point of decay. Excavate embedded portion of column and remove – hole being dug to be at least below frost line. Insure bottom of hole is firmly compacted. Place a sonotube in hole, attach an ICC approved wet set bracket to bottom of column and backfill with premix concrete. Compact granulated fill around sonotube in six inch lifts. Repeat at each column.

 

 

Steel Roofs Are Not Meant to Be Weather Tight?

Once upon a time I was a post frame building contractor. With as many as 35 crews erecting buildings in six states, we erected thousands upon thousands of buildings. If we would ever have told a client, “Steel roofs are not meant to be weather tight” it might (and should) have been our last job! Our Quality Control team would check in with each client every three months, post completion, to ensure they were satisfied and had no leaks. We actually warranted our workmanship against roof leaks for five years.

Reader STEVE in ROCKFORD writes:

“Hi, 

I had a local crew put a new 29ga pro-rib steel roof on my older pole barn.   Since then we have had a couple storms come through, one was very heavy wind and rain, and all was good, building was good.   The next was a light drizzle, and the roof leaks at the ridge cap – it looks like the leak was coming from the screw, not the top of the sheet. The next day I went up to take a look.  It looks like they screwed the ridge cap down the upper purlin next to the rib, and not into the rib.    Is this a problem?  How can I fix it?  A call to the contractor was no help, “that’s how we do them all, and they are not meant to be 100% weather tight” was the response.   It does have some kind of meshy vented like closure strip.”  

Under Illinois’ Roofing Industry Licensing Act, all contractors offering roof construction services must obtain a license from Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) before engaging in any work. This local crew needs to come and repair or replace their work so your roof is weather tight. I would recommend you spend $100 to have your attorney send a demand letter on Monday. Construction work comes with a minimum one year implied warranty on materials and labor, so as long as you are within this time frame, you have cause of action should he fail to repair. You can also file a complaint with your state (https://www.idfpr.com/Forms/Brochures/FilingAComplaint.pdf) –  you should do this immediately, as this contractor needs to be stopped before he rips off yet another innocent building owner with shoddy workmanship.


Your building’s ridge cap should have been attached to each roof steel high rib with a metal-to-metal stitch screw. Ridge cap to roofing screws should not be placed next to ribs.

Dear Guru: Where Can I Get Expanding Foam Closures?

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:I am interested in just the doors. Do you offer a barn door kit? I have a detached garage that I would like to replace the overhead door with sliding barn doors. Thanks for your response. FLAILING IN FALLS CHURCH

 DEAR FLAILING: Yes, we offer just the sliding doors. You may purchase just the hardware, or we can also provide steel siding for them, in a myriad of colors. Call our number on the top part of our website: www.HansenBuildings.com

DEAR POLE BARN GURU:where can i get the expanding foam closures to seal my ridge cap i have looked at lowes and home depo thank you. IRRITATED IN IOWA

DEAR IRRITATED: Your question is one frequently posed by owners of steel roofed buildings where either the seller cut corners and pocketed a few extra dollars by leaving them out, or the erection crew got lazy and wanted to save a few minutes of time. I’ve actually had owners of new pole buildings report their construction crew told them by leaving out the closures, they could have a vented ridge cap, for free!

Yes, without the closures, it will be vented alright…as well as providing easy access for flying critters of all shapes and sizes, not to mention rain and snow!

When I was building, and running as many as 35 pole building crews, we had three quality control persons on staff, who visited every building we constructed to make sure the finished products met with our standards. One of the tools carried by each QC person – field glasses, so they could tell from a distance if the closure strips had been installed under the ridge cap.

The Hansen Pole Buildings warehouse is an older pole building, which did not have closures under the ridge cap. To compound the problem – the ridge cap was nailed on! Luckily, one of the products we sell is an expanding foam closure strip which comes in a very thin roll, but expands to an inch square once installed. These expandable closures will stick to nearly anything, and can be a gooey mess to work with, but they did the trick in our case. They really do stick and seal!

If your building has a screwed on ridge cap, we’d recommend using form fitted closure strips which come with an adhesive pull strip on one side. They are available from Hansen Pole Buildings either as solid, or vented (with integral screening to prevent the “bad stuff” from coming through into your building. And yes, we sell the expanding foam closures  too. Check it out on our website.