Stick Frame and Some Limitations
Perhaps stick built construction’s biggest advantage is builders and tradespeople are very comfortable working in and around stick framing. All registered architects and most building inspectors are very familiar with stick framing. The International Residential Code (IRC) provides a prescriptive ‘cook book’ to follow for adequate structural assembly, within certain limitations. These limitations include, but are not limited to, no story height of greater than 11 feet 7 inches (R301.3), no hurricane prone areas with a design wind speed of 130 mph or greater located south of Virginia, or 140 mph elsewhere (R301.2(5)B), and no ground snow loads over 70 psf (R301.2.3).
IRC802.10.2.1 further limits truss spans to a maximum of 36 feet and building lengths to 60 feet (measured perpendicular to truss span). Trussed roof slopes must be at least 3:12 and no greater than 12:12.
Wood is a very forgiving building material and, even when miscut, replacement material is usually only a short drive away. America’s home building industry has built traditional, wood stick framed homes, on site for decades.
Many builders, architects, carpenters and other subcontractors prefer to work on stick built homes as compared to alternative building systems. Because traditionally framed houses are so popular, dimensional lumber and stick built framers are readily available.
Another advantage of stick built homes is they allow for a great level of design freedom. You can design your barndominium with various ceiling heights, angles and curves, niches and other details. Stick framing one to achieve those unique details at a fairly affordable cost.
Despite its popularity, stick framing does have some drawbacks. Because stick built homes are assembled outside, over several weeks, framing lumber is subject to outside moisture.
If lumber gets too wet, it can shrink and warp as it dries and cause cracks in the attached drywall. This shrinking and warping can also make it difficult to properly insulate. To decrease risks of potential moisture problems, ensure exteriors are covered with an appropriate and well-sealed Weather Resistant Barrier and lumber is properly dried before drywall and insulation are installed.
Another drawback of a stick built home is it usually takes several weeks to complete framing. Total amount of time it will take will obviously depend on size and complexity of house plans and size, experience and availability of any particular framing crew.
A framing crew must precisely cut, assemble and erect barndominium framing components sometimes in adverse weather conditions. Working around adverse weather conditions is another challenge with stick framing.
Although site-built, stick framed homes clearly dominate America’s housing market, there are several other ways to build a barndominium’s structure. These include post frame, PEMB (pre-engineered metal buildings), weld up steel and concrete.
DEAR GREG: In your climate zone I would typically not recommend using spray foam other than as two inch thickness applied directly to steel roofing and/or siding in order to control condensation. This does result in having to mechanically control humidity as your building will now “dry” to inside. As standing seam steel does not provide shear resistance, it must be installed over solid decking – and you can spray foam directly to this decking underside.
DEAR MIKE: Absolutely do not cut or notch into your end rafter. You need to lower end rafters to allow purlins to go over top of end rafters without any notching.
In most instances, you are better served with sidewall columns spaced every 12 feet. Use a true two-ply truss, aligned with every sidewall column (
We provide custom designed engineered post frame building kit packages. As we are wood framing, we provide no metal studs. We can supply Weather Resistant Barriers and Reflective Radiant Barriers as well as batt insulation. We typically provide only structural portions of buildings – exterior shell, any raised floors (for crawl spaces, second or third floors or lofts) but can provide interior wall framing, if desired. We can work from any client supplied floor plans, elevation drawings or sketches. We do not have ‘stock’ plans, as every client’s needs are different. We expect our clients to layout their own interior rooms, to best fit with those needs and lifestyle.
This was a great feature for my lovely bride and I, as we moved walls all around until we came up with the configuration which best met with our needs – after the building shell was completed.
