Pole Barn Construction

the plan is for 10 foot doors, floors at 12 feet. The 14 foot walls will give a knee wall of 2 feet and the 9/12 pitch will make a 12x32 usable space upstairs. I am planning on building a step over the truss horizontal members. I went with the prebuilt trusses instead of the big $$ for handcut rafters. Less than optimal but sufficient for my plans.
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10' doors minimum. If my barn has a mistake, going with 10' walls and 9' doors was it. I don't need any more than the 10' walls other than to fit a taller door in there.
 
I'll have 10 foot tall doors that are 12 feet wide, but the door guy is coming to visit this afternoon.....

and yes Fred there will be a place to park your aluminum boat out of the rain, we wouldn't want it to shrink.
 
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In a few years, you'll go over to the shop to do a little work and see all your boats, tractor and stuff parked in the back and Thomas and his buddies will be readying it for a party!!!! Teenagers, nothing like having a building where you don't have to worry about screwing up the furniture. Went to a party recently in a "barn/shop" where all you had to do was undo some latches and like a Murphy bed, down comes skee ball, basketball hoop and other stuff you would see at a Dave and Busters!!! Plan ahead.

Trip.
 
Make it work out best with the material available. Less scrap and best use of your dollar. You might gain a couple of feet for free. John
 
I would say the larger door size and the ability to add a lean-to are the most important - doesnt matter how big you build it you will always fill it up and want more space. A loft and any additions to the inside are pretty simple. Let me know if you want the number for the guy that built mine.
 
Eric
Sorry, but I will be the devil’s advocate here. We had gotten to the point where you are, but have not yet built. I wanted a barn for years, wanted one before I got married, didn’t happen, and as the married years went by, the wife started coming around to the fact that we have too much stuff. We have a 2.5 car garage, and in it is 2 cars, trailer, woodworking tools and bench, bikes, kid stuff and up to 7 boats! Now I’m not talking big ass, heavy seas type craft, but canoes, kayaks and marsh boat type things. We have cubed out every cubic foot of volume (not just square foot of floor space).

3 or 4 years ago, we started talking serious about doing it. We are zoned low density residential, which will allow us one outbuilding of up to 400 sqft and a maximum height of 14 feet, which is reasonable for what I wanted. Cost of putting the building up was within our financial capability, however the old adage ’just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ came into play at this point. We looked at the our house, and our neighborhood, and the resale values, and took a honest look at what spending $8-10,000 on a barn would do to our resale value, and as much as WE would see value in buying a house with a barn, it really wouldn’t add to the market value of our house. Tell me I’m wrong, tell me I’m an idiot, I’ll tell you, you are just fooling yourself. Yes, it would be a selling point of the house, but it would not add significant value to the average home consumer in our area. We came to the conclusion unless we were for sure going to live there for 20+ years, it was a poor investment. As much as we wanted to justify it as money well spent that we would benefit from, it was just too much considering we are likely looking at 10 year max. in this house, at which we are hoping to retire and our destination is unknown at that point.

Postponing retirement to have a barn just did not make sense to either of us. We are Dave Ramsey people, and have followed his basic philosophy of money since before Dave was filing for bankruptcy. We owe nothing to no one and have no intention of letting our short term wants get in the way of long term goals, no matter how nice it would be to have more space. Now you say you are building on a separate lot, such that you will keep and use this shop/building after you potentially move, so I will ask, do you plan to live out your days close enough that you would not sell this building? What if you get in a financial pickle, is there a market for such a building in that area? Odd buildings in odd places are hard to find a buyer who’s needs are filled the same as yours.
I hate storage lockers…99% of them are filled with stuff people spent good money on, spend more good money on rent, and in the end, if they really needed the stuff in there, they would keep it in a more convenient place. However, is there some one in the area you could rent space from to store you tractor, implements, and maybe your wood stocks? A farmer with barn space, or an existing, unused commercial building for rent?

I hated to rain on your parade, I’ve been dreaming of the day I’d have a barn out back, but in the larger scope of things, I found it didn’t make fiscal sense to go that route and get us to where we want to be long term. Give me a call if you want to discuss some more.

Best
Chuck
 
in the garage space and maybe even in the workshop space, make sure you have the foresight to throw in enough engineered trusses so you can use it as a chain hoist/engine block and tackle, or maybe to flip the next boat. Guy on Wooden Boat Forum, Bob Adams, from Texas is building Peterson's SUSAN, (about 12 pages long so far) and in his shed he had 2 areas to hoist his boat for full flip, like 15,000# or something rediculous like that so all he had to do was bring it up in the slings and rotate.

Few years ago I had to replace my transom on my big boat. had to lift a 115 hp motor. you can get a couple guys and grunt, but instead I went to the bro in laws where they have a lift system like I am talking about. Lifted the motor safely, changed the transome and back down went the motor. day job instead of a week and a sore back.

Bigger doors,
lots of power, receptacles.
good lights
drive though bay on at least one of them.
ceiling fans
a/c heat in the shop.
 
Fred S how big is that structure in your yard? I'm sure getting tired of you sending all YOUR smoke over here. Time fo some rain and wind for sure.
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Fred's barn is big.
 
Eric
Sorry, but I will be the devil’s advocate here. We had gotten to the point where you are, but have not yet built. I wanted a barn for years, wanted one before I got married, didn’t happen, and as the married years went by, the wife started coming around to the fact that we have too much stuff. We have a 2.5 car garage, and in it is 2 cars, trailer, woodworking tools and bench, bikes, kid stuff and up to 7 boats! Now I’m not talking big ass, heavy seas type craft, but canoes, kayaks and marsh boat type things. We have cubed out every cubic foot of volume (not just square foot of floor space).

3 or 4 years ago, we started talking serious about doing it. We are zoned low density residential, which will allow us one outbuilding of up to 400 sqft and a maximum height of 14 feet, which is reasonable for what I wanted. Cost of putting the building up was within our financial capability, however the old adage ’just because you can doesn’t mean you should’ came into play at this point. We looked at the our house, and our neighborhood, and the resale values, and took a honest look at what spending $8-10,000 on a barn would do to our resale value, and as much as WE would see value in buying a house with a barn, it really wouldn’t add to the market value of our house. Tell me I’m wrong, tell me I’m an idiot, I’ll tell you, you are just fooling yourself. Yes, it would be a selling point of the house, but it would not add significant value to the average home consumer in our area. We came to the conclusion unless we were for sure going to live there for 20+ years, it was a poor investment. As much as we wanted to justify it as money well spent that we would benefit from, it was just too much considering we are likely looking at 10 year max. in this house, at which we are hoping to retire and our destination is unknown at that point.

Postponing retirement to have a barn just did not make sense to either of us. We are Dave Ramsey people, and have followed his basic philosophy of money since before Dave was filing for bankruptcy. We owe nothing to no one and have no intention of letting our short term wants get in the way of long term goals, no matter how nice it would be to have more space. Now you say you are building on a separate lot, such that you will keep and use this shop/building after you potentially move, so I will ask, do you plan to live out your days close enough that you would not sell this building? What if you get in a financial pickle, is there a market for such a building in that area? Odd buildings in odd places are hard to find a buyer who’s needs are filled the same as yours.
I hate storage lockers…99% of them are filled with stuff people spent good money on, spend more good money on rent, and in the end, if they really needed the stuff in there, they would keep it in a more convenient place. However, is there some one in the area you could rent space from to store you tractor, implements, and maybe your wood stocks? A farmer with barn space, or an existing, unused commercial building for rent?

I hated to rain on your parade, I’ve been dreaming of the day I’d have a barn out back, but in the larger scope of things, I found it didn’t make fiscal sense to go that route and get us to where we want to be long term. Give me a call if you want to discuss some more.

Best
Chuck
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A barn is one of the good things in life.
 
I have been in Fred's "barn" and its no barn - its a warehouse. Come on Freddy, give us some barn porn --- processing tables for elk, cold storage, a freaking 30 foot travel trailer, at least 5 boats, 3 ATVs and a decoy storage area to droll over. I walk into My pathetic 3 car car garage feels barbie-dream house sized compared to that mansion.
Brad - I like the new setup, it looks big.
D-
 
Eric
We built one years ago with an overhang on our property and have been delighted with it's function. We were able in later years to add on to house a motor home. It's fully insulated and heats up readily with a wood burner. As many have said "go as big as you can afford". Our's was a Christmas present to each other and we call it "our Holley house". One big problem when I need a tool it's either at the house or the reverse is truth, it's at the Holley House :)
wis boz
 
Yep, Fred S has a huge shop/barn/decoy shop/ boat storage, meat packing house........etc. :) I've been there...just wanted to let him brag a little....but he probably won't.
 
A barn is one of the good things in life.
Click to expand...

I like barns, big barns, little barns, old barns and new barns too, however prioritization of long term goals overpowers immediate lust for stuff.

Chuck
 
A barn is one of the good things in life.
Click to expand...

I like barns, big barns, little barns, old barns and new barns too, however prioritization of long term goals overpowers immediate lust for stuff.

Chuck
Click to expand...

I think you are confusing lust with true love.
 
Eric,
Sounds like you have already put a lot of thought into this project and are doing the right thing to solicit suggestions before you even get started. Forgive me if I am repeating something already suggested as I didn't get a chance to read through all of the responses to your original post yet. There are three things that I have been glad I did in my shop in particular. First was to put it on an outside wall so you can have at least a couple windows in it. Given your geographic location, this also allows for a window air conditioner as I'm sure keeping the shop heated is less of a concern. Second was to have a ten foot ceiling so I'm not busting light bulbs when I'm swinging around a long stick of lumber. Third and most beneficial to me anyway was to have the trusses built in a way that there is a large void in the center section of the truss so I could add a floor above the shop for storage. This gets a lot of clutter out of the entire barn and is the area I use to store all of my cedar for decoys rather than using valuable shop space. Hope this helps and good luck!
 
We built a 32 by 40 for our place. The things I love: windows for natural light, opposing garage doors to let me pull through and park with my boat attached to the truck, and 12 foot walls. Of note: I already wish I had another 10 foot of length...

Take care and good luck!
 
If you want a barn, your wife will allow a barn, and you can afford a barn, BUILD A BARN. Planning for the future is fine, but if you plan on sticking around for 8 or 10 years it will be worth it. Too many never live long enough to see their expectations come to fruition. 2 cents
 
Eric,

I woiuld like to back-up what Wendell Avery said. You will NOT regret building this structure. I too had my Whaler sitting out, covered up with three big blue tarps, over a 2x4 super structure, to shed snow and weather!

My shop started out as a 24'x24' staructure. I laid it out on 1/4" graph paper, and had a cutout, similar to what an interior decorator uses to plan a furniture layout in a room, of every boat, auto, toy I owed at the time.

When it didn't all fit into the 24x24 size, I opened it up to 32' X 32'. The day we set up to dig the footing, my buddy pulled the back two stakes and moved it back 6'! He said that I'd never be sorry with a bigger shop. Whenever he comes over, we go out for a beer and his "FREE" lunch. I cannot thank him enough for doing that.

Also Eric, make sure that you get a good air compressor for your shop/carving area. an 80 gallon, two stage, with cast iron cylinders. You will not be disappointed. Air tools are cheap and the longer you use them, the cooler they get. Also invest in a ceiling gas heater if you have a smaller area you want to heat. I will post pics of my air set-up later this week.

Art
 
Hey guys, thanks for all the help and input. I'm doing legwork now on making an offer for the lot. Hope to meet with the county engineer soon to discuss zoning and subdivision. My architect brother was in town last week and helped me hammer out some basic plans. Need to send them to potential builders for estimates. I have a feeling the woodshop partiton, plumbing, and electrical fall outside the normal jobs that pole barn builders do so I may be looking for a general contractor as well. This is turning out to be a lot like building a house!

Eric
 
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