Mini Pole Barn Construction

We lost our tractor "barn" last winter to the giant Valentine day snow storm and we have talked about putting up something to replace it. We finally decided on a Pole Barn structure put up in the same place as the original which was at the top of the driveway.

I made up a semiplan in Google Sketchup to give us some idea of what we were shooting for. The building is 15 feet wide and 24 1/2 feet long. I got the truss design, more or less, from a agricultural website. The design was actually for a 30 foot wide building and I basically reduced the dimensions by half while retaining the same size lumber. I also increased the roof pitch and we are using rough cut lumber we milled ourselves. So actually the trusses aren't anything like the ones I found on line.

We started the project (after milling the lumber) by building the trusses in the garage. It took us a couple of weeks to get them built since we were sort of milling lumber as we needed it. The first one took all day to figure out and construct. By the time we got a couple built we were laying them out and putting them together in a matter of an hour or so. There are a total of 8 trusses to be set 3 1/2 feet apart. I figured this would make the building stronger than the 4 feet which the downloaded plan called for. We also are spacing the posts closer together than the plan. They called for 12 foot spans. We are using 7 foot for the end spans and 10 1/2 feet for the middle.

Two weeks ago I drove the tractor which has been in Waterville over to Hyde Park. It wasn't a bad trip, took a bit over 2 hours, but I picked the coldest day we had for quite awhile. I was pretty chilled by the time I got here. I figured I needed the larger tractor to do a number of the jobs necessary to get the barn built.

It turned out I started with an unplanned segment of the project. There is a turn around for the town vehicles right beside where the barn is going. I needed to regrade and shape the turn around so I could fit the building in the space we had. I realized to make the area more attractive I needed to build a stone retaining wall. The finding of the stones, and the building of the wall occupied most of a week but I think it will make things more attractive in the long run.

The next step was to plant the posts. We were hoping to use our three point auger to drill the holes but found that the ground was just too rocky. We needed the posts to be places rather exactly and the auger was bouncing all over the place breaking shear bolts and just generally a pain in the rear. We quickly gave up on it and just dug the holes with the backhoe on the smaller tractor. It took us a whole day to get the first couple of posts in and then another two days to finish up with the rest. The recommendation around here is to get the posts at least 5 feet into the ground since the frost level is reportedly about 4 feet. There were a couple where we hit ledge but most got down the recommended depth. The posts were real bears to manuever. We are using 16 foot 6 x 6's which are pretty much impossible for Caroline and I to pick up and do anything with. This was one of the reasons I brought the Waterville tractor over. We attached the forks and the boom which I made last year for building the barn and picked up the posts and dropped them into the holes. We braced them in every direction we could as well as to each other.

The next step was putting up the 2 x 10's to support the trusses and to add bracing to allow the building to be more stable. That went well also though it took another several days to get it all done. Caroline acted as laborer and carpenter. She was in charge of the miter saw while I spent time up on the ladders measuring and nailing. We glued a lot of the pieces together to make everything more stable. I expect it is overkill but we keep thinking about that 4 foot snowfall last winter with the 5o mph gusts that went with it. We are also looking at this project as a practice run for a larger version over in Waterville to store lumber so we wanted to treat it like a larger building.

We were hoping to have help but, as is often the case, when it was time to get the trusses up there was no one around to help so Caroline and I took it upon ourselves to start the process. We figured we would use the boom again to raise the trusses up above the wall. Luckily it is tall enough to do that by about a foot. Caroline controlled the truss by straps connected to either end while I pick up the truss with the boom. We found we can pretty much set it down where we want it and have the tractor hold it up while we nail it in place. The trickest part, as it was with the Waterville barn, is to get the lifting strap off the truss and boom once the truss has been set. It means climbing up a ladder with the boom leaning on the truss to make sure it is secure. Not the most fun but at least it is not as high with this barn.

Our neighbor Scott showed up just as we were finishing the first one and helped us with the second. It definitely is much easier with a person in each side of the truss. Also having Scott gave us another person who was good with a hammer. Unfortunately we ran out of daylight after the second truss and had to stop. Today it rained all day so we are hoping to get the remaining 6 trusses set tomorrow.

Digging and Moving Stone

Things have been going relatively slow as far as projects are concerned. There has been more real estate activity than we normally have which is keeping us from getting much done except the maintance stuff like grass mowing.
I did start digging last week for the electric line extension. The rough measurement is 480 feet from the neighbor's transclosure to where our "vault" will be. We'll then run the electric back down the hill to the shed and the barn. We are going this route with the thought that the house will be up the hill in the future and we'll need to extend the line up that way so why not now. So far I've spent about 5 hours digging and about 5 hours moving logs, rocks, and brush, out of the way to allow me to dig. With a bit of luck I expect another 10-12 hours of digging should get us pretty much done. There are a number of trees which will have to come down at some point in the process. We'll then have to put in conduit and such. I'm hoping to have things ready to go by the middle of July weather and real estate permitting.

We also had some stone delivered, some of which we will use for the base of the vault for the power but the rest we are spreading around areas that need some building up and drainage. So far we've put some behind the barn where we hope to extend the roof out for lumber storage. Still have to spread it around and add a bit more.

The other big project is to spend a day taking care of our burn pile. It has gotten totally out of control and takes up a huge bunch of field at this point. Hopefully we can get that done before the end of June. Of course we'll just start putting together a new one as we continue to clean up the property.

Goat Fence Finished -- Well almost

Well we finally finished the Goat fence in the lower field except for one gate which we have to make. We have the little buggers down there at this point and hopefully it will hold them in. Otherwise we might have to shoot them (just kidding, well sort of).

As you can see from the pictures it goes on for awhile and in all honesty we are pretty proud. It took a bunch of work but we used mostly trees which were already down, or the upper parts of trees we are using for the "cabin" so it was pretty much found wood. Certainly not all the milling came out super wonderful but the rails look nice and the whole structure feels pretty solid. We have room at the top for another rail if we see reason for it but fully expect they will stay in at the current height.

As I'm writing this seven goats just went by. Obviously our fence isn't perfect. Fortunately they got out through the temporary closure for the gate so hopefully once we have the gate up we'll be golden.

We also think the gate makes the place look a bit classier. though of course we aren't prejudiced.