Lean-To Pole Barn Plans

I am going to need to build a barn to house my M at some point this summer and need some plans. Money is tight so i wanted to build a lean to pole barn using 6x6's and rough cut lumber. I cant really afford to buy trusses so the lean to roof works the best for me, i just have never built one. I've seen these barns being used as run in barns for horses i just want to make it larger.

Anyone have plans or know a website where i can find plans? I have done web searches and found kits but not many plans, any help would be helpful!

Will this be Free-standing or near or against another building..??

That makes a big difference in the amount of materials..

Ron..

I've used plywood and 2x4 to make trusses. That's how it was done in the 1950's to build the first trusses.

You make the first truss and build the rest on top of the first one using it as a pattern.

George

Iowa has some plans for sale very cheaply, as well as the bottom of the page links to many free plans.

http://www.mwps.org/

Dakota has even more free plans.

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-aben/buildingplans/

For us to suggest ideas, exactly what are you looking to build, size wise, and your location for snow load, wind load. Just a roof, or 3 sides enclosed, or ????

I understand you are finding home-sawn wood or perhaps used wood to keep costs down and can build your own roof cheaper, but wanted to say:

To hold up a roof will always take so & so much wood - actually a peaked roof will usually take less lumber than a single-sloped one because it can be braced against itself. A single-slope needs stronger wood to go across a longer distance. Most often, one can buy pre-engineered trusses cheaper than you can build your own or make a single/ mono sloped roof - they buy the wood cheaper & are very efficient at putting the wood together without waste.

--->Paul

It is going to be free standing, around 20L x16W x10H or close to that,enclosed on 3 sides with the 4th having a door large enough to get the tractor through, its in upstate NY not sure what the snow load is....

This is a little bigger than what you need, about 18 X 30 but it went up pretty easy. I used 2 X 6s for rafters and put the ceiling joists at 2 ft so I could floor it. I used fence posts and sandwiched 2x4s like the big boys do. I don't think I put $3000 in it.

This is the traditional "drive-in" tractor and equipment shed. You can make one bay or 20 bays. Custom tailor to what you want. Easy to add sliding doors later too.

A few warnings though.

1st. - you cannot easily buy pressure treated 4X4s anymore that are rated for ground burial. Use 6X6s and even then - you have to be careful. Many 6X6s are also not treated enough for burial. Ask before you buy and keep in mind many counter-people at lumber yards are clueless. When CCA was the common treatment, this was easy. The new chemicals are more expensive so many 6X6s are ordered with the light "ground contact" treatment - instead of what's needed for burial.

2nd. - snow load. Where I live in central New York, a 20 foot span requires 2 X 12" on 16" centers - NOT 24" centers. Your area might differ a lot. The plans I attached with 2X6 rafters wouldn't last one winter here.

3rd. - wind load. If you have a prevailing wind that will commonly hit one side of the shed, you might want to use 2X6s on the sides instead of 2x4s.

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If you have black locust trees have the mill cut you some 6x6 poles. A black locust will out last a pressure treated pole anyday. Just make sure you build when they are green or you won't drive a nail in them when they are dry.

Bob

I bought a used car port 18x24 on craigslist for 200$ I replaced some metal and bolted 2x4s to the sides and nailed up some old barn siding I got off a neighbors barn down the road before they burned it down. I got 250$ in it all together and I'll paint it to match the rest of the farm in the spring. Right now it houses some goats but I could fit my farmall M initial easy and my. Baler. If cost is an issue right now u could try some thing like that

Ultimately, is going to depend upon your local code. No matter what anyone says or thinks, your local code is going to dictate.

You can't afford to purchase trusses, so lets start with it needing to house an M that isn’t a big tractor to begin with. I have to figure that 12' long x 12' wide and 8' high should more than do it, if the M is all that will ever go into it. A fella that wanted to sell me a Case VAC and an Allis D15 had them both in separate sheds that were barely bigger than the tractors, and sitting in the seats came close to bumping my head, but both sheds worked perfectly for what his needs were. His two tractors in their two sheds to protect them and some gas cans, but nothing else. No one but his neighbors even knew or would have guessed that he had two tractors of that size in his yard in small shed like that. They were sheds in town, and the guy was in his '80's that retired as a small farmer, but kept the tractors to do small plots for people that didn't have the equipment. But, don't hate yourself later down the road if you build it too small though and have no extra space to grow into. But as you said, money is a factor for most everyone these days, not just yourself.

If you are not going to build it much bigger than the M, you don't even need plans. Use a piece of paper, a pencil with eraser, and a tape measure. Then go to Menards or Lowes or somewhere where they have erected sheds on display, and take a look at how they are constructed. You don't even need to go 4"x6" studs if its going to be that small. You could get away with 2"x4" if they are going to be 24" centers. Things to think about though, is if your wall studs are going to go into the ground for strength, and if so, how far down is your thaw line, and they need to be weather treated because raw pine 2"x4"s don't like moisture for long.

Draw it on paper, then go to a supplier and price supplies for you to build it yourself, including trusses that you can make yourself using plates that you can purchase from Menards, Lowes, or wherever, to join 2"x4"'s together. I made my own trusses for both tool sheds a built in the last few years. One of my sheds is 14'x10'x16' at peak, the other 22'x12'x16' at peak. Both sheds cost me about $1,000 each to build, and that included concrete floors, which neither needed, and vinyl siding because I want them to last decades. You can do it for less, but whatever you do, you will need a good roof, and bare plywood does not make for a good roof, at least not for long.

Keep in mind that people were housing families in log cabins from timber they cut themselves with no pencils, paper, tape measures, plans. Technologies have gotten much better since then, so you can do it easier and better. You can and will do just fine. Much good luck.

Mark

These look like pretty simple ideas that might be real effective for yor needs and budget. You just have to come up with the materials, time, ambition.

Good luck.
Small building photos

thank you very much, that is exactly what I was looking for, i just really needed something I could look at.

When you say "upstate", do you really mean upstate near the Canadian border? I'm not being silly. Some people call of of NY that not near NYC "upstate." If you are in the north, the building code in most areas requires a 60 PSI roof. Same with much of the Adirondacks. That's going to mean rafters must be 2" X 12"s and spaced 16" apart if spanning 20 feet. If you want to span 16 feet - they have to be 2" X 10"s and spaced 16" apart - or - 2" x 12"s spaced 24" apart.

Also if the girders holding the rafters span 10 feet between poles - you'll need a pair of 2" X 10"s or a single 3" X 12".

Holes were dug with a backhoe - not the most precise instrument... However, the end product reasonably satisfies. 20 x 14. 16ft roofing, I believe it was 16ft on the high side and 14ft on the short side. 2x8x16 joists on 2ft spans.
hope it helps.

I don't know why a man would want to span 20 ft when he is only building a 16 ft wide shed.

Here in Idaho most of the time you can frame about anything but, if you use a truss it has to be engineered. That includes a stamped drawing from the engineer. What do the plates that you get from lowe's look like? There are some plates that have teeth that look like a truss plate on them. They also have a stamped marking that says NOT FOR TRUSSES. Just curious.


Steven

Jde, You just posted what we want. Our thanks to you AGAIN. Gonna print it all out. Our summer project. 1.stall for tractor W/ cab 2nd O.c. 46 stall.Bob cat -leaf vacume- log splitter 3rd stall.Really appreciate your posts/ Warmest regards LOU& Victor.

Some folks have brought up check'n with your codes guy, if he says you have to build it over budget to get a permit (No I am not go'n into my tractor shed tax/permit rant) see if a moveable "yard barn" type building had to have a permit. Some times you can get around the shed tax by build'n it on used RR bridge beams as skids.

Another thought to save money, do you have any oil industry around your part of the world? Used 4" oil field pipe makes good post for pole barns. If you can get it cheap enough I know of several sheds around here that have been totaly built out of 4" and 2" oil field pipe welded together for a frame with holes cut every 2, 3, or 4' to bolt 2X4s to use as lathes.

Good luck!

Dave

Steven,

I don't recall seeing not to be used for trusses stamped or marked on the ones I got from Menards, but were a huge as the ones that my newest barn trusses were shipped with. I also screwed mine together. I modeled my trusses after those used in my barns, just on a smaller scale. Both tool sheds have been up since 2004, no give on them and I weigh 300 lbs.

Mark