OT- Poles for a pole barn.

I'm about a cool front away from building a simple pole barn to put my tractor and stuff in.

I was pricing some treated 4x6 beams at home depot and started wondering if I ought to go with old telephone poles instead.

I was just wondering what the consensus was here first.

Depends on what the difference in price is and what kind of shape the T-poles are in. If they've been in the ground for fifty years they may be near done for rot resistance. It'll be easier to build square and true with square poles as compared to round.

Last 2 I built I used steel pipe instead of wood. Seems to last longer plus if hit my lighting no harm to the building or equipment.

Guy I help occasionally had used telephone poles cut square by a someone with a portable saw mill. Seemed to work out real well and cheaper than new square timbers.

instead of getting timbers for your poles, just laminate 2 by 6 together. for the part of the pole that will be in the ground you can start laminating with treated lumber then untreated after that. Old power poles would be alot harder to work with then square lumber, but it can be done.

I used 4x6 treated poles for mine. I looked at a Morton building, and it used laminated timbers, treated up to about 4 ft above floor level, untreated above that. I wouldn't want to use old power poles, too much variance in the lifespan of the pole - otherwise why would the power company dispose of it? Also, all that I have seen are tapered to some degree. Good luck making that square, especially when none of the poles are tapered the same. One thing I would do differently, I'd use steel siding. I'm painting my wood sided barn now, it is a pia.

(quoted from post at 11:19:57 08/02/11) Guy I help occasionally had used telephone poles cut square by a someone with a portable saw mill. Seemed to work out real well and cheaper than new square timbers.

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You'd have to get a real sweet deal on the sawmill work. Around here, they want about $500 to come and set up for a day.

In this area, we use nothing less than 5X6 poles. Be sure to note that there is a lesser treatment for above grnd use such as the supports of a deck, and the much more rigorous treatment for the timbers that are in ground contact. I still prefer the solid 5X6 to the laminated 2x6"s as it ususually a much stronger piece of timber. In this area, the treated posts are a good grade of Southern Yellow Pine.

Pour a concrete cookie into the compacted hole for the pole to sit on, but do not pour concrete around the pole. It will rot much faster with poured concrete around it.


Paul in MN

Check with your building inspector and see what he wants.

I just cut my cedar trees, limb them & put them in the ground. Shim here & there as needed for square.

depends on how much time you want to spend versus how much money you can save.. 6x lumber is easy to work with. they have a plastic liner that can go on the bottom that helps prevent post rot. prep is always important--you have to make sure it can drain from the post hole. I've built a few of each and liked saving money with the telephone posts and liked the ease of construction with the 6x. also depends if you want a rustic look or not.

Just don't leave any square solid poles lay around to long or they
will be cork screws in a hurry. The laminated ones seem to stay
straight a little longer.

We used the lam. posts because that made it easy to set the trusses into the sandwich onto the center block. Then added knee braces.

The local contractor set the posts on the concrete cookies & packed the holes with 1 1/2" limestone.

T

three 2x6 glued and nailed together stronger the poles. treated in the ground plane above. set roof trust in center in a notch on the ends trust set on out side. real strong and easy

That is exactly how we made the center supports for our barn, but used 1/2 x 4 lag screws instead of nails.

Worked great.

We built our equipment shed using the 4x6 treated lumber.

<a href="http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/jameslloydhowell/Equipment%20Shed/?action=view¤t=034.jpg" target="_blank"> </a>

We also used the 4x6 treated lumber to rebuild the tractor shed in front of the shop.

<a href="http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa5/jameslloydhowell/Tractor%20Shed/?action=view&current=68.jpg" target="_blank"></a>

Hope this helps.

Alright, telephone poles is out.

Now debating on laminated poles or not. Trying to figure out .... lol. Just happened to look down and see a picture. Thanks James!

I'm trying to figure out how marloweg set up his laminated poles.

James, I'm thinking about doing something like that but closing in 3 sides and adding a closed section inside to store tools as well.

About all I can afford right now is the structure and the roof. Figured I'd add the sides as time and money allow.

Guys, I appreciate the input.

I have a 32'x 60' pole barn that was built with used poles from the REMC in 1970. No problems. After they were lined up and secured with roof trusses at the top, we scabbed a 2x8 to one side of each with the edges of the boards extending past the outside of the poles. These edges were lined up to provide a straight surface for attaching the outer wall. I'd do it again if I needed another barn.

May be lucky to get anybody to cut them, with creosote and staples.
Got about five pounds of copper off the one they left me.

I would use the old treated telephone poles. I doubt you can find any new wood treated as well as those old poles. Unless they are really old and the treatment has leached out of them. Should be easy to tell by looking at them.

Have built numerous buildings for hay, equipment, etc. I got several loads of 8 x 16 inch beams when the county replaced them with concrete on bridges on county roads. Sawed them in half; have also used "squared up" telephone poles; nothing less than 7 inches square.
Having your own sawmill is the way to go.

So why are used telephone poles out?
I built a 40' X 140' building with used poles in 1994 and fully expect it to out last me.
Didn't take em to a sawmill either. Just set them with a bag of dry concrete in the bottom of the hole (helps seal the end) and tip em to make the outside edge plump.
Best thing is they're usually free cause the phone company or power company has to get rid of them.

Dave here are some design sheets from a construction manual for pole barns. Build your own sidewall poles and don't use some funky old phone poles or some of those square half treated ones from a lumber yard.Just make sure the lower ground contact members are pressure treated real well.The rest of the framing lumber is standard SPF. Buy the trusses from a reputable plant and you are go for good. Print a copy of these if you want.Jh

I have six pole constructed barns. The oldest was built in 1969. It has real creosoted square post and they are still in good shape.

The next building was built in 1978 it had the salt treated post. They where shot I ended up blocking the wall up and cutting the post off above the ground level. Then dug it out and poured a concrete wall to set the building on. It cost just about as much as I could have built a new shed/barn.

The next oldest building was built in 1978 to but later in the year. I had nothing to do with building it. It is on a farm we bought it 1985. The post are salt treated but are in perfect shape. It was built by a local guy. I checked with him and he stated that there are two different densities of treated post. He always bought the heavier ones. The big box stores keep the lighter ones. They will not last.

The other three building all have the laminated post in them. Treated lumber below the ground and standard lumber above grade. They are two different companies both are in fine shape.

If you can get the better post then fine. If not then I would go with the laminated post. They are not hard to build either. I have build several of them to replaced old barn post with. I usually use 3-2 x 6 and stager the joints with the treated lumber. I put glue between them and use 16 penny nails in a framing nailer. I stager the nails in a repeating "Z" shape up the post. They are stronger than a standard 6x6.

I used 3 2x12 to make the twenty foot long hay wagon rails out of. They bow less then the old 6x8 oak wagon rails. You can save money by building your own post. The trusses you will have to price. I have two truss plants with in twenty miles of me. I can buy completed trusses cheaper than I can buy the lumber. I do nail plywood joiners over the stamped steel attachment plates, in any building that get live stock in it. I have seen the stamped steel rust the teeth off of the plate. The truss then fails.

2 quick thoughts...

Laminated 2x will probably be easier to come by and makes setting the trusses a lot easier.

Make sure the treated is rated for ground contact. They run a couple different types of treated and not all is rated for ground contact.

Good luck

Tony

This thing has been argued on here ever since I have been reading ( for quite a time) I for one have both types and can say the Laminated from treated 2 X 8 was when they first started doing that may be 20 years ago. Have one large pole bld that I used my woodmizer to cut 7 X 7 center cut from old light poles. That bld is 28 years old no problems but then neither is the 20 + year old lam post bld. My thoughts just which ever works out to the best overall cost. The other topic that always comes up set in concrete or not. We always put 1/2 bag quick creet in bottom and then use the rest around close to the top. Have never seen a problem but some people swear the concrete will dammage the post.

Thank you folks! I've got plenty to chew on here and I greatly appreciate the help!

Depends.

If you have enough money that it don't matter, you live in a place where you have to keep the build'n nazis happy, or if your insurance guy is a jerk go pay for the pretty treated poles.

If you are watch'n your money, have a big enough dog to keep the inspecter away, your insurance guy is easy go'n, and you just want something that will last longer than you will hit the local crews up for some used light poles. Cut'm to length, save the 8' scrap ends for fence post, shim here and there to keep it square and rock on.

My pole barn was built in the 50's with used Camp Breckenridge lumber and used light poles. It has out lived the guy who built it, the next owner, and bar'n a tornado or fire it will out live me.

Dave

Lots of great advice. One thing to consider in all of this is your labor and how much of a PITA some of the options may be. For example, the idea of using a round pole and scabbing 2-2x8's on the side for a "square" wall surface seems to me to be a PITA to do in order to save a few 2x8s. I think I'd just nail together 3-2x8s to start with. My point is that sometimes trying to save a buck just ain't worth it.