Pole Barn Pad Site

I have marked my location for the pole barn and from high point to low point is 22" difference in grade.

My question is do I build up the site before setting the posts or after the roof is on? I think before. The posts need to sit on undisturbed soil, embedded at 4' I think would still be OK in the 22" low corner. I have also read that you risk knocking the poles out of plum by doing it afterwards.

Any guidance is appreciated.

Oh and tractor related, the barn will house my 860 and 2N during restoration.

Thanks in advance.
Thad

I had at least that much difference. I set my frame level and then brought up the grade with gravel from concrete plant. Poured monolithic pad (36x48) 3 weeks ago. Will be sinking my 8 x 16ft poles next week. Then on to the roof with steel trusses and metal roof.

r/

Pete in NC

do your site work first

That depends. Are you cutting the high side down or filling in the low side. If cutting down the high side then grade first. They will set the bottom of the barn level with the highest point.

Always prep the site first. It's easier then, and you can compact any soil you bring in by running over it with your tractor. The site doesn't have to be perfect, but it should be within a few inches of level before you set the posts. Make sure you have drainage away from the site in all four directions.

Site work first.

When I put up a 30X48 Cleary building several years ago, they wanted the site work done first.

The low corner was 1foot lower than the high corner. We decided to build it up to 6" above the high corner. My cousin's son came down with one a huge earth movers with the engine on both ends. That's all he used, and when we laid out the building we shot it with a transit and found all four corners were within 2". When I complimented him on it, he just shrugged and said, "Sometimes I get lucky".

Be sure that you cut the high side to well below the floor level for a good ten feet and twenty is better, away from the building.

> When I complimented him on it, he just shrugged and said, "Sometimes I get lucky".

And sometimes luck gets a little help in the form of a transit or <a href="https://www.engineersupply.com/Seco-1X-Hand-Level-4040-60.aspx">hand level</a>.

It is better to do the site first. I put up a 30X40 and the contractor said there was only a 2ft drop,I shot it and it was a 4ft drop. I bought longer poles for that end and back filled it later. It worked, but a lot easier to do it first.

Honestly if you do not already know that you need to do the site prep first then perhaps you want to re-thinnk building it yourself. I know I would not attempt to do the build myself and I have been around building most of my life in one way or another. You may end up unhappy if you do it yourself and may waste a bunch of money that could be put to better use to pay someone who knows how.

Do your site work first, build up the entire area several inches above grade and level. I would recommend tiling it out first, any fill will need compacted.

22" isn't all that bad. Others have pretty much nailed it. I know there are barns out there over 100 years old.
I built the main barn 40 years ago. 40x40 12' ceiling...bottom of trusses. I used 5" Creosoted poles on 8'
centers and put them in as far as the digger would go...just over 3'. No concrete as I was short on funds and
figured the dirt to pole resistance would keep them.

I did put a loft in it so there is some weight on the poles besides the wooden purlins and sheet tin. Soil it
Houston Black Clay and varies with the weather from slush to rocks. However, once you get down a few feet
it "sorta" remains constant in load supporting ability.

Best I can figure the worst have sunk 2' and the rest varying lengths less than that. Would digging a 12" dia
hole and concreting it in have been better, surely but I didn't have the resources to do that.

Fast forward. 2005, New shop time. Hire a crew to build building; 5" square treated wood posts. Dig holes
in partial buildup, packed, well drained soil ("Select Fill") sitting on top of the native black clay. Come back
with a 5" #3 reinforced, 18" centers "floating" slab. No "beams" like when you build a brick house as I didn't
see all that much weight, no attic, no stored item weight on the poles.

Shop was common commercially built, wood structured, pole barn with 12' clearance trusted roof, poles 10'
centers, 30x50 with 15x50 covered side.

Current condition is the slab has cracked all over the place and only held together with the rebar. The worst
post sinking on this was about 6" when I caught it and was in the same place where the soil shift caused the
slab to crack.

Solution was to jack the poles up out of the ground, till back to original plumb and support pole with a brace,
using the concrete pad as the supporting mechanism. I did and it's working.

That's my story. HTH.

If you add ground, plan that it will slowly drop for several years before it is completely settled.

(quoted from post at 08:29:28 05/31/18) If you add ground, plan that it will slowly drop for several years before it is completely settled.

Click to expand...

Many, many very expensive steel and masonry buildings are built on fill. It is certainly not expected that they will sink settle or drop. It simply requires proper materials properly compacted,

Thank you for all of the feedback.

I always have done site prep first but multiple places online said to just set longer poles, level the bottom board and then fill up to it. I think this would work for 6"-8", but not 22".

I am getting bids now for the pad. I assume labor and equipment will not be much more than the material and will definitely get better results in shorter time than I could do.

I am assuming they will compact it properly so that I will get "uniform" settling.

Thanks again.

Around here the added "select fill" (mix of clay, sandy loam, and sand) watered and packed at installation doesn't sink. The sub soil does.

County road in front of the house was raised just about 2 feet (couldn't believe it) and tar and rock surface sealed. That was probably 10 years ago. Today there are places dipping 2 feet. So they fill the hole with asphalt.........couple of years later, back to the fill in.

When we had the second well added to the FHA sponsored community water system in 1985, the Civil Engineer doing the layout of the 100'x14' diameter standpipe, wrote in his report: "Soil is unsuitable for dwellings and roadways.....hit it on the nose. The concrete pad for that tank was 20' wide and 10' deep sitting on 20' piers. So far so good.

"I am assuming they will compact it properly so that I will get "uniform" settling."

When I worked in industry the buying, manufacturing, testing, and selling of equipment was governed by contract, inspected on site by US Government
employees and they did the job for which they were paid. No guess who is going to do what. It's in the contract that both parties signed and were
furnished copies.

After I retired and had my shop built by a respected contractor, specializing in what I wanted, I quickly learned that what you perceive as happening is
not necessarily what the other party perceives, especially when everything he does for you takes away from his bottom line.......I'd get in writing.

I usually don't have work done but not too many years ago my wooden corner posts gave out. Had them replaced with steel pipe and concrete, re-
stretching the existing Gaucho barbed wire that didn't need replacing. Glad I made up a brief contract that he signed. He was about to renig on the
hole where the main corner post was to be set. I was on site, inspecting as he went and reminded him of the contract he signed. Got it done right.

NEVER assume, make sure and get it in writing.