pole barn

[stonerock]

witch way do you turn a 4x6 post in the wall when you are building?

 

[Mutt and Jeff]

Righty tighty
lefty loosey
sorry

 

[MarkB_MI]

It's normal to have the wide side face the girts, but doesn't really matter. Turned the other way you have less surface to nail the girts to. Also, with the wide side facing the girts, it's a simple matter to construct interior 2x4 walls flush with the posts.

 

[paul]

For wind load, I have always seen the wider dimension into the building.

Paul

 

[Traditional Farmer]

If its very tall I'd be using 6X6 posts.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Amish have put up 4 pole buildings within a mile of me this winter, 2 had the 6" paralleled with the wall, 2 were perpendicular. I suspect as Mark said it depends on what's going to be done on the inside? One would have to think that the building is going to be stronger as for wind loads with the 6" dimension perpendicular.

 

[David G]

You want the wide in/out because the steel will provide lateral support on the narrow side.

 

[dpendzic]

most building collapses due to wind is a sideways movement of the walls--very few collapses happen in the long dimension, so it is beneficial to have the strongest part of the post resisting the sideways movement--the long side perpendicular to the wall.

 

[dhermesc]

Agreed - and that's even if its not very tall.

 

[coshoo]

You turn it into a 6 X 6.

 

[ed will]

I used 6x6. Cost difference is negligible. I had a chuckle with mutt and jeffs comment. Ed Will Oliver BC

 

[Destroked 450]

Agree. Build it right and use 6x6's, cost isn't that much more and you have a much stronger building.

 

[john in la]

While most of you do not have codes to follow I have never seen a code that allows 4x6. Another place people skimp is the under the post footer.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Regarding using 6x6 versus 4x6 posts: The post is sized to support the weight of the building. 4x6 posts seem to be standard for 24 foot wide buildings, but 30 foot buildings go to 6x6. Obviously there's nothing wrong with using heavier posts than necessary, other than it gets harder to set the post the bigger it is.

Although the posts will have slightly greater resistance to wind loads if the narrow side faces the outside, the building really doesn't rely on the shear strength of the posts for wind resistance. The structure of the building is basically a big truss, and wind forces are distributed around the building by the siding, girts, bracing and roof trusses.

 

[Dave H (MI)]

I can give you yet another option. When we built our 40x100 shed I used a crew that did nothing but pole barns. Pretty much everyone knows them around here and they have a strong reputation. They and others told me that on 6x6 pressure treated lumber, the chemical does not penetrate the post to the center creating a situation where you can have rot up thru the post. We went with a post that is made by laminating 2x6 boards together...3 wide. The boards that go below grade are treated and those above are regular dimension lumber. I liked this because I have 2x6 treated poultry pens that have been in the ground for 20+ years and still solid. The posts are made for barns and are supposed to be stronger than a traditional post. I like them so far. We have 16' side walls. Some of the end posts were really long. The link attached is an example. I cannot remember the source of ours.
Similar to these.

 

[MarkB_MI]

The laminated posts tend to be much straighter than solid posts and don't twist. Makes it a lot easier to make a square building with straight, vertical walls.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

They don't know much about treating lumber the outside sap wood is all that can be treated the center heart wood does not get treated.The treated outside protects the center,nailing multiple pieces together will let moisture get between the pieces and never dry out.

 

[David G]

Agree, much better to laminate 2x, stronger and straighter.

 

[john in la]

That is the way my post are. 2x6 treated to .80 cca below ground and regular 2x6 above ground.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

The old guy that built my deck with a roof, elevated porch I guess it is used 6x6 he said he never uses 4x6

 

[GEO-TH, In]

When they built my barn, they had 3.5 inches between the two 2x12 top plate. My post were on 8 ft and trusses on 2 ft centers for a heavier SNOW load and I used USB and 35 year shingles which was the Same price as metal.

 

[dpendzic]

Have to disagree with MarkB---a 6x4 placed in the strong direction is 57% stronger than in the weak direction in bending.That is quite substantial. also in all my designs of poles, columns,and pilings, shear stress has never been the critical factor, it is generally high bending stresses at the ground line

 

[AllisG]

The company I work for uses all laminated poles and we face the poles x4 to the girts. The company builds over a 100 buildings a year this way

 

[ben70b]

We and many others, notch the truss into the ply, of that tells you anything