I need a pole barn....

[G-Mac]

When I sold our rental property last year, I also lost the use of the two car garage that I was using for personal storage. The tenants didn't have access to it. I had to put the contents into two 10'x20' storage units before closing on the sale. A lot of it was old motorcycle parts that I'd been collecting for 30+ years. I found one guy that bought all my Honda stuff. That got me down to one storage unit but I'm still paying $268 a month for the one unit. The garage and basement in our house are overflowing with "stuff". I have an enclosed trailer in the driveway that I'm also using for storage. There's two old Yamaha dirt bikes in there. 1979 YZ-250 and 1981 YZ-125. They are both restored and running. We're getting the kitchen remodeled. Custom cherry cabinets are on order. After the kitchen is done, hopefully before Christmas, next priority is a pole barn. It just bugs me to be renting space, to store stuff, when the money could be put towards owning my own space. And, yes, I do need to just get rid of some of it. Rant mode off.

 

[Muley Gil]

I know what you mean. I bought a 12' wide by 30' long building for my shop/storage. It's full too.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Almost 8 years ago, I moved from the farmhouse to a condo. The condo itself is almost equal to the house in square footage. The loss was the outbuildings! The barn had my powder magazine in it, my shop tools, and years of "Cleaning out the truck" piles!

Just finding space for 100,000 cast bullets was rough. The huge ammo cans with primers and the oddball ammo. (Anybody need 2000 rounds of 8mm x 52 Lebel on 15 round Maxxim Machine Gun Strips?) The "Thinning of the herd" took a few months. Selling or giving away the tractors, zero turns, weed eaters, (500' of garden hose!), and hand tools out the yazoo! 8 pickup and trailer loads to the county dump. (It took 4 vehicle loads just to move the rifles to a secure lock-up!)

But my option was thin out or rent space that I couldn't afford, for stuff that once in there, would never see daylight again!

Like I said, after almost 8 years, I'm almost over the Trama! I didn't have any property to build a pole barn on, so my only option was "Stuff Reduction!"

The question isn't, "Is the junk or not?" you know the value of every piece of it! The question is, "Am I ever going to do anything or make any money off of it?"

You have to answer that question! And only you can tell if you are being honest!

Storage units for me would be an expensive delay of the inevitable! (Think "Storage Wars" on TV!)

Like I told my wife of 42 years, Honey, this really hurts! She then said, Yes, but it hurts so good!

Ivan

 

[chief38]

G-Mac,
We recently moved and built a new home which is 2,500 sq. ft. - no basement and pretty much a useless attic. Our old home up North was 5,000 sq. ft. with a full basement and usable attic. While I do NOT miss the State where we lived, I do miss the room we had for storage.

When we moved I got rid of so much stuff I actually thought I'd have plenty of room in the new house - foolish me - lol! I've just spent 6 months building shelve all the way up to the ceiling in every closet and in the 3 car garage. The storage space I have now is nothing more than adequate. Thankfully..... the fact that we have 11 foot ceilings throughout the entire house and the garage as well is what really saved us as far as storage space goes.

So we have new policy now. Unless the stuff we are storing is used on a regular basis and is not for emergency only purposes, we get rid of it. I started realizing that most of the stuff I stored in the old house did nothing more than collect dust and in the event we needed something it was easier to just buy a new item than to spend hours looking for something we did not know the exact location of. My new motto is "LESS IS MORE". So far I have sold over 200 items on ebay, locally or to the people who bought our old home. I have donated so much, thrown out a lot, given friends and neighbors plenty, and I am still going! I could not believe how much stuff I accumulated in the 43 years we've been married and believe me, when you saw our old home it was always neat, orderly and immaculately clean - no stuff just laying around! It was just the huge home that had so much storage space.

I will be selling stuff here on the site that is gun related soon just because I've got holsters, ammo, belts, etc. that I no longer use, need or want to store. I have come to the realization that when we are gone, my kids would have come here, gotten a huge roll off dumpster and filled it with most of the stuff we had but of no interest to them. I have taken a HUGE burden off their shoulders and I know what that is like after going through it with my parents!

I just had a long conversation two months ago with my next door neighbor who had two storage units for the stuff he couldn't fit in his house. He was paying over $500 /month to store stuff he'll probably never use again. He knew I was right and after thinking about our conversation for a few weeks, he cleaned out the two storage units, sold everything except a few sentimental items and now is storage unit free. Aside from the $6,000 / year he saves, he said it was an albatross off his neck! So while I've taken my own advise, I'm still in the tail end of selling, donating and throwing out stuff I will no longer use. And believe me..... we still have a descent sized home with very high closets and will probably continue the process as time goes on over the next year. Just remember the phrase, "when you get older - less is more"! I truly feel a sense of relief, a sense of clutter free life style now and I can control who gets what, where stuff goes and for how much while we are still here. My wife and I hope to be around for another 20+ years and don't want to be smothered my useless stuff all over the house.

I know I have rambled on here, but I am actually proud of myself that we finally bit the bullet and got rid of stuff. Memories are in your head - not just your closet! Good luck - hope I've helped at least a smidgeon.

 

[Skeet 028]

build a pole barn...it'll be alright. You'll fill it up too

 

[glenwolde]

My brother retired from his auto repair business and sold it to his step-son. In the process he acquired a boat load of misc. auto parts. His first retirement job is selling them off one-by-one on eBay. He's a year in and has whittled the pile down about 70%. Most of the good stuff is gone. He's cleared about $15,000 and he can park in his garage now. He spends a couple of hours a day on it.

 

[tops]

Build it twice as big as you think you will need and it might be big enough. Larry

 

[yaktamer]

"All your house is, is a pile of stuff with a cover on it." -- George Carlin

 

[yaktamer]

This is a timely topic for me. As I have teens starting to leave the nest, I have way more house than I need or want, and am planning to downsize next year. Which means geting rid of a lot if stuff I've accumulated over the years. Much as I try to envision a minimalist existence aimed at greater economic and psychological freedom, I fear I am doomed to live out my life never having had room to park a car in my garage.

 

[cmj8591]

There is an adage, "your possessions will expand to fill all available storage space". No matter how big you make that barn, you'll still be looking for space to store stuff.

 

[Bald1]

GMAC, let's see some pics of those 2 YZs. Those are right in my wheelhouse. I raced motor cross in NY's district 4 in early 80s. These guys spending hundreds of dollars a month on storage could be making a home equity loan payment on a pole barn instead. Assuming they have space to build one.

 

[GypsmJim]

Having 2 cars and a boat was always a problem. One car always sat on the patio, and then in Winter I enclosed it for the boat.

When I built my new house I added an attached 5 car tandem garage. Now I can park the boat and car together and still attached. Also added a shed for all the garden tools.

Of course that allowed me to buy a second boat. Eventually built a 3 car garage in the backyard, and then came another boat....yada, yada.

The more room you have, the more you acquire. Now I wish the 3-car had been a tandem.....LOL.

 

[riverrat38]

One thing that has to be thought about with a pole barn is heat and humidity. I built a wood storage shed. It has an elevated wood floor and is totally enclosed, but no electricity, other than low voltage overhead lights. Like landscaping lights. 24 volts in my case, since I had a transformer that I didn't have a use for. 12 volts is more common. I had to make a shallow trench about 100 feet long to get the power to the shed. This means no heat, so anything I store in the shed has to be able to take the winter cold and whatever the humidity is. Nothing that will rust or freeze. Heating would require code insulation and ventilation and an inspected underground power system fed from a sub panel in my garage.

73,
Rick

 

[kozmic]

I would look to the southwest of you and get a price from the Amish to either furnish and install or install yours. They are quick, meticulous and usually very reasonably priced. Building prices seem to be moderating somewhat (except glass which has pretty much double in the past 1-1/2 years).

 

[Puller]

Pre-designed metal building is the way to go, skip the pole barn route.

 

[GypsmJim]

One thing that has to be thought about with a pole barn is heat and humidity. I built a wood storage shed. It has an elevated wood floor and is totally enclosed, but no electricity, other than low voltage overhead lights. Like landscaping lights. 24 volts in my case, since I had a transformer that I didn't have a use for. 12 volts is more common. I had to make a shallow trench about 100 feet long to get the power to the shed. This means no heat, so anything I store in the shed has to be able to take the winter cold and whatever the humidity is. Nothing that will rust or freeze. Heating would require code insulation and ventilation and an inspected underground power system fed from a sub panel in my garage.

73,
Rick

Pole barns are OK. My son had a big one. The first year was rough, but then he installed a concrete floor, and now it acted more like a detached garage.

DON'T have a wood or dirt floor. Also, run electric to it. The lights and ability to run power tools are a must.

 

[doublesharp]

I'm in Amish country so that's what I did. This crew cost me $96 an hour for 4 men (the 2 boys carrying the trusses were free) and $75 a day transportation in 2016. I bought the pole barn package from Menard's. Well satisfied - had the same crew come back and install the carport a couple years ago.

 

[Geno44]

Have you considered 8x40 shipping containers? We live on a small farm and pole buildings rot off at grade depending on your age and how many years you have left. Also have you priced any pole buildings yet? I haven't lately but I'm going to guess they are going to be more expensive that you might think. If I was a young guy I would consider the steel building previously suggested. It will be costly too but should last and add resale value to your property. I'm not sure you ever get rodent control in a pole building unless you have about ten cats in it.

 

[swsig]

When you get it built, throw a dance and invite some pole dancers. Might be fun.

 

[Paul in Nevada]

If you haven't used it in a year, get rid of it.