Who wants to show off their pole barn?!?

[KalamazooKid]

I'm nearing the end of the construction process on a 30x50 barn that's in my front yard. It'll house my 26' travel trailer, 16' fishing boat, and a 10' utility trailer among other smaller toys. Concrete gets poured in April if our weather cooperates.

I'm hoping you folks will share some of your experience relative to electrical needs (including lighting), storage racks/shelving, social areas, etc. I have some woodworking skills and plan to build a 16' work bench along one side.

I'll be hosting "barn parties" year round and there will be a beer frig and wood burner for heat. Butchering deer and filleting fish will be pretty regular activities too. There will be a 30 yard "rimfire" shooting range from the porch. Our 4 large dogs will also be spending time out there on a regular basis.

Please post pics and ideas from your experiences to get me headed in the right direction. This is gonna be so much fun, thanks in advance!

 

[MRB1]

I'm sure you've planned water and electricity, but consider a few 220 v plugs for air compressor and whatever. It's so easy to get the "don't needs" beforehand, rather than later down the road. You're gonna have some fun with that!

 

[Geronimo Jim]

Beautiful, but I thought you poured the concrete first?

 

[KalamazooKid]

Beautiful, but I thought you poured the concrete first?

I had no clue going into this, but no, concrete comes at the end.

 

[Kevin J.]

A lot of farm pole sheds up here never get a concrete floor. Gravel floors hide the tractor oil leaks so much better.

 

[Rustyt1953]

[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PQH6NcugQS0[/ame]

 

[pantannojack]

"...the paid off house is a higher status symbol than the Mercedes in the drive way of a mortgaged mansion."

 

[Chuck24]

I just came to see what a pole barn is

 

[mod29]

I'm nearing the end of the construction process on a 30x50 barn that's in my front yard...

I'm jealous! Looks great

 

[wundudnee]

I built a new house in the70s. Before I built the house I built a 30X45X 12 barn. My wife was a little puzzled and asked me why we were building the barn before the house? I told her because if we built the house first we would run out of money and I wouldn't get a barn. It had a 15 foot sliding door on the front and a 12 foot on the side. If I had had a chance to do it again I would have put both doors in the ends of the barn, so I could pull my camper in and unhook and drive out the back. I would also put in a freeze proof hydrant and a floor drain. I would insulate the roof and forget the skylights. LED lights do such a nice job and come on well in cold weather.

Don't store anything in your barn now that doesn't have wheels. It all has to come back out when the concrete gets there. I think I would run a heavy service to your barn with at least 100 amp box.

Nice looking building.

 

[Kevin J.]

My father grew up on a dairy farm back in the 1930's when they had the classic midwestern dairy barns. Hay loft about the cow section, milk house and silo attached. He said whenever they complained about the the barn being better built and updated than the house he said "Pa always said the house doesn't make money" .

 

[pharmer]

Beautiful, but I thought you poured the concrete first?

Too cold right now. Pouring a floor "under cover" is smart. Joe

 

[Imissedagain]

And I thought a pole barn was where exotic cows danced.

 

[tops]

You have a nice building. Pole buildings have come a long way from what they were in my youth. Larry

 

[Baxter6551]

I have absolutely no experience in building one living in the suburbs but would love to have a barn. That said, I have visited quite a few deer hunting since the early 80s. Yours looks very nice and I'm jealous. I probably would have put another overhead door or regular door at the other end and extended the side porch roof area further down the side for extra work or storage room. I'm terrible at math but I added up the length of your trailers and I think you outgrew it already…… LOL

 

[KalamazooKid]

I have absolutely no experience in building one living in the suburbs but would love to have a barn. That said, I have visited quite a few deer hunting since the early 80s. Yours looks very nice and I'm jealous. I probably would have put another overhead door or regular door at the other end and extended the side porch roof area further down the side for extra work or storage room. I'm terrible at math but I added up the length of your trailers and I think you outgrew it already…… LOL

I totally understand the comments about another overhead door but the area doesn't easily allow for a "pull thru" setup. That being said, my driveway does allow me me to pull ahead and almost a straight shot backing trailers in (been backing up trailers my entire life).

And if there wasn't budget constraints, I absolutely would have extended the porch down the whole length but ……. [emoji4]. Twice as big would have been awesome too! But I did cut out templates in the planning phase and the size will nicely accommodate my stuff.

And thanks for the ideas, please keep 'em coming!

 

[BB57]

I'm a big fan of the torsion beam bench design. It's strong, stiff, easy to build level and true and it's efficient from a materials perspective.

The torsion beam at the front is three 2x4s glued and screwed together. If you stagger them at 4 ft intervals you can make any length beam and bench you want. The rear of the bench is a 2x4 leveled and anchored to the wall. The legs are 2x4s screwed at 90 degree angles to each other with the first one sandwiched between the front and rear 2x4s in the beam and then screwed in place when the bench is leveled, and the second then screwed to it supporting the bottom of the beam. Legs can be added mid beam in the same way by leaving a snug fit gap between the middle 2x4s at the desired locations.

The deck is 1" plywood on top of 2x4 runners set every 16" between the beam and rear 2x4.

Plus you can dress it up with some hard wood facing and an inlaid tile top. The tile is easy to keep clean and a extra box of tile lets me quickly and easily replace one if it gets cracked.

 

[dockmurgw]

Nice building, I had one of that style some years back, mine was a Morton Building. Did you insulate it? Mine was an absolute oven in the summer, the full soffit and ridge vents were of little help in the summer. I also had a few translucent panels on the roof, really helped brighten it up during the day. While not a pole barn, last summer I went to the local sawmill and had them saw up the lumber for this building, my new workshop and place to boil sap and make maple syrup. You'll love your new building, there's no end to what you can do with it.

 

[prairieviper]

Ok. I'll go. Here is my extremely, well-built and luxurious pole barn:

Wait...that one wasn't the one. Here it is:

Nope. That wasn't it, although there is a pole by it.

I think this is the right one. Finally!

 

[gjgalligan]

If you work on your own cars/truck make sure you have strong enough concrete poured to support a hoist.
Assuming you have a spot where you can raise a car up. Little late to plan the overhead clearance.

.Edit to add: you didn't build it big enough!
You will regret it in the future, ask me how I know!