options for enclosing a pole-barn style shop
Hi from Prince George in northern BC, Canada
I’ve found myself reading this site several times in the past and there has been a lot of useful information for the DIY homeowner such as myself. I’m in a bit of a quandry with what to do with a half-finished shed on my property so I decided to put up some questions here and see if somebody might have some ideas brighter than what I’ve come up with.
We bought the property a couple years ago and the previous owner built a 19×30′ shop on it. He used mostly recycled building materials, but I think the shop has pretty good bones. The main structure is built of huge glue-lamitated fir beams (approx 6″ by 18″) that I think must have come from Noah’s Ark or something. The building is sitting on 6 sonotubes. My first impression was that there should have been more than 6 sonotubes but there is no sign of any movement anywhere in the structure. The floor and surrounding area is well-drained fine-crushed gravel. All around the perimeter of the shop, there is a gap between the glue-lam beam and the gravel, and the gap ranges from about 4″ to 10″. Makes for good ventilation and great squirrel habitat!
I’m not sure what my long-term plans are for the building, but I’d like to side it, insulate it, and most importantly, close in the gap around the bottom of it. For a floor, I may leave it as is, or maybe ashphalt or a floating concrete slab if I can figure out a way to do that.
ideas?
Replies
Here's my idea:
Post a picture of the structure you are talking about.
The tree is nice, but it doesn't help answer youer question ;)
added some photos
here are some better photos of the structure.
Much better!
I think your first task is to VERIFY how sound this structure is before you invest any of your own time and labor on this. A 6x18 GluLam will sting a little if it falls on your head.
You should verify how deep these piers go, if they are below the frost line, and how big the bottom of the pad is. From there, a local building engineer will tell you if it was built correctly or if it's a tragic YouTube video waiting to happen.
long
where is this 6x18 beam you speak of?
The photo sure doesn't look like it.
Trying to understand your framing... Do the 6x18 glu-lam beams span span down each 30' side of the building? Are they sitting directly over the concrete piers, with wall structure built directly on top?
I'll throw out a suggestion...
Then more knowledgeable folks can probably give you better ideas, and probably explain things about my idea that could be problematic. This is how we dealt with a similar issue on a lean-to shed, but the framing scheme in yours is a bit different... I've never seen anything built quite that way before.
Anyway, here is my suggestion: Side it with steel. Start by putting a pressure treated 2x12 (or whatever dimention will fill the gap) all the way around the bottom on the outside of the building. Get PT that is rated for ground contact. On our shed, we dug the 2x12 into the ground a few inches in some places and piled a few inches of fill up in other area to get it all sealed. Then, put 2x lumber on the side of the building horizontally at 2 foot centers. This is to level up the outside and give you something to screw the steel to. Now you put up steel siding and the necessary trim pieces around doors, windows, etc. You might have to re-set the doors and windows to make up for the wall thickness created by running 2x lumber on the outside. We only put the siding to within 6 inches of the ground surface. We did have to add some more fill dirt in one spot after things settled the next spring.
Now you can insulate the inside with spray-in foam or something else that will work with the framing scheme of that building. The 2x12 screwed to the building and with dirt piled up around it might work as the outside forms for a concrete slab, and you could use some foam to insulate before pouring...
I 've been building a pole building since May and writing about it in a blog.
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/tag/patricks%20barn
I think you'll find it helpful. Sound like you need to bring in some fill and pour a slab. The easrly posts in my blog will be most helpful, I'm guessing. Like this one:
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/17424/almost-out-of-the-ground
and this:
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/17643/patricks-barn-underslab-insulation
and my personal favorite:
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/17723/patricks-barn-rookie-mistake
How do you plan to use the building?
to answer all your questions:
the sonotubes were poured below the frost line and apparently the bases are 3-4' in diameter. The building hasn't moved an inch that I can tell.
I think I did a poor job of estimating the sizes of the posts/beams. The uprights (situated over the sonotubes) are all about 12" by 12". All the beams spanning between the sonotubes are about 8" by 8", and then there are some huge beams, about 16" deep, along the top of the walls. In between the beams the shed is framed with typical 24"OC 2x4 frame. As I was saying - a dog's breakfast of different building materials but in my estimation the structure is quite solid.
My intentions for the building are probably to use it for storage, but it wouldn't take much to make it into a comfortable work space. As it is now I do some welding in there, store a boat, snowblower, etc. It is wired and I might some day want to put a concrete floor in it.
The suggestion regarding the pressure treated wood around the bottom is just about what I was thinking. I was considering some pressure treated plywood anchored to the beams, extending down a few inches below grade, and then insulate in behind it, with another layer of plywood on the inside. But I'm unsure of how this would stand up over time, and if anybody has tried it before.
thanks for all your suggestions so far and Patrick, I'm going to spend some time checking out the pole barn you built. I'm sure it will give me some ideas.
cheers
The plywood
If you were able to get ultra treated, not the .40 plywood, it might hold up, but not in soil. In well drained stone, perhaps. The cut edges will probably delaminate eventho it's exterior glue. That's asking alot of the plys in the plywood.
Ideally somehting that wouldn't absorb water, wouldn't rust and would keep out vermin. IF you could pour a ratwall when you do the floor, that would be ideal.