# My new barn



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

I took some time off work to build a barn. It is 48 by 48 with two 16 by 48 hay lofts. One side for tools and livestock on the other with a 24 by 48 area for working on projects or round bale storage. There is an inch of foam insulation under the metal roof. I built the trusses and they include 70 2x12 x 24' Western Fur.


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## Grumpy old man (Aug 6, 2013)

Now that's a barn I could fall in love with , Very nice job ! Wanna build another one ??


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## Allen W (Aug 2, 2008)

Nice barn


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## sisterpine (May 9, 2004)

Wow! That is beautiful! I doubt that two by twelve's have gone down any in the years since I last bought some YIKES they are pricy. Pat yourself on the back for this one. I don't think I could afford the delivery charges on that much concrete! Great job, beautiful location too. Blessings, sis


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

More pictures. Lots of screws holding down the oak 1x6 and 1x8s. All the loft boards are 16 feet long, rough sawn. I used some old dairy barn hardware and some new pipe to make my "mini-dairy". The rest of the area has steel bars on the top and Ash 2x10s on the bottom. Steel feed doors and swinging doors for water are not yet installed. The sliding doors are waiting for me to install the planed oak 5/4 x 8 oak boards on the lower half and Plexiglas panels on the top half.
I ran a water line to two frost free faucets, 48 inches deep, then dug a drain from the faucets because the clay soil won't let a frost free faucet drain. I included 4 inch drain pipe at the front and back of the barn to take water from the eaves troughs/ rain gutters. It all drains off to a nearby down slope.
I hired the block work and floor work. Lots of 1/2 inch re-bar, floor is 6 inches thick. Main posts are 6x8x 20 feet. The bottom of each post is tarred and drilled for the 3/4 re-bar sticking up from the concrete floor. I hired a crane to set the trusses. Most of the lumber is rough sawn and I had to cut each end of every board!
I lost 20 pounds in the 4 months it took me to get this much done. I'll add the siding and build the main doors this fall and run the rest of the electrical in the spring.


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## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

Very nice! Do you not have to place footer under 4 foot frost line?


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

John_Canada said:


> Very nice! Do you not have to place footer under 4 foot frost line?


 This is a floating slab. By building a reinforced 24 inch by 12 inch footing and running rebar 24 inches apart, both ways to create a grid and going with 6 inches of concrete, I limit the cracking.
An unheated building with a 48 inch frost wall/footer, will still be subjected to frost heave in the center areas.


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## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

Very cool you can do that in Michigan. We were going to build a garage using frost-protected shallow slab but was not going to heat it 24/7 in winter so not sure if possible but this looks promising. Thanks for photos.


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Good job....


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## gone-a-milkin (Mar 4, 2007)

Looking good, Haypoint! 


Are you going to start milking over there eventually?
Maybe some mini cows for your mini dairy? :teehee:

Hurry up and get the doors finished. 
Thanks for the pics.


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

Good work. Inspiring. Eat more. Keep going.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

The soffit/fascia is formed from a sheet of painted steel. It comes on a roll 41 inches wide and generally formed into pole barn siding that has a coverage of 36 inches. This was cut to 13 feet lengths and formed in a sheet metal brake. The barn was designed to use all 41 inches in this combination soffit fascia, with enough to lay under the roof edge and some to attach to the barn wall.
The poles all needed trimmed before the metal could go on the roof, so I'm up there with my chainsaw knocking off a few inches of post. I hate heights.


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## AngieM2 (May 10, 2002)

Wow, strong looking and impressive.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

trusses set at 24 inches apart, mostly 2x12s.


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## Awnry Abe (Mar 21, 2012)

Looks like it will outlast all of us! Very nice. When you get done, I would like to see photos of it in use.


Sent from my iPhone using Homesteading Today


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## BlueRose (Mar 7, 2013)

Nice Wishing I had one.


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## SeanInVa (Oct 3, 2013)

I like this! Very nice!


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

I really like the barn. We are in the process of deciding on a plan right now. I've looked at a design that has concrete blocks about waste high but I really like the full walls even more.
How many stalls will your barn have? Dimensions?
You're not going to start selling raw milk are you? 
All kidding aside, it is a great looking barn! Congrats on your hard work.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

SueMc said:


> I really like the barn. We are in the process of deciding on a plan right now. I've looked at a design that has concrete blocks about waste high but I really like the full walls even more.
> How many stalls will your barn have? Dimensions?
> You're not going to start selling raw milk are you?
> All kidding aside, it is a great looking barn! Congrats on your hard work.


The block part is 48 x 48, with a 48 x 10 slab out from the stall doors. There is a 4 foot overhang, giving me two hay lofts 16 x 48. I have two stalls 12 x 16 and a standing stall, for a team of draft horses, a place for two milk cows, with space between thee milk cows and the draft team for a frost free faucet. I can divide the 12 x 16 stalls into 12 x 8. Still being assembled are the six swinging bucket doors and six doors for feeding hay. So, I could feed six horses without going into each pen. I won't have six horses. Expect to have calves and pigs. I've attached a photo of one of the feeders. Not a clear photo. The end doors swing open and have a rack to hold a bucket. They are made of 1/2 steel rod. The doors are 1/8 steel plate. The doors near the center, swing down, attached at the bottom. They are big enough for feeding hay. In the pictures, the latches aren't attached. The doors are formed to have a one inch lip all the way around. There are no sharp edges towards the livestock.
To span the eight foot wide stall openings, I used 2 x 8 x 1/4 channel, the full length of the building. I drilled 1/2 holes, spaced 24 inches and welded in bolts for the barn door track. I welded 2 x 4 x 1/4 pieces between the channel, to form a 8 x 8 x 48 foot steel "box". I used the tractor's loader to set it in place in two pieces, on top of the blocks. Then I finished welding it together. I mixed concrete, used a wheel barrow to get it to the barn, filled 5 gallon pails with concrete, lifted them onto the scaffold and poured the concrete into the channel, until it was all filled up. Without that steel channel, the block walls would be too instable to last. I let concrete fill the voids in the block in several places. I limited the flow of concrete with pieces of scrap Styrofoam insulation. I inserted 8 inch bolts into the concrete to hold the 2 x8 sill plate down.
The top half of the stall walls have 1 inch diameter pipe spaced 5 inches apart, welded onto 2 x 2 x 3/8 angle iron. To insure they would be evenly spaced, I drilled 1" holes in a board, carefully spaced 5 inches apart. Then I ran the board through the table saw, leaving me with two boards with equally spaced "slots" for the pipe to nest into. 
Each end of the barn has a 22 foot by 11 foot doorway. The doors are 12 by 11 1/2, made from 2 x 2 x 3/16 angle iron frames, with 1 x 6 rough sawn boards going across in 5 places. I still have to screw the pole barn steel over them to form the "skin".
I won't sell raw milk, but if I need to sell some herd shares, I'll let you know.


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks for the detailed answer. I had the husband (and main builder here) read your thread. 
I'm too far away to herd share plus have a guernsey milking and hopefully have her and one of two heifers successfully AI'd. We've had enough milk this year for the family and to nicely fatten up some pigs. It's so much easier than dealing with the public.


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## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I think you've done a beautiful job of not only designing that barn but creating a structural integrity most barns do not have. Thanks for the pictures. I really enjoyed seeing that type of work!


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Thanks!.
I noticed that I hadn't shown the end wall construction. The part above the big opening (doorways) starts at over 10 feet in the air and goes to the peak that's way past 20 feet high. The 2 x 6 rough sawn studs are notched to sit on the double 2 x 12 that spans the top of the doorway. Then they were notched to fit a horizontal rough sawn 2x4, added to hold everything together better. I cut everything to fit, on the barn floor, then carried each board up the ladder. Once the wall's studs, cross support and top sill were in place, I began adding the rough sawn 1 x 8 boards. I used 2 1/2 inch screws to hold the boards on.


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## Bubbas Boys (Apr 11, 2013)

Looks great. My wife would be in love. That is what we are wanting some day. Great job


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Here is a photo of the first pole barn I built, 25 years ago. It is 100 feet by 100 feet. The center, taller part, uses 6 by 6 treated posts, 5 feet apart, 24 feet long, with about 4 feet in the ground. Sided with tounge and groove treated 2 by 6, from the ground up 4 feet. Didn't want the snow melting on untreated lumber. The top half of the siding is 1 by 12 pine, preserved with non-detergent engine oil. Works like Thompson Water Seal.
BTW That is Canada, about 6 miles away in the horizon.


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## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

This is when the work stopped and I want back to my real job. Was 16 below zero the other day, so no wishing I was up there finishing stuff up. I did get my 8 metal doors made. 4 that swing from the side and hold a bucket and four that open for hay, that hinge at the bottom.
I like to look at the trusses. The center part shown here is mostly 2x12. 24 feet long across the bottom.
I miss the work.


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## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

haypoint said:


> BTW That is Canada, about 6 miles away in the horizon.


You can tell by the igloos and sled dogs!

Seriously, the project is looking awesome. Very cold here but not that bad! Supposed to get freezing rain so let's see how our trees handle that.


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## Deeplines (Dec 7, 2013)

Haypoint, you have some talent. Good looking pictures.


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