New Pole Barn

[L4740]

Thought you might like to see a new addition to the farm. How we got to this point is a long story, but it ends up that I was in need of some additional storage space. So we decided that this past summer we were going to go ahead and put up another pole barn. This one strictly for ag storage. The finished size is 40x56x15. It has a 9x8 OH door on the side and one big 18x13.5 OH door on one end. And all of the site prep and finish work was done by yours truly using the L4740 for the heavy lifting and the BX23 for the trenching and finish work. I have to say that I am very pleased with the finished results. I hope you enjoy the pics. and the commentary.

Up first, setting grade and starting the excavation. Even though the area looks faily flat, as you will see in the later pictures, how much fill was needed.

[L4740]

The pad took a lot of fill. The quarry is only 2 miles from my house, and a local driver was willing to work by the hour. So I didn't have to pay a seperate delivery charge on each load. He would dump a load and head out for another one. While he was gone I would spread out the gravel. It was all I could do to keep up with him. We averaged about 3 loads per hour.

[L4740]

After the rough grade of the pad was set, it was time for the drain tile. Because of the slope of the land and the amount of water running off the existing pole barn and soon to be new pole barn, I decided to drain tile the up hill sides of the barn. The BX23 made short work of the trenches. I ran your normal 4" slotted drain tile along the two sides. However, under the approaches for the OH doors, I converted to a 4" PVC pipe to avoid any chance of crushing it later by driving tractors over it.

[L4740]

Then it was it was time for construction. This crew was fantastic. Eveyone knew what they were doing and it went up so fast, I hardly had time to take pictures. From the time they showed up, to the time they had cleaned up everything and pulled out of the driveway was 16 1/2 hours. That did not include the OH doors. But it was truly amazing to watch. This is day 1.

[L4740]

Day two. They would have finished on day two, but they knocked off early on day one since they were to the point of setting the trusses and didn't want to just get 1/2 of them up and then have to leave them that way overnight.

[L4740]

Day 3. Finished. Cleaned up and outta here.

[L4740]

Now came the finish work. Door thresholds for the OH doors. And tons of more crushed rock.

[L4740]

Exterior pics. as the floor is brought up to grade and the aprons put in.

[L4740]

Interior pics. of the finished floor. The BX23 with the landscaping rake with guage wheels was just the ticket for this.

[L4740]

To hold the pad in place and to make for a nice transistion back down to the original grade, we decided to go ahead and put in a retaining wall. A friend of mine works for a custom retaining wall company and does side line work on weekends. The block were a discontinued color so I got them for half price. I also worked side by side with him and his crew. Our agreement was that if I didn't have to move the 85 lb blocks, they wouldn't have to move any of the gravel for the backfill or for the gravel that was used as a base. I moved 15 yards of class 5 and almost 20 yards of 1 1/2 screened rock that day. All with the BX23. They were happy, and so was I.

[L4740]

With the completion of the OH doors, it is all buttoned up and ready for winter storage. Our goal was to match the existing building as close as possible even though it came from a different source. I think they accomplished that. And even though it is quite a bit taller then the existing building, by positioning it on a lower portion of the lot, it fits in well and doesn't look like it towers over the exiting shed. It was a lot of fun, and was able to use my Kubota power to help accomplish it.

[skeets]

A very nice pole barn,, but I hope you understand it aint gona be big enough, I thought my 30X40 was going to take care of everything,,, Ahhhuummm nope ,,nature apores a vaccum ,,, Ya done good

[dusty-t]

Nice building, nice post. Loved all the pics. Thankyou.:D Dusty

[DsBota]

Thanks for sharing and what a great barn. I wish I had space for something like that.

[Service Dept Vic]

Nice watching that building come together! I can tell you are very proud of it!

[meanjean]

Fine work and a nice looking structure.
Great job with the pics as well.
Must have been a tough 3 days.
You saved a pile of money by doing a bunch on you own.
Did you calculate the estimated savings?

[L4740]

Fine work and a nice looking structure.
Giid job with the pics as well.
Must have been a tough 3 days.
You saved a pile of money by doing a bunch on you own.
Did you calculate the estimated savings?

Thanks for compliments folks. The three days it took for the crew to build the shed were actually easy days for me. Basically all I did is sit back and stayed out of their way. But the overall project took many more than three days to complete. Staking it out, setting grade, excavating, putting in the pad, digging in the drain tile, took many days since I was basically by myself. After the crew was done building the shed, then I spend many more days building door thresholds, bringing the floor up to finished grade, piling more rock up around the outside to keep the rock on the inside from running out from under the bottom of the walls. After the initial bulk of the material was hauled in by a contractor, yours truly hauled in the rest in the little dump trailer seen in the photo below. Since the quarry is so close to me, I decided years ago to pick this up and it made it possible for me to go get my own rock when I need it. By not paying delivery charges each time I need a little rock, this has more than paid for itself over the years. It is slow going since I can only haul a couple tons at a time, but for most projects it is all you need.
The retaining wall was another project really in itself. I knew I would need help there. But by hiring someone who does it everyday for a living, the wall was built in less than a day. But then after they had packed up and gone, there was still many days of work that needed to be done. Back-filling behind the wall to the proper height. Then bringing the dirt back up to the wall in the front. Putting in the aprons in front of the doors. There was also a fair amount of dirt to be moved away and leveled out around the area. Fixing up all the ruts the equipment left. Cleaning up all the left over rock that was piled in the lawn. So the overall project took many many weeks. But I would work at it as time and weather permitted.

As far as what I saved. It would be hard for me to guesstimate the overall savings by doing as much of it as I could. From day one, there was no doubt that I would be doing a lot of the work. I enjoy this type of work, I have the time and the equipment to do these kind of projects, so it was never an option to go out and get bids on the work that I could do. I've never been one to hire some one to do something I am capable of doing? Even if you have to go out and buy some equipment to do it. It is still cheaper in the long run than paying someone to do it, and you have the equipment for future projects.(At least that's what I tell the Misses). But most of the time it turns out to be true. I questioned my sanity when I bought the BX23 with the backhoe on it. I thought that after I was done with the one project, it would sit in the shed and never get used again. I was wrong. I would hate to be without it around here now.

[aquaforce]

Nice barn and nice pics and details.

This coming year we are planning to move and I am hoping to put up a 60X80 and I hope it looks as nice as yours.


I still think the barn was just an excuse to avoid mowing the grass there. :p :D :D :D :D :D LOL

[Bulldog]

L 4740, that's a great looking building. Hard work really pays off in the end when everything turns out that nice. Very functional looking building if you ask me.

I'm with skeets, just built a 30 x 40 thinking it would be big enough. I'm already thinking of building onto it and haven't even finished the first section yet.