03-10-2010, 10:13 AM
Teeters, there are no footings poured. you place the post bottoms on something solid, like a concrete block in the bottom of the hole, then you nail "anchors" which are 4 treated 2x4's about a foot long, 1/4 of an inch from the bottom of the post, one on each side, these serve as wind anchors to give more wind stability, then you tamp the ground in as you fill the hole. another method is to use dry concrete mix to tamp around the posts (Which I am using) The concrete will get wet and harden on its own.
You don't want to set the posts too firm or fill the holes until you are sure they are set in the right location.
They have been building barns with this method for years and the only ones I've seen a problem with are the ones where they try to cut corners with the framing.
Our locomotive shed was built with the trusses on 4 foot centers, and I was always worried about snow load, but the snow slid off the metal roof pretty quick so wasn't a problem. I'm using 24 inch centers which seems to be the norm here with truss construction and a shingled roof.
There are plans here <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mwps_dis/mwps_web/plans/72057.pdf">http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mwps_dis ... /72057.pdf</a><!-- m -->. It is not the one I'm building, but the technique is similar.
Charlie
You don't want to set the posts too firm or fill the holes until you are sure they are set in the right location.
They have been building barns with this method for years and the only ones I've seen a problem with are the ones where they try to cut corners with the framing.
Our locomotive shed was built with the trusses on 4 foot centers, and I was always worried about snow load, but the snow slid off the metal roof pretty quick so wasn't a problem. I'm using 24 inch centers which seems to be the norm here with truss construction and a shingled roof.
There are plans here <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mwps_dis/mwps_web/plans/72057.pdf">http://www.public.iastate.edu/~mwps_dis ... /72057.pdf</a><!-- m -->. It is not the one I'm building, but the technique is similar.
Charlie