conversing with someone(s) about building my own barn

Gary Williams

Hello. I don't have a lot of building experience and was hoping someone(s) could give me some feedback on my ideas about building my own barn please. I want to build my own frames and weld my own steel joinery. In the video you can see that the frame covers the whole width of the barn. I would like to build half a frame at a time (26 feet wide) and then connect the two halves together to make one large frame which would be 52 feet wide and make it about 40 feet long. There would be large support poles right in the middle of the barn on both floors for added strength support. I don't have it all figured out but hope to get started after I retire from Army in Oct. My questions are:
1. They use 6in by 6in square timber, I want to make mine 8in x 8in; if I add my floor joist to the 1/2 frames, what wooden I-beam dimensions do I need for a second story floor? I prefer to have more strength in I beams than not enough. The video showed steel I beams; is steel better than wooden I beams for normal load bearing second floor?

2. Is it better to put the I beams in after the frame is up or to include it in each 1/2 frame piece and then erect it that way?

3. I'm thinking about building piers that have a u-shaped steel support that is concreted into pier and that rises about 12 inches above pier for each side of the frame to fit into. Is this overkill? The socketsystem company uses a very small base plate which obviously is fine.

4. I'm building near Augusta, GA and soil seems to be sand/clay mix.


5. Any suggestions?

Thnx,
Chaplain G. Williams

Daniel Holzman

I don't want to be a wet blanket, but for an individual who identifies himself as not having much experience, you have taken on a huge project. Unless you have substantial welding experience, welding up your own trusses (I assume that is what you want to weld) is a difficult proposition, as the integrity of the welds are critical. I have no idea what your basis of design is, generally the steel trusses for a barn are designed by a structural engineer, as is the rest of the barn.

You may want to take two steps back, think carefully about what you want to accomplish, and seek some professional assistance both in terms of designing the structure, acquiring the appropriate permits, and constructing the building. Raising large steel trusses is going to require a crane, which of course needs to be rented, which is a whole other issue.

ddawg16

At the risk of sounding sarcastic......One suggestion....hire a contractor.

I built my own garage....but had someone do the engineering....and I had 'some' idea of what I was doing...

Your talking about a very large structure......you are not going to get the answers to your questions here.

On a side note....many thanks for your service to our country....enjoy your well deserved retirement.

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joecaption

There's hundreds of steel building companys that have already done all the engineering for you. Order the plans, have someone pore the footings and slab laid out to there plans.
When the building arrives just put it together like an erector set, no welding or fabracating needed.

Gary Williams

Thanks for the input! I think I have a company in mind.