If you are looking for an affordable and easy way to build a home from scratch, a pole barn house is your best bet. These spaces allow for comfortable and inexpensive living, and you can even build one on your own with the help of DIY kits or online free plans.
To help you get started, here’s a short, easy guide for building a pole barn house with woods.
How to Build a Pole Barn
This Woodworking project might come off as challenging and almost undoable; however, with the right tools, accessories, materials, and technique, you can actually build a pole barn on your own. Follow these steps to make one from scratch, which you can later use as a workshop or a party venue, whichever you want!
Step 1: Gather Essential Materials
When building a pole barn house, the first thing you need to do is gather all the essential materials. The supplies required for this project are:
- Tape measure
- Skill saw
- Framing hammer
- Drill
- Screwdriver
- Hand saw
- Plywood
- Wooden planks
- Roofing nails
- Storm clips
- Lumber
- Poles
- Gravel and concrete
- Carpenter’s level
Step 2: Build the Foundation
Once you have all the tools and supplies ready, the first things you need to build is the foundation of the pole barn house. You need to prepare the site with the help of utility poles that you can buy from any local electric shop near your place. Plant the poles at least 6-7 feet in the ground and plumb them with the help of carpenter’s level. Make sure to pack an adequate amount of dirt around their basis to keep them firmly in place.
Step 3: Install Roof Beams
After building the main foundation, now is the time to attach the roof beams. A great advantage of using a pole-based structure is that you can install the roof system on the poles instead of having to rely on the interior or exterior walls.
Step 4: Pour the Slab
Now that you have the supporting poles or beams well in place, you can now pour the slab in order to create a proper rigid unit. This step is what makes a pole barn house different from the usual standard homes. In the former, the poles become a part of the main foundation instead of acting as supporting accessories.
Step 5: Levels and Flooring
If you wish to add more variety to this project, you can add a number of decks and can further separate them through lofts. In case you do want to add extra levels, start by driving in nails as a marker point in order to determine the height for the other desks. Repeat the line-level process for the levels like you did in the earlier steps and bolt the beams or the poles in the same manner.
Once you have all that in place, the next step is flooring. Apply layers of exterior plywood for the flooring, followed by using a sheet of builder’s felt with the help of the tongue-and-groove method of flooring. This double layering is only to be done for those floors that are exposed to the outdoor air. The double treatment will help protect the flooring from external conditions like moisture, humidity, etc. On the other hand, the interior floors only require sheets of painted plywood.
An important tip to remember here is that if you’re planning to live in this pole barn house, you might want to double floor the interior deck or level as well, along with installing a properly finished ceiling in the rooms and insulating all the spaces between the levels. However, if you’re going to use it as a workspace or storage space, you don’t necessarily have to do all that.
Step 6: Install the Walls
At this point, you are supposed to put together the walls, windows, and other units. Start with wall framing with the six-mil plastic, which you need to stretch from both sides. Fill other sections with lumber and wooden planks, securing everything together in place. Attach the windows and doors one by one with the help of the drill and the nails.
Step 7: Secure the Roof
Once the walls have been secured properly, move on to securing the roof. This requires you to hoist the wooden planks towards the top of the pole barn house and tie them to the vertical poles with the help of hurricane clips. To further secure the roof, cover it with galvanized steel layers to hold it in place.
Step 8: Add the Framing
This is the final step that will complete the pole barn house. Finish the framing by attaching it to the poles. At this point, use screws instead of nails in order to ensure increased strength and force. Make sure that the framing is attached to the poles instead of the concrete foundation.
Finishes and Touch-Ups for Building a Pole Barn House
Add the last few touch-ups and finishes to your completed pole barn house according to how you are going to use it. For example, you will need properly fixed sources of heat and light if you’ll be spending a lot of time in your pole barn house. If you plan to live in the house, you will require several permanent fixtures such as paint, wallpaper, cabinetry, stove, bathroom fixtures, a proper kitchen, etc.
This completely depends on your usage of the pole barn house.
Additional Resources
If you wish to make this entire process of building a pole barn house even simpler, there are numerous other ways and resources that can help you.
For example:
· Pole Barn Plans
If you search online, you will find numerous pole barn plans that are according to your specific requirements. For instance, you can search for 12 x 24 pole barn plans, and you can find a step-by-step guide that will help you make your own. There are many other free woodworking plans that are easily accessible for your own use.
· DIY Kits
There are also DIY kits that are available in different stores, which are fully customizable with a variety of different features, colors, as well as sizes. The kits include all the pole barn plans and materials that you need to build a great-looking house.
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