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Paradise KS | I got a hold of 8 nice telephone poles. I would guess they are 12"+ around. I want to use them to build an open sided machinery storage barn. This would be the first time ive built anything on this scale.
Im looking at making it 14 ft tall or so, maybe 16 depending. How big of a building could i build with 8 poles? How far apart could i put the poles? I will be using pressure treated lumber to fill in between the poles and then using metal siding and roofing.
Edit: I haven't picked up or payed for the poles yet. How much would they be worth? The poles have never been used but they have been sitting on the ground for over five years.
Edited by SpringBrookFarm 12/29/2014 08:40
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Alberta Canada | Have a lot of buildings built with these type of poles. How long are they? The ones we used ended up being short once dug into the ground. New posts might be a bit more true and easier to build off, some posts that were used had a 1/2ft difference between the top and bottom. Ours were used telephone posts that were removed when the phone lines were dug underground 50yrs ago. My sheds the posts are 10-12ft apart with a header so the rafters can be on 4ft centers. The sides are strapped with 2"x6" and then sided with tin or plywood. For a hay shed or cold storage its a cheap way to go. Our posts were free but used. |
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Berks County Pa. | I would pay $0 for telephone poles. You have to deal with the taper and they are not nice to work with. I built a corn crib from poles but i would not do it again. Many of the poles tend to "delaminate" in concentric circles when you drill them or nail into them. |
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| No idea on spacing or sizing but I used to know a guy who was a power company lineman. He would bring home the better of the poles that they switched out for his building projects. For the poles he'd have one side cut flat with a bandsaw mill. He also had poles cut into 2x4's and 2x6's for purlins. The only material he bought was the trusses and the siding metal. If I remember right he spaced his on 4' because he plenty of lumber. He told me if no one took the poles the power company had to pay to have them chipped and disposed of as hazmat. |
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Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | Dad built a "combine" shed about 50 years ago with used utility poles. The shed is still straight and true but a bit small for today's combines.
The poles Dad got were used. They were of differing diameters. I got in on helping Dad with setting these poles which was a rather time consuming process. Dad had the power company come out and dig the holes. I don't remember if he purposely offset the holes to accomodate the larger poles so the outside edge would be in line with the smaller poles which were used along the walls.
Once the poles were in the holes we set about packing them in place. Dad had one of those tools that loggers use to turn logs. It had a handle with a couple of hooks on it that would dig into the wood and allow a person to twist the poles. Dad would walk away from the site and sight in the poles. He would have me turn the poles until the straightest side was "out". Sometimes the pole had a high spot on the outside which he later shaved back with an axe.
Once the poles were set the "nailers" were installed. This was used lumber and spaced several feet apart horizontally. If the outside edge where the nailers were to be placed was straight then everything was fine. Some times a filler shim was needed and sometimes the pole had to be shaved back with an axe.
Once the nailers were in place. The rafters were installed. Steel was used for the roof and sidewalls. The biggest problem as I recall with using the utility poles was the extra labor involved in getting them in properly.
With only 8 poles I don't think the building could be very large but it might suit your purposes just fine.
Edited by tedbear 12/29/2014 09:06
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Montana | I had old poles and someone suggested I buy new green treat 6 by 6 the length I wanted and I am very glad I did. I have tried treating some old wood to prevent rot and the treat does not seem to work like the old Penta. If you can set concrete in the ground and a steel connector to the poles might be ok but rot is sure a concern on old poles. |
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just a tish NE of central ND | Not enough post to start...... maybe a lean to, but hardly a machine shed of any size unless really narrow.
Edited by School Of Hard Knock 12/29/2014 09:42
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Montana | I can really identify with this post because My Daddy and i built a Lambing shed just like this in 1973 and it is still standing. We had Timber and cut our own big posts and butt treated them. It was very interesting how hard we worked to get the outside straight but we did. We used light poles for perlons on the walls and roof. I have built a lot with dimension lumber since then and know the labor is the key. :) We sided the building with one by fir lumber from 4 to 12 inches wide. if there were knot holes we did two layers. Lots of nails. We put on a galvanized tin roof.
Some people sure love the rustic and creativity of the pole and lumber shed. It was 60 by 80 built to follow the plane of the sloping ground. I know some real rich people buying ranches in Montana now are paying a bunch for old boards and old tin to get sheds made to look like ours. :) They want to pretend they are old timers. :) |
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Sac & Story county IA | Here, they are basically free if you are in the right place at the right place at the right time. I have a large pile that I use some once in awhile.
The part of not being in the ground is a plus, maybe. The 4 inches at ground level rots.
You can get good with masons string to get them set to be in the right place. Well, the best compromise? |
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Paradise KS | It doesnt need to be huge maybe 30 ft deep and then how ever wide i can make it. I could probably get some more poles if i needed too. |
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NCOhio | Dad built a pole barn leanto onto the barn in 1963. They used creasoted poles and they are still good at ground level. They are on 16ft spacing with 12inch headers I believe. This is a 48'x48' shed. The posts are @8 to 10 inch diameter. We have gotten used electric and telephone poles since and they were always in good shape at ground level. Some were starting to rot at the top. If they are older poles with good treatment they are usually as good or better than the new green ones. As others have said working with them when building is a challenge. |
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| Those poles are strong enough that they don't limit the spacing so much as the truss strength sets the pole spacing. Roof trusses can be made to be anything from a foot to 20 feet apart, but those strong enough for wind and snow loads on 20 foot centers are literally bridges and HEAVY. Then it almost takes trusses to span between the trusses to hold up the roofing. Most sheds are built with the trusses spaced 8 to 10 feet and so the posts holding truss ends are 8 to 10 feet apart and the trusses reach from wall to all anywhere from 30 to 100 feet. But design takes a good structural engineer and building the trusses takes care. The longer and stronger the trusses are the harder they are to put in place and the more expensive they are. Its probably a decent trade off to plan on 7 or 8' truss spacing and more poles because of the cost of stronger trusses. It might be practical to use flat topped trusses or just laminated beams like in side wall over wide doors to hold up trusses at closer spacings than the poles, but that takes away from the simplicity of pole construction.
An alternative to used poles can be made (my first building is built that way) by laminating 2x6. Use foundation grade for the parts in the ground, then overlap plain 2x6 splice joints above ground. Leave the center 2x6 short by the end height of the truss and rest the truss in there with sturdy through bolts and you get a very good truss to post connection, far better than bolting the truss to the side of a round pole. Underground use stainless steel nails to assemble the laminated posts. That was a Bonanza building, now owned by Lester. Another detail best detailed by an experienced structural engineer.
Gerald J. |
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middle Georgia | When I was in college we built a livestock barn on the collage farm using old power polls. The farm had a pto driven sawmill that we used to square the polls up. Then we retreated them, they turned dark brown to almost black. Put them up straight then poured concrete in the ally ways. Usd green color metal on the roof. School got someone to help get some new cattle handling equipment to install in it. Make for a beautiful setup. Hated cutting thepoles because of the creosote. Farm manager did not have a lot of money to work with, but used what he had and did a great job with a bunch of 18 & 19 year olds. Barn is still used today and has had many complements. |
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E.Central MN | Around here some of the power coops sell their used poles, I think I was told about $10/post. A friend got some to build a shed, but decided to buy new rectangular posts. I stopped to visit (had my trailer hooked on) and he talked us into taking some of them. We loaded up the best ones, about 7 or 8 of them for fence posts. I traded him for a load of firewood. Years back we took down and rebuilt a corn crib that used telephone poles. Later we took the crib down and used the poles to build a 40 x 60 pole shed. I wish we had used new posts as some of them have rotted off. Usually posts are spaced between 8-10' apart. So with 8 poles you could build a shed that was 30' long. |
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Rivers, MB | How long are they? Even at 14' tall (which is too short to put any larger equipment in and allow for much headroom), you will want 4-6' in the ground. So they need to be 40' long to get 2 poles out of one. So best case scenario, you have 16 poles. 3 sided building (open on one end) would give you a 40'x40' with them spaced at 8'.
Personally, for that size of building, I would be buying good poles or laminate poles out of 2x6's or 2x8's. Bit extra but then you have something new. For minimally more money.
And I wouldn't build a shed with only 14' walls.
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Western-Central Lower Michigan | The dark colored ones MAY be treated with chemicals that were fine in their day, but in todays world might be considered a liability (HAZMAT).
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Northern Kentucky | Just got finished with an open building. Used treated 6x6's for the corners and poles in the middle. Got my poles for free since my dad is an electrical contractor. It was a lot of extra work and only saved me a few hundred dollars. When I add on to this building it will be with 6x6 post. My poles where 40' long and we just split them into 20' lengths. They are 36" in the ground and 7.5' apart. It is 16' to the bottom of the truss and the building is 45'x40' for now and will eventually be 120'x40' for cold storage and hay storage.
Edited by DVFarms 12/29/2014 14:54
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North Central IN | This building was built way before my time. Date on concrete says 1953. The posts are 16' on center, rafter type (not truss) construction. Just put a bunch of money into concrete. We had to redo several bases as they had rotted off or were close to being rotted off.
http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=520017&posts=8...
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Oklahoma | In 1990 we built a 24x 48 ft 3 sided livestock barn using a similar method on setting poles. We had poles from 14 ft to 20 ft long. Built into the slope we just put the short ones on the back side and long on the front. Ours poles were on 12 x 12 centers to make bays, used bridge seals for tying poles together. My dad notched the tops of the poles with a chainsaw to basically make mortis and tendon joints, then we cut plate steel to laminate the joints similar to the metal fasteners they use in houses today but ours were much bigger. Used bridge decking for the stringer/nailers and then sheeted in metal siding. As others have said, for a livestock barn, works great, but equipment storage if maybe limited in height. Ours was ~10 ft in the back and something like 14 on the front. |
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Telephone Pole building????
