Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:


"stryped" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

Been thinking, would it be acceptable to square in an area with treated
2x12's and stakes the size of the needed pole barn/garage. Then level
inside that area with gravel. Then as I get money for posts drilling
for posts outside the 2x12's and installing them? If the 2x12's are
square I am guessing the posts would have to be square then too.

Do the poles first, then form around them. It's quite easy, then, to use
stringers to build your external walls.
Better, even, to use square posts. They're a bit more expensive than used
power poles, but worth the price in the finished quality and ease of
construction for the rest of the structure. By the time you've finished
scarfing round posts for the rim beams, you'll wish you'd used square
ones.

LLoyd
Get yourself a copy of Mortoh's owner/construction manual and read it cover
to cover. It contains useful information.

As for posts. Morton uses 6x6 posts built up from 2x6s spiked together. From
what the Morton gut told me they learned the hard way that waterproofing
treatment only penetrates about 2". They ended up eating a bunch of
buildings some years back when the posts rotted in the ground.

A few things abut their poles. The part that goes into the ground is made up
of three 2x6s cut to different lengths. The center is longest, one side is
about a foot shorter than the center, the other side about two feet
shorter. They then drill a 1/2" hole throuth the stack about 6" from the
bottom and insert a metal pin about a foot long to help ahchor the post in
concrete. IIRC they drilled the holes about five feet deep with a
tractor-mounted auger about a foot in diameter. They then dump a bag of
quick setting Sacrete into the bottom of the hole. The 6x6 pole is then
dropped into the hole and another bag of Sacrete is added. The concrete is
dry. The hole is then filled with dirt. Ground moisture is allowed to
moisten the concrete. The crew then sets up a laser level in the center of
the building and all the posts are marked and cut off so that the tops are
all level (this may result in different heights above grade if your floor
isn't level). This allows the factory to make all the posts the same
height. The posts shipped from the factory are "keyed" to make a finger
joint with the part set in concrete.

Watching one of Morton's crews put up a building is quite an education.They
really should make up a time-lapse movie of one going up. It would make
some really great advertising on their WEB site. My building is 30x70 with
10' walls. The walls and roof are screwed on. Three guys put it up in about
five days (in December with high temperatures in the low 40's).
--
Keith Bowers - Thomasville, NC