Enclosing part of my barn

Glenn1 · January 26, 2016, 08:45:06 PM

It is finally time to enclose half of my pole barn. The enclosed part will be for the kiln dried lumber. The other half is for air drying the boards. I brought in 30 poplars that were 14"+ and 14' at length.

There will be 3 sets of doors into the enclosed area. Because the doors are wide, there will be a 10" foam wheel in the bottom center of each door. After pricing out extra heavy duty hinges, I decided to make them ourselves. The steel is 3" wide by 3/8" thick. I think that I over engineered the hinges but I'd rather be safe.

dukecrazy · January 27, 2016, 09:19:06 AM

looks good so far, do you have any pictures of your hinges you made?

GeneWengert-WoodDoc · January 27, 2016, 09:29:43 AM

One suggestion is to include a continuous sheet of plastic in the wall between the KD and AD lumber. This will help to control the spread of insects. Keep the floor in both areas free of any wood debris...dust and solid pieces to help with insect control. If the walls are not fairly air tight, you might want plastic on all the walls in order to keep the KD storage area dry. A plastic sheet on the floor, then covered with concrete or gravel will help control soil moisture. A black colored roof will also add a little heat to the KD side and that will keep the humidity down...in fact, a very small fan near the top can, run during daylight, blow some of the hot dry air around the entire piles of lumber.

brendonv · January 27, 2016, 04:36:04 PM

Nice barn.

How wide did you cut your poplar siding?

xlogger · January 27, 2016, 06:08:34 PM

Looks good Glenn, that will give you lots more room for storage.

YellowHammer · January 27, 2016, 08:24:41 PM

Looks good, you're getting it done. 8) Hey I like that forklift, how's it working out? Does it have the extendable forks?

Glenn1 · January 27, 2016, 08:37:10 PM

Dukecrazy: The steel is being drilled as we speak. I only need 168 holes. When I get them welded together, I'll be happy to add some pictures.

Doc: Thanks for your suggestions. Although it can't be seen, I first put a 12" concrete sheet recessed into the ground so the poplar will not be in contact with the ground. I then had them put clear 6 mil poly from the ground to the top of the trusses. I have crushed concrete already down and did not think about adding sheeting first. My mistake. The fan is a good idea and I can incorporate it easily. I plan on keeping pallets of kiln dried wood wrapped in a HD stretch wrap to keep the moisture down.

Brendonv: I made the boards 10" and 3".

Yellowhammer: The forklift is doing well although it is time for its first maintenance. I only dumped a load of walnut once. ;D Yes, the forks do extend and that's where I got in trouble. I was supposed to drop the feet when extending the forks if I am carrying a heavy load. I only had to move the load an additional foot so I thought I could do it without dropping the feet. Big mistake. Of course, the longest boards were on the very bottom and had to be pulled out first.