New Pole Barn Workshop

[William C Rogers]

I am in the process of defining a new pole barn for a workshop. This will be a 30 X 40 building on a concrete slab, one overhead door, one service door, water and sewage run with a 100 amp service. I currently have a Blitz building that I have been satisfied with. What other brand buildings do people have and have been satisfied with the quality of the building. I want to start getting quotes to compare to Blitz.

I would also to know opinions on heating. Considering in floor hot water, but don't know much about it. Second choice is wood burning stove as I have enough firewood on the property to last several lifetimes. I have propane now in a 30 x 56 and don't want that again. I will have gas run to the property this is a non wanted solution. I also intend to put sky lights in unless there is some negative reason not to.

Thanks

Bill

[Jerome Stanek]

I have a Morton building. When I had it built I built pole buildings but couldn't get close to the price that Morton offered.

[Chris Damm]

Morton's are good. You don't say where you live but if you are going to condition the space skip the skylights. They are good in a storage shed but not for a place that you want to be comfortable.

[Matt McColley]

I suggest you talk to a contractor and get a firm estimate on the in floor radiant... materials and installation and under the slab insulation, and source of heat (boiler or high BTU water heater) b4 you commit to that path...

I wanted to put it into my new construction house years ago, and made accomodations for it in my design.... only to have to abandon the plan later on when I learned what it was going to cost me. I know the prices have come down a lot since then, and you can even get the PEX tubing at home centers and DIY now.... but it aint cheep.

Personally, if I had a wood source, I'd put up an 8x8 tile lined, interior block chimney and a large second hand VT castings wood stove (people put the big ones in their LRs and then sell them a year later when they realize how much heat they kick out, to replace them with parlor size stoves).

You'll never wonder what to do with your scrap wood again.... and may even devise a way to make your own bio-bricks with sawdust and parafin.

[Jerome Stanek]

On the Morton you can let them know what you want to do with it. You can get it set up with a ceiling and insulation.

[Scot wolf]

As far as the heat, Infloor is very nice. But, if you don't want to run it up to temp all the time it can take a long time to rise the temp from when you have it turned down. What I would do is to use the infloor to keep it just warm in the winter....say like 45 to 50. Then use a wood burner to get up up to working temps or keep it there. Your CI tops won't rust using the infloor to keep the space somewhat conditioned while running real economically.

[Scott T Smith]

Bill, I have a 5,300 sq ft woodshop in central North Carolina that is inside a pole barn structure. I built my own from raw materials (used utility poles), and went overboard on insulation (16" in the walls, 36" in the attic). The entire building is cooled by a 2.5 ton air conditioner, and I installed radiant heat in the slab. IMO radiant heat is the best way to go and any of my future homes / shops, etc will have radiant.

With radiant, you will need to insulate underneath the slab, and also on the outside of the slab.

Depending upon where you are located, the Amish and Menonite's often build pole barns from scratch for very reasonable prices.

[William C Rogers]

Thanks for the feedback. The location will be Southern Indiana near Evansville. Timing to start build in about 9 months. I am getting planning quotes from Blitz, Morton, and National Barn. I also asked for a planning quote from a Radiantec for a hot water system. Wood burning stove is still an option, but I am concerned about insurance. I haven't checked with my agent yet and have heard good and bad about getting insurance when using a wood burning stove. Since I am planning a bathroom inside, as a minimum use electric radiant floor heat for that room.
I am going with geothermal for the house and was wondering if anyone has tried to run a secondary circuit For slab building and home heating? Not sure if the circuit would be too long or not. I will check with the heating contractor on this to see if possible. 9 months seems a while a away, but I am designing the house, building all of the cabinets, designing the pole barn, and still working. Appreciate and suggestions on anything.

[Todd Burch]

Bill, why wouldn't you do propane next time?

[Peter Kelly]

Thought about using an outdoor wood boiler? The new secondary combustion ones are pretty efficient. Could certainly connect it to a radiant floor system.

[William C Rogers]

Todd

The propane heater has been a pain since day one. Not the fault of the propane, but may end up with the same situation again. It is a top of the line furnace. The second reason is I will have natural gas run to the property and the cost of natural gas is much less.

I haven't done much research on the outside boilers, but will keep that in mind as an option.

[Todd Burch]

Oh, ok. It's your heater's issue, not an issue with propane as a heating source. Gotchya.

[Scott T Smith]

Bill, I used to live in Newburgh, and a friend of mine lives south of Boonville. He has a large barn that was built by the Amish/Menonite's back in the early 90's, and the price beat the heck out of the commercial companies (about 30% less as I recall).

If you want to send me an e-mail, I'll put you in touch with him. He may still have the contact info for his builders.

Radiantec is the best source for a professional designed system. They have a propane boiler system (Polaris as I recall) that is optimized for radiant heat.

Another choice would be an outdoor wood boiler to provide the heat for the flooring.

[Jerome Stanek]

I worked for a place that had a large pole barn built by the Amish and the roof leaked like a sieve. They didn't use any transit so it was out of level. This was for a ceiling company that had laser levels. They may be cheap but sometimes their work reflects it.

[Steve Southwood]

Bill, I am just up the road a ways. If I can help you with any info, just let me know. Good luck with the build.

[Chris M Pyle]

Bill,

I'll be moving back that way within the next year, I'm very interested in hearing your price quotes and decisions you made. Best of luck.

[Kevin Bourque]

You can use a woodstove that has a coil box and a water circulator that heats water and sends it through a baseboard system.
However, under floor radiant heat is the best way to go if you have the money.

[Scot wolf]

Even if you can't spring for a full blown under slab system, you can insulate and just rough in the tubing now. 1/2" oxogen barrier tube, 12" o.c., with 300lf max loops.

[William C Rogers]

Thanks for all the input.
Jerome, seems the Amish either build real good barns or very bad barns from what I have determined. I will most likely try to stay with established companies. I have gotten a few more to get quotes. I really want the in floor radiant heat, but don't have a cost yet. I am guessing $7-9K for heating which is a lot. I would love to keep the price to around $30K, but not sure how close I will be. One quote was $17K built without the concrete work and me insulating the walls.

[Jim Andrew]

You might research in floor heat, I have a neighbor who did his own about 30 years ago, he's now having trouble with a couple lines leaking. They are all separate, and he can just turn those off that are bad. He heats with a wood burning boiler, it's just a wood stove with a tank on top, and it still works just fine.

[Donn Morris]

National Barn did mine. its 24' by 50' divided such that there is a 30' equine barn and the rest is my shop. I love it.

[Gary Max]

If I where building ------------ heat in the floor-------- the plumbing for this has come a long ways in the last couple of years.

[Tim Anderson]

I have a 30x50 Wick building with radiant floor heat. Very happy with the building and the price/service was much better than Morton. Put overhead doors on both ends and large windows for more natural lighting. Love the in floor heat and wish I had it in my house.

[William C Rogers]

Thanks for all the information, as it was very helpful. As an update, I did get a quote from Radiantec for the hot water in floor heat. It is within what I planned (at this point) and want to do this as it is mostly positive from people who have this system. The quote was with a on demand natural gas water heating system. I have two quotes on the building, one from Blitz and one from National Barn. Morton just sent a sales package as to why to choose their building. Wicks buildings are not real close, but will build in the area so I might as well get that quote. The only thing I uncertain at this time is the skylights. The bad is the heating loss and the good is the natural light. I don't know which is the better choice. I would like more opinions on that subject. Should be ready to bid out the house and pole barn in a couple of weeks.

Bill

[Ross Dinkens]

Graber Post Buildings and Daviess Co Metal both would be worth checking out. They are both in Daviess Co IN and are competitive.

[Joe Mioux]

I have one of my shops with in-floor heat and my greenhouses all use hot water heat on the benches.

It's a fantastic way to heat. The shop is always comfortable during the winter months. The best part about this type of heat is that it stays radiating heat for a long time after the boiler shuts off. With forced hot air, you're done.

We have a back up furnace and ac. We needed AC so the furnace was sort of an add on.

[William C Rogers]

I was in Evansville over the weekend meeting with various contractors for the house. I had a meeting with the president/owner of Hobgood buildings Saturday on the pole barn. I believe Hobgood is the largest in the area. I was very impressed. They build a lot of the commercial buildings, garages and pole barns in a 5 state area. He went through their construction methods and materials they use. They actually build their own trusses and he employs his crew. They also provide a 3 year warranty on labor. His price was very competitive with other quotes if not better, and he gave me a detailed cost of everything including concrete work. He just seemed to know how to make it come together compared to other quotes of just a building and I was on my own for concrete, electric, etc. As you can well tell this will be my selection for a builder as he is local and has an hourly crew. I haven't seen Hobgood buildings mentioned and was wondering if anyone had one of his buildings.

Bill

[Greg Portland]

I would also to know opinions on heating. Considering in floor hot water, but don't know much about it.
Bill, I have in-slab radiant heating and it is a great option for a shop. I don't need to worry about fumes, dust, finish over-spray, etc. because the heat source is in another room. There are open and closed systems; I'd get a closed system with a small conventional water heater (check the required flow rates before getting into tankless solutions). If budget is an issue you can get the tubes placed in the slab and then buy/add the water heater, valves, etc. at a later date.

[Steve Southwood]

Friend of mine has a Hobgood and likes it. Looks like good craftsmanship, from what I can tell. As with any builder get a firm quote.

[marty shultz]

FYI - when I built my shop I used a 100 amp service. Over the years I've upgraded by equipment and I'm out of available power now (just bought a 36" wide 10 hp belt sander). If you have the option to have more amps and 3 phase power I would recommend it.