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If I was to have a slab poured for a post frame building would I have to know exactly where the posts were going to be and leave holes in the slab for the posts? Or do they typically pour a simple rectangular slab under the whole building site and then come along later and bust holes in the concrete where they need to put posts?
I have only ever seen slabs poured after the building was erected.
Might it not be reasonable to delineate and separate the post hole locations from the rest of the slab pour. It might make it easier than breaking out large chunks of the slab at a later date! [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Unless you have a really, really good reason for pouring the slab first, wait until the building is up. The only time I've seen the slab poured first is if it's NOT a true pole barn, (i.e. basically a timber frame with the vertical structural members on a slab).
If you insist on putting the slab first (for whatever reason), then obviously you will at least know the basic dimensions of the building. This should give you your number of posts and spacing. Build a box of 2x4s about 2 ft square and put them where your posts will be and cement around them. Then remove the forms, put in your posts, erect the building and fill in with cement around them. At all costs, avoid the busting up of your brand new slab.
Would have to agree totally with 277. Up here i see that foam insulation is placed between the upright and the concrete for expansion and getting water out so it does not expand and crack the concrete.
How are they going to grade the site and do all the concrete prep work and all that after the building is in place? I suppose it could be done with skidsteers but it seems like it would be a lot harder to prep the site for concrete after there is a building sitting on it.
I was hoping to pour the slab first and get a year or two use out of it before having the building built. I could certainly use a slab as a place to park implements and stuff in the meantime. But if that doesn't make any sense I guess I could wait a few years and do it all at once.
Contractors do it all the time. Usually, the site will be rough graded and sometimes the sand fill will even be brought in. Critical dimensions for door to floor openings are easy to do if the top of the opening is already there. Pole barn just went up near some property I own, drove by it on the weekend, building is up, no floor yet.
If you're going to hire someone to build it, I'd give a few of them in your area a call and see what the local preferences are.
If your timing is such that you want the slab first, definitely leave the openings for the posts as I wrote earlier.