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Thread: Has anyone built a pole house?

  1. #1
    Member
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    Has anyone built a pole house?

    Greetings,

    Me wife and I are in the planning stages for a cabin for our mountain property, roughly 1600 sq ft, wood construction, exposed rafters, etc. Thinking about putting poles in for the foundation as the property is a bit remote and the concrete truck thing might not be practical. Any insights, suggestions or caveats appreciated. Thx, Sabi

  2. #2
    Senior Member
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    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    <font color="blue"> Thinking about putting poles in for the foundation as the property is a bit remote and the concrete truck </font color>

    Gee and to think of all the hours of seat time you could spend on your PowerTrack making a nice road for all those concrete trucks [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

    Seriously, don't know the layout of your land, but they can get into some tight places if required, epsecially with the concrete pumper trucks. Don't dismiss it untill you've had a few guys out to quote for you.

    Have you thought about a concrete block foundation?

    Disclaimer, I don't have any knowledge of pole buildings, but seems to me that the lifespan would be somewhat shorter than a concrete foundation. Also, do they meet building code for a residence? Maybe someone here can dispell my perception.

    I imagine it's not as big a deal for a barn with a dirt / gravel floor to replace a pole if needed, just jack it up, cut the bottom off &amp; dig it out.
    Hazmat

  3. #3
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    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    <font color="blue"> Have you thought about a concrete block foundation? </font color>

    That would be the way to go. The only concrete you'd have to mix would be for the footings, Then of course the mortar for the blocks.

    This may shed some light on it for you.

    You may also want to consider a PT wood crawl space or basement.
    Argee [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

  4. #4
    Guest

    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    I was just at a farmshow this weekend and a couple of the pole builders, Wick, Cleary, and Morton, are doing alot of this. Give them a call. They have just exactly what you are looking for.

  5. #5

    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    The big problem is the ground floor. How are you going to deal with that? I live in a pole barn with garage/shop and horses down stairs. You wear sheep skin slippers in this weather, the floors get a little chilly. bcs

  6. #6
    Guest

    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    Really not a problem if you are talking about a house. There are a number of ways to do it. You can do a regular wood floor, pour concrete, etc. If you pour concrete your best and cheapest heat is going to be the coils in the concrete.

  7. #7

    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    He said he was a "bit remote for a concrete truck" if he is not you are correct. bcs

  8. #8
    Guest

    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    Yes I agree that he said the concrete was out of the question. What I was saying was just the different ways to do it with a pole construction. With the wood floor you run floor joists and insulate and you won't have the cold floor problems. Morton is doing some other things with the floors as well. I'm not sure of the details but a call to them would let you know.

  9. #9

    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    Next thing would be to keep the critters out of a wood floor setup. As I said I have no floor down stairs except cement 2'x2' pavers in the water/furnace room laid in sand and I had rats tunneling under those. I live next to the Hudson River and every fall it is Waferin time.. bcs

  10. #10
    Senior Member
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    Re: Has anyone built a pole house?

    Sabi,

    Are you talking about building a wooden floor deck on top of wooden piers? Or a pole barn with a house in it?

    If a wooden deck on piers I would suggest you consider pouring cement piers rather than using wood. These would be small enough you could do it using the large carboard tubes (sonotubes?) available at Depot and the pours would be small enough you might be able to mix them yourself using a mixer.

    If you are talking a pole barn, the best set up I have seen is to build with 12' side walls. Then, 4' from ground level, you hang a conventional wooden floor. This gives you a nice crawl space for plumbing/heating/electrical, etc. (You may still need to pour a rat wall around the perimeter. )

    Steve


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