Expert Tips to Avoid Remorse When Designing A Farm Shop
Deciding how big and what type of structure to use when building a dream farm shop is a challenging decision with the potential to echo for years. “Buyer’s remorse can be horrible with that big of an investment,” says Jon Richardson, co-owner of Richardson Brothers Construction, a Butler Building dealer in Hutchinson, Kan. “Buildings aren’t like pickups or tractors, where you can trade out of a bad decision.” He and other agricultural building contractors offer considerations to minimize second-guessing.
Wood vs. steel frame considerations.
“As a rule of thumb, buildings wider than 50' favor steel frames, cost-wise. There are buildings 80' wide with wooden roof trusses, but the bigger the building, the better the up-front cost of steel-frame buildings looks compared to wood trusses that can span those distances,” Richardson says.
Don't neglect clearance requirements.
Standard wood roof trusses have their bottom chord in line with the top of the sidewalls. Scissor trusses have their bottom chords angled up toward the center of the building, creating 2' to 3' of additional clearance over the middle of the floor. The “ceiling” on steel frame buildings is the bottom of the rafters. Depending on the slope of the roof, the center of steel frame buildings can be 5' or higher than the sidewalls.
Industrial-quality doors help discourage intruders.
“Traditional” pole barn walk-through doors are foam-core doors with formed sheet metal frames. A solid kick of a heavy boot, or a little work with a pry bar, quickly “unlocks” those doors. Industrial steel doors hung in steel frames might find favor with insurance agents.
Materials influence insurance costs.
“State Farm [Insurance] offers a discount in premiums if the steel siding and roofing is Underwriters Laboratories-rated,” says Wayne Stubbenbeck, owner of Mi-way Enterprises, a Wick Building contractor in Elmwood, Neb. “It may be cost efficient to pay more up front for higher-quality siding and roofing and then save money on insurance for the life of the building.”
Richardson notes steel-framed buildings might earn better fire ratings and therefore earn lower insurance premiums.
Warranties can be finicky.
“I like the insulative qualities of spray-foam insulation, but sprayed-on foam might void the warranty for some kinds of siding and roofing,” Richardson says. “Cellulose insulation can also be a warranty issue. Don’t void any warranties by decisions you make about how to insulate the building.”
Anticipate repair costs.
“Another potential issue with spray-foam insulation is if there’s damage to the exterior sheet metal or roof,” Richardson says. “Sprayed-on foam makes swapping out damaged panels more expensive.”
Plan for the future.
“Tell your contractor anything you might add to the structure in the future, like a bridge crane,” says Nick Horstman, Morton Buildings sales representative for central Iowa. “It doesn’t add that much cost to the base structure, compared to coming in and remodeling it later.”
Interior walls: Cost vs. durability.
Richardson recommends at least 26-gauge sheet metal for inner walls because, “If somebody unplugs a power cord by jerking on the cord from across the shop, there’s a good chance the electrical box will get ripped off thinner sheet metal. Plus, thinner sheet metal dents real easy.”
Minimize echoes.
Many building manufacturers offer perforated sheeting that reduces noise. Tectum, an acoustical panel made of shredded wood that comes in sheets of varying size and thickness, is often used in school gymnasiums and other large buildings. “[Tectum] can be applied to existing walls and ceilings to minimize echoes and reverberations,” says Jackson Strom, an architect in Fargo, N.D. “It’s a go-to recommendation from acoustical engineers.”
Main door options.
The pros and cons of sliding doors, overhead doors, and hydraulic bi-fold/mono-frame doors will be discussed in a subsequent story, but it’s good to make that decision as early as possible.
“Overhead doors require at least 2' above the top of the door frame for their actuators,” Horstman says. “Some types of hydraulic doors need to have the end walls of the building reinforced to support them, but others are self-supporting and don’t require any extra engineering of the building. The type of main door should always be part of the early stages of designing a building.”
Reinforce concrete for the future.
The two- or four-post vehicle lifts now popular in many farm shops can be added later but benefit from having their footings and electrical/hydraulic controls incorporated in the original building design.
