Post and Beam, the Pole Barn King
Our wonderful works of wood and warmth doesn’t just happen from no where. As lovers of the past and its beauty, we look to the old world charm of hard work and beautiful wooden barns of early America and beyond. We see the presence of a magnificent and varied culture in building, a simple and strong philosophy of both beauty and practicality. We look back at these early works with no small wonder, and examine how we can recreate them with our strong post and beam construction.
Barns with Poles
You’ve probably read it a thousand times, about how farmers in the early 1900s would take treated telephone poles to use as the posts and poles in barns and sheds. By using these poles sent deep underground, they were able to keep things stable without having to pour a foundation. The use of these poles that had been treated also let the wood stay protected for long periods underground. Between these poles, framing would be built, allowing for all sorts of structures and shapes.
Post-Modern
In the modern day, these poles have been largely replaced with posts of a more square shape, often used by some as laminated boards stuck into the shape required. This offers about as good of a resistance, but doesn’t quite look as nice. These new “poles” would be more commonly called “posts”, and served as the foundation of the more modern term “post frame construction”, where the posts are buried and framed around. While fundamentally post frame barns and pole barns are the same in a historical sense, there is an issue that has risen up recently, with the advent of metal’s popularity.
“Cheap, Simple, Metal.”
Most days, the term pole barn has been boiled down into shorthand for overly simple and often ugly metal buildings that simply cover a handful of metal poles with corrugated steel. While there is a time and place for anything, having something like that on your property for storage or long term is a painful thing indeed. There is a rumor that metal last longer or is cheaper, and maybe in some cases that might be true. However, for here in Texas, the durability and strength of our barns made of wood can be comparable or better! Pricing for metal fluctuates quite a bit, and is quite close to that of wood, so why bother with the ugly?
The Post and Beaming smiles.
Where we step in, is in using proper full dimension lumber for our posts and beams. What we mean by that, is that our posts are not just made of planks laminated together, but full sized beams of timber and wood, that provide consistent strength and beauty. We love working with local mills that provide us with strong kiln-dried beams and post that provides both visual and structural advantages. A Barn made with a strong post and beam construction uses trusses and crossbeams that provide not only upright strength, but lateral strength as well. Structurally, we guarantee a hundred years. Will your company of choice say the same? We stand by our products, and have gone above and beyond to make sure of it.