When you first consider adding a pole building to your property, chances are you’ve at least seen the outside of a few buildings that inspired your interest.
However, if you’ve never had the chance to tour a pole building, you may not know exactly what to expect the inside of your new pole barn to look like, or what purpose each of the materials serves.
To help you better understand what your pole building will look like inside, we’ll walk you through each of the components you can expect to see.
Features You’ll See Inside Every Pole Building
Certain materials are required to build any and every pole building, so these are items you can definitely expect to see in your building:
Treated Posts
During the great depression, farmers began cutting down telephone poles to construct barns on their property—this is where the name “pole building” originated, and treated posts are still an essential part of every pole building.
Depending on what the engineer calls for, the posts used for your pole building may either be 6×6 or 6×8. Some buildings even use both sizes within the same structure.
Purlins
Purlins are 2×6 lumber that form the basis of the roof.
Girts
Similar to purlins, girts are 2×6 lumber that run perpendicular to the treated posts; they form the basis of the pole building’s walls.
Trusses
Trusses essentially look like triangular outlines filled with small V’s. They span the width of the building near the roof, connecting to posts and criss-crossing the purlins to help reinforce the structure.
The flat edge of a truss faces the floor, and the opposite side (which forms the point of the triangle) fits into the roof, forming the roof slope.
Treated posts, purlins, girts, and trusses make up the frame of the pole building, so they will be present in any structure. There are, however, some features on the inside of a pole building that are more customizable.
Optional Pole Building Interior Features
This particular building has several interior features that aren’t absolutely necessary for the construction of your pole building, but that you may want to include anyway:
Concrete Floor
A 4” concrete floor is a common addition to pole building interiors. It’s optional, but can make a big difference in the comfort and function of your building. For help deciding whether a cement floor is right for your building, read our blog post that guides you through this option.
Radiant Barrier Insulation on The Roof
Radiant barrier is an inexpensive form of insulation that can be added to the roof of a pole building to help with condensation and dripping.
While radiant barrier isn’t required, we highly recommend including it unless you plan to add insulation later on. Otherwise, you may have to contend with a frustrating pole building drip.
Metal Sheeting
The owner of this example building didn’t opt to add insulation to the walls, which isn’t a necessity if you’re not planning on heating your building, so you can see the exposed metal on the interior of the building.
Planning for Your Pole Building
When investing in something as significant as a pole building, it’s important to have a clear idea of what to expect. Now that you’ve “walked” through the inside of a pole building, contact us to talk about the interior you’re envisioning!