A 6x6 will take that weight just fine man. I build these things for a living.

Thank you for the video and especially sharing your mistakes. Although this may have been hard to do, it was very valuable to me and probably others. Thank you so much for sharing.

So much GREAT information!!! Thank you for sharing such valuable information! Your barn looks fantastic!

Thanks for sharing this information - extremely helpful and greatly appreciated as I'm in the early stages of planning a pole barn. More importantly, I hope that you're ultimately happy with your work - in spite of the minor challenges it LOOKS GREAT!

Floor looks fine for a barn! Its a beautiful structure, thank you for sharing especially any details.

Thanks for sharing what you learned so others can not make the same mistake.

Thank you. You have my respect!

Thank you. That was informative.

Very helpful video! Thanks.

Thanks for sharing!

Very useful to learn about those mistakes. Particularly the need to level beyond the dimensions of the barn itself. I am about to build a 20' x 30'. But if I had the sealer problem, I would paint the floor over the sealer, maybe a light grey. Thanks for your video!

We plan on doing one this fall. Thanks for sharing that

Good video. Thanks for the headsup.

Wow thanks for your advice!!

Thank you, Sir !

Appreciate the video. Thank you. -Steve

Thanks for the info brother 👍

I like your opening line. Just to be clear morals are indefinite and a person can have morals without outside influence of any kind.

appreciated this vid!

I really like your design

hi there i think it looks great . it is only a mistake if you can't fix it . its a lesson . in the long run they won't realy matter . biggest mistake is worrying about them . good luck be careful and safe john.

Most all of the pressure treated 6x6 poles in my pole barn twisted also. Trees grow radially (spin as they grow.) Poles are cut when it’s green, then as they dry, the pole twists back the other way radially. The longer the post, the more you will notice. That’s life, don’t beat yourself up. Barn is looking great! -Robert

thx appreciate this

Professional crews are going to have the advantage of framing so fast the posts won't have time to warp. One time we had to set the posts a couple of months in advance, so I put a temporary girt near the top both inside and outside. That pretty well prevented the problem. If you had to bring in fill, that is mostly a good thing. You can never be elevated too much to prevent runoff coming in. I'm not an engineer, but the weight of the trusses are insignificant to a 6x6. We use a wooden bolted truss that weighs maybe three times that. The post size with our engineering is dependent upon the height of the building and the wind resistance needed. Even then the design would only change to 6x8 (or larger) with the relevant size in the direction of the truss (6x8, 6x10, 6x12). My non-engineer opinion in this case is that the lean-tos give you all the extra strength you need. I don't get the guy saying to only roof one side at a time. Any section adequately screwed down is going to pretty well lock it down. Maybe he has a much lighter frame than I am used to. If the girts and purlins are widely spaced - there might still be some flex. In fact if you had two lean-tos already framed and metaled, you did really well to spread the one truss's posts. Good thing for you it was tight - not loose. Tight will stay forever. Loose - pulled in - might in some circumstances pull back out. Which reminds me, when I build (many post are already warped right out of the lumber yard); the general rule of thumb is to set them crowned out - meaning leaving the top of the post leaning in - then frame the top to exact measurements before framing walls - leaving the mid point where ever it happens to lie. If those posts happen to be the door post, you have one more chance. We trim the door jambs with a 2x8. If you can find a badly crowned 2x8; I have seen it used to completely straighten a 6x6 as you align each to the other and nail it. When I hear commentors extolling their skill at picking lumber that remains straight, or see someone culling boards until he gets the perfect ones; I am laughing, ridiculing them in my mind. The mark of a skilled, master, carpenter is how straight and true he can build with the bent and crooked stuff. They are broadcasting their lack of skill and don't know it. I remember as a boy helping my dad build a house, we started framing and he taught me to set aside and save all the badly crowned 20'- 2x4s. He taught me to use them as the double top plate (a critical spot to get and keep straight). We would match (I probably mean mismatch) opposing crowns to end up with walls that were straight, and they remained straight. Whereas two straight boards (not yet warped) may very well warp out in the same direction. Years later as I got into the post frame business, a master carpenter taught me the 2x8 door jamb trick, and he would select bowed girts and install them on the walls adjacent to each other (one above - one below - with opposite bows); then when the metal was attached they straightened each other. One job, the customer (an engineer naturally) would come out at night and remove the two bent boards. We could never convince him that the bent boards would remain straight, where as two straight ones might result in a bowed wall section.

frequently now you see the posts being made out of 3 2x6s put together. This helps keep them from twisting and staying true.

My 8x8 post twisted as well at the top too. But after I had truss and metal on it

Im building my third one at my farm. I needed to save money so I purchased rough-cut treated posts from a local sawmill. They are bigger and sturdier but more likely to twist. After twisting was such a problem on the first barn. I hand-selected the posts of the second, culling about a third of the ones in the stack while looking for the grain and knot patterns that had been present in the ones that had previously twisted. We also sped up the truss mounting to get ahead of any twisting. This yielded great results with only 1 or 2 showing any twist. My last barn was 40x80. I didn't see anything about where you are located, but here in NC we had a monster snowstorm the next day after getting finished with the roof of the barn. The snow load was incredible and collapsed barns all over the area. Mine stood strong but the pile of snow that slid off was enormous. My point is your lean-to has to be able to handle that snow load because it's all coming straight off onto the lean-to. Most of the time a lean-to has less of a pitch and won't shed the snow as well as the barn roof did. Just something to consider if you are in an area that sees occasional heavy snows.

Don't take that as a negative, you're lookin great there. I have a sawmill and the timbers milled from smaller logs with the round center of the tree in the middle, tend to twist as they unwind in the sun.

If you put another coat of sealer over the top of the first coat it should fix the unevenness of the finish. The reason you see the stripes is due to the overlapping edge has more build up. I would not waste time stripping the first coat, it should even out. Another option would be to use a satin or matte finish sealer not high gloss.

Twisting/bowing/cracking is the main reasons in Southern Illinois/Missouri/Kentucky/Tennessee and Indiana that we use 2x6 laminated/screwed poles instead of solid 6x6s.

Good to know! We're about to start on ours in a couple weeks. Site prep is close... Blessings!

Morals are subjective and fluid .. What it is okay today may not be so tomorrow ! The unexamined life is not worth living ! (Socrates ). Just wanted to say that A man who admits his mistakes is a real man indeed !! Pole barn looks great !! Stay safe !!

During the 1990's I helped build 6 pole barns while working for a general contractor. We never had a pole twist on us. Poles used to be cut from straight-grained trees. I'm planning a log home currently and have spent three years reading everything I can find on the subject. Trees that have a left hand twist are useless for anything except maybe fence posts while right hand twist is only slightly better. The pole you showed on the back wall had a left hand twist and should have never been cut as a pole. Just bad lumber being sold nowadays and it's a crying shame. Great work so far. Good luck.

I build these every day . An inch is nothing . we just push it out and connect..you did good, all this material warps

At lest you know your mistakes, a lot of people still doing mistakes after mistakes and they can't acknowledge they did mistakes . the best thing you said "so we can all learn from each other mistakes"

Nice barn! My 30x36 Barn has been up for about 8 years now with concrete flooring and my poles have twisted too. I'm wanting to enclosed it but I know it's going to be aggravating with the twisted poles.

Something I just learned from "The Polebarn Guru" is to only put the metal on 1/2 of the roof at a time-makes it easier to pull it back into square as you go along if that is needed. By starting at one end and doing both sides of the pitch as you go, you stiffen the entire structure and make squaring it up much more difficult...

First time here, new sub. My son and I built our super insulated homestead and a few other buildings over the years -- the last being a super insulated addition to the homestead (videos on our channel). In your case I would have use laminated poles barn poles not 6 x 6's. The ones sold around here have ground contact treated wood for the bottom 6' or-so they southern yellow pine above that. There are also concrete and steel sections you can use below the ground and wraps of fiberglass, etc... but, with the price of lumber currently, steel all the way around may be more economical 😊

A lot of builders glue and nail laminate 3 2x6s together for the posts. A lot less likely to warp that way.

Thank you for posting your video. How did you get the trusses up? Did you do a video on that?

My neighbor lost his 40'x60'x14' pole barn during hurricane Sally. His mistake: 1) using a nail gun with what appeared to be 12D nails for the purlings, even 5 per side didn't hold. 2) didn't use washers on the nut side of the steel truss. The nuts pulled thru the truss end plate. 3) used an in the center screw pattern on the metal siding instead of placing the screws closer to the rib. 4) didn't use the correct post hole size. The hole appeared to be 12" instead of 16" which looked like it allowed the poles to lean after the ground was soaked. 5) I didn't see any cabling or cross bracing on the back side of the purlings.

If you want stronger posts, sister 2x6 along both sides and a 2x10 across the face on the inside. Fasten with spikes or constriction screws every 16 inches on both sides, edges of nail patterns staggered by 8 inches so it looks like footsteps in the snow.

Always use laminated 6×6 poles. Before placing them into the ground, I coat 4' with fiberglass cloth & resin to prevent rot forever

I have used treated laminated posts, made for post frame barn, and never had a problem. They are well worth the extra money. You can order them from a good lumber yard not a big box store.

One thing I've noticed with posts or any kind of lumber, if they are cut from the center of the tree, they will almost always twist. I never buy any lumber cut from the center of the tree. Of course laminated is the best. Also, it's almost impossible to straighten wood once it's bent or twisted. Having said that, getting framing up quickly before it dries and twists does help somewhat.

The last deck I built used 12' pressure treated 6x6's. there was one in particular that corkscrewed badly on me and it happened to be the one most prominent, at the stairs. You can't miss it going up or down the stairs and it drives me crazy to this day knowing this. I feel your pain.

I feel better about my pole shed now. I made every mistake you did. I put up my posts and then it was too wet to do anything for about three months. The posts twisted pretty good but I managed. Luckily mine is just an open equipment shed. I would hate to know I had to try and enclose mine with all that twisting and warping those 6x6 posts did. It was my first one and its just for trucks an tractors so it was a great one to learn on. I have since built a couple more and when I applied what I learned from my first one, the others turned out perfect.

Concrete Sealer is priced primarily on the amount of "solids" in the mix... Cheaper sealer has a lot more solvent, so it looks good when applied, but as the solvents evaporate out, it always looks like that. Just clean it off, spray or roll some Xylene over it to make is "soft" again and put another coat on... that will improve the bond from the old sealer to the new... Sealant is also the UV protection so if it weathers in the direct sun, the variations in the sealer coverage will also make it sun-fade in the same pattern... FYI.

I done all this the hard way, 2 7/8 oilfield pipe with a pipe header. Bolted the steel trusses to the pipe. no twist and they may rust, but it will be a while.

If you buy laminated poles the twist doesnt happen. Do not put on girts before trusses. Dont use dirt for base under lean to, use crushed concrete or gravel. You might try and etch that sealer and add a second coat with a sprayer. If you can have somebody spray and somebody backroll which allows a faster job and a better wet edge. 👍

Trilaminated 2x6 making a 6x6 keeps this from happening. All poles should have stayed in the weather and sun at the same time. The heat on the sunny side will cook wood causing it to warp. New 6x6 will still twist as they dry.

As to your "Twisted Sixter" (apologies to Dee Snider) woes, this is why it is better to use 2 x 6s & ply three of them together to form each pole. This way you can also use shorter sticks, staggering or offsetting the joints and thus use non-treated 2 x 6s once you are 2+ feet above grade.

you can also use 3 or 4 laminated 2x6.

I didn’t read through all the comments so someone might have already said this but make sure your lumber is not the center cut. If it’s cut from the center of the tree there’s a good chance it’ll twist. This is true for new or old lumber. Still a nice pole barn!

I would use gravel to fill on those lean-to sides not dirt. Dense grade or a #11 or 1/4 by zero fill that will pack. 6x6 posts usually work just fine although I think I would have went with laminated posts instead I think they are better and don't warp and twist as bad. I have been around constructuon indusrty alot but I am about to build my own I think I am gonna go with these styke trusses.

Wet wood warps. Coat the end grain with heavy paint and let them dry outside under cover before trying to build with them.

Diagonal bracing between 6x6's will help stability. Otherwise 6x6 -10 feet on center should be good enough ! Anything over 10feet on center I use 8x8's.

I bought a Walters Building out of wisconsin in about 1984. They put out a 40 year post rot warranty and most posts were rotted out in 20 years or less. They still haven't done anything after I contacted them about it.

boughing columns because those trusses don't have a strong enough bottom cord in compression to counteract balance the top trusses downforce tension. 3 ply wood is exponentially stronger structurally than solid wood. engineering basics. complete lateral bracing sheathing is important for shear strength before putting loads on top of the columns.

For some reason the treated poles I get from Home Depot (YellaWood brand) are a lot lighter in color and drier than the darker PT lumber I can get from Lowe's. The Lowe's product (can't remember brand) seems to be much more moist and subject to post-purchase deformation. Just my 2 c. Also, I have a 24x24 pole barn that was built in the '70's by previous owner. He put in a concrete floor in the entire south 1/2 of the barn, and frost heave has cracked the concrete in several places, and put a tilt in the barn. I think I'm going to have to tear it down and either re-build it correctly, or build a new one.

Thanks for showing telling the boo boo s and well see ya next time see ya bye.

If you want to use a post that will not turn into a hockey stick, build them out of 4- 2x6's. It's not that tough to do . Just make sure you lay them together to have the grains and crowns opposing each other and assemble on a straight surface. Also, use a heavy duty post anchor embedded into wet concrete pilons. Don't bury the posts in concrete below grade. PT doesn't mean it will never rot, it only means it is rot resistant. Even for ground contact rated stock. And there's no guarantee an 8x8 would twist any less...It is just yellow pine.... Which, before PT came along was considered junk wood and not fit for anything but pallet construction. Mostly because of this tendency to go bananas as it dried. And don't forget how pressure treating is done...by forcing waterborne preservatives and insecticides under immense pressure and saturating every cell of the wood. Sort of like the opposite of kiln drying. Sorry for your hard lessons. Kinda takes the fun out of what should be an exciting and rewarding project.

Ive built a hundred or so just like what you got there. There is not much you can do about the twisting and bowing, other than using laminated posts. You get an eye the poles that are gonna warp and twist after awhile and so long as its not gonna be exposed, just lock it in quick so it cant move too much and cover it with sheetmetal.

Alot of comments about "use 6 x 6 laminated posts". They dont twist at all? How much more to just run a steel truss that goes all way down to the floor?

I think you may regret not lining the roof sheeting with plastic over the rafters to avoid condensation dripping on everything in the barn. I'm no expert but that's what happens in my building.

Note to you... the sealer will ''remove itself'' as the u.v. light breaks it totally down... in other words, leave that sealer to die a good death... water runoff is another positive thing... leave that open area with that flow away from structure. Kiln dried is what stabilizes lumber also. Although a few post barn post alternatives exist that are stable in desired shape.

lumber twist and bows, the best way is to keep it wet and install the 2x bracing immediately.

I think it is nothing to do with mixed old and new. I think it is because wood you used was different moisture content. But as bottom line, all wood will be bended: solution is either to use dry wood + coating to protect from moisture or go with steel posts. I used 2nd option.

You're picking on yourself, it's a good barn. That little pitch away from your pole barn under the tractor is not a bad thing, runoff is a lot better than an area that tends to collect water and be soggy. Poles like to twist and woggle around especially when milled to dimension early. Best thing I've found is to let them hang around for a while in the elements and they'll do their thing then stabilise. Hard to fight their twist. It's a pole barn, would be great if you could let things twist, warp and re-attach with shims as needed. I have a 30'x60' w/corrugated sheet metal but my poles were old phone / power poles. Twist and warp was long over with before the poles ever were used for that shed which is sealed up pretty tight and insulated now and they don't budge. I think your 6x6s will overpower puny 2x6 nails and bolts and they'd always be in a losing situation if you don't let them be then just attach accordingly. Twisted poles aren't terrible, your old 6x6s must not have been exposed to weather much or they'd have moved around already before you built with them.

Howdy new subscriber from Cumberland Wisconsin same first name just different state lol.

Don’t be so hard on yourself, mistakes are just lessons learned, but I love the southern twang of tuba six’s and tuba four’s lol

Gentlemen. Never use any 6x6 solid lumber. Always use three 2x6 laminated glued and screwed and if you can buy them already built they would be finger-jointed they will never twist they will never bow especially in a high dry and climate or extremely wet climate through the Texas or someplace like Colorado or Arizona if you buy a kit with solid beams like that they will twist

If the sealer only has visual discrepancies, wouldn't it be fine to sand/buff out the lines a little then use the better sealer?

I am going to build same exact size pole barn here in east Texas. I sure would like to talk to you!

How wide is the center main barn area

How much was 1 truss and what brand was it. thanks

All 6x6s will twist and bow. There is no stopping it. If you want to make a post that won't twist and bow too much then laminate 4 2x6s hope this helps

I agree with another posting, you're being too critical of your work. Don't think the pros don't make mistakes, they screw up all the time. If I had to guess, your barn will be standing long after you're dead and gone. Keep in mind, your barn will stabilize and get sturdy after you get your sheet metal on. It's kinda like making a book shelf or a cabinet. Build it out of 3/4" solid oak, and its weak and shaky, but... put a thin piece of 1/4" plywood on the back and it's solid as a rock.

where did you buy your trusses from?

I'm building the same size building 40x60 and am worried about putting my trusses 10 feet on 6x6 . Are my purlins going to be able to hold longterm, with that type of spacing between each truss?

Yep, hind sight is 20/20.

Anyone still use actual telephone posts in pole barn construction? We have one on the farm from the 80s and looking to build another shed for heavy equipment. I'm a bit worried about a wall being bumped with a large tractor and was thinking maybe the old style telephone post construction concreted into the ground would withstand the odd bump.

Awe heck, Perfection is a waste of time,effort, and money when excellence will do! You can easily cover up those HOLLYWOODS when you are finishing the exterior sheet metal and interior walls! As for the concrete sealer stain, just leave it or go over it again with the same stuff in a perpendicular direction.

I have found the same problem with buying new 6 by 6 is they Twist on you so bad. Yet it is hard to find good used ones. My question is where did you buy your steel trusses

nice size barn, dont worry to much about the ploe twistin to much, bolt em and go

That's just the nature of wood when it's green treated they come out soaking wet and then they dry out when you stand them up tree's have a lot of tension in them.I have sawed lumber for 25 years and some lumber will twist more than other pieces you may have to make a face frame for the doors

Great tips, your barn is looking good. Where did you buy the trusses?

Did you say you put the post in the ground and then you poured cement around them. Wow

How much do those metal trusses cost? I’ve been thinking about fixing a pole barn that had the center roof fall in

what was the brand and name of the $110 "good sealer" ?

Bowed, twisted and cupped lumber is always a pain the ars.

Regarding the old vs new 6x6, are they the same wood species ?

Where did you order your trusses ?

hi im currently wanting to build or i should say pay someone to build a 30x30 x12 but im lost. i don't know if i should go with metal garage or pole barn or wood. i don't know if i want to do a pole barn if the post are going to be in the grown i wouldn't want to do that cause they rot. can they be set on concrete with metal bracket? im proud of you for building this structure your self. i am in between wanting to build it my self but ive never build a structure so im very nervous. any feed back from you hippie hill or anyone out there i would appreciate it.

بسیار عالی و دقیق انجام شده .طول و عرض این چقدر است ؟

Better off building 6 x 6 with three 2 x 6, less moisture and computing grains will keep it straighter.

The electric company was putting in new electric poles and i ask what they were going to do with the old poles and they would give them away, so they are great to build a pole barn, only thing they are super heavy and will need something to raise them to put them in place.... they will stay straight

@hippiehillhomestead can you tell me where you got the trusses? Price range on them? Thanks for the video!

Don't level that side with dirt. You want undisturbed soil. Use stone. If you wanted a wider barn... wider than 40' with the lean to's, why not just order longer trusses? Like 50' or 60'? Seems like that would have been cheaper and easier. And have you thought about putting a second coat of the sealer on a small part, just to see what it looks like? I'd guess it wouldn't take the same amount as the first coat. I would have to say I'd guess the new posts would be the ones with the issues, not the old ones that have already "seasoned". Just wait until the new ones dry out. ;)

Life lessons are often a real PITA. I made a living for a long time as a plumber- fifteen years as a paid hand, often moaning about cheap material and cheap bosses. You would think I learned, but no, when I finally got into contracting, I had to make several "cheap materials" mistakes. Cost is n't always the only factor- do your homework on the maker, on the relevant costs, like shipping. Pay attention, mostly. Every day you will learn; if you didn't learn something new, you weren't looking! Glad you are on the backside of many of these decisions- looking good now!