# Best wood for pole barn



## 4seasons (Mar 22, 2009)

I hit the firewood jackpot this year. My neighbor just had 35 acres logged and the tops are laying. Mostly oak (white, red, and chestnut) some beech, pine, and a few hickory and gum. Well with all the firewood I'm cutting I decided I need a shed to put it in. Started a pole barn with a few cedars for post. Problem is I only had five good poles and I need nine. I was going to use some white oak for poles but I can't find any long and straight enough. So what would last longer buried a few feet? There is a hickory I can get a pole or two out of that I can get to pretty easy, beech laying everywhere and I think I saw a good sweet-gum I could get out. Would any of these last as long as cedar?


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## Soilarch (Mar 22, 2009)

NOT hickory. Outside of cedar, oak and hickory I don't know how the different species hold up as far as structural stuff is concerned. But you definitely don't want to use hickory.

Bugs will eat it in a few years. I have a stack of hickory from the fall of '08...there's sawdust EVERYWHERE from the bugs eating it.


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## Beefie (Mar 22, 2009)

If you got any ash you could use that. Other wise Paint the ends with some type of a marine sealer or go ask the locale lumber yard what they use on there pole buildings. Good score on the wood its nice to have different types to mix together during the winter months.:yourock:


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## Beefie (Mar 22, 2009)

White oak is naturally rot resistant to decay . Thats why the old timers used it to make outdoor stuff with.


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## iowa (Mar 22, 2009)

What I was going to do was burry some good ol hedge in the ground as ancors. Then bolt some pine to the tops of them. Just chainsaw out some L's in the hedge and bolt the pine to it.


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## ShoerFast (Mar 22, 2009)

iowa said:


> What I was going to do was burry some good ol hedge in the ground as ancors. Then bolt some pine to the tops of them. Just chainsaw out some L's in the hedge and bolt the pine to it.



Hedge will out last some of us here!

Oak would also be a good choice in the dirt, to splice to. 

Overbuilding it it always a good way to go with questionable builds (splices) a code my Dad goes with is "It's not a piano!)"


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## iowa (Mar 22, 2009)

ShoerFast said:


> Hedge will out last some of us here!
> 
> Oak would also be a good choice in the dirt, to splice to.
> 
> Overbuilding it it always a good way to go with questionable builds (splices) a code my Dad goes with is "It's not a piano!)"



I thought oak would rot in the ground faster than ever? I must be mistaken.


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## Turkeyslayer (Mar 22, 2009)

Much info can be learned from this book http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=54922&cat=1,46096,46100&ap=4

I wouldnt use oak, I would splurge for the cedar posts, and have no worries for years to come. But thats just my 2 cents.

TS


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## Taxmantoo (Mar 22, 2009)

Are you pouring a floor?
Might consider doing the floor first and anchoring the posts on top of the concrete if you don't have to go deep for frost protection.


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## porta mill (Mar 23, 2009)

not sure if you have any hemlock in your ares . up in the northeast there are barns well over a hundred years old made of hemlock


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## MotorSeven (Mar 23, 2009)

I would just dig 9 post holes, form up some 2x4 frames(1'x'1') to lay centered over the hole, fill with sackcrete. Then level the crete off even with your frame. Set _any_ type of pole ontop & it will last a long time because it is not touching the ground. It's a cheap easy way to get a pole barn done. 

The barns around here are just set on big rocks & have lasted for around a hundered years. Any failure in them was either the roof rusted away or the foundation sank/moved. 

RD


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## Basso (Mar 23, 2009)

Hello,
With all the money that you are saving on the free firewood, why don't you spring for some pressure treated 4'x4''s or 6'x6''s !!!



Basso


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## Laird (Mar 23, 2009)

Basso said:


> Hello,
> With all the money that you are saving on the free firewood, why don't you spring for some pressure treated 4'x4''s or 6'x6''s !!!
> 
> 
> ...



Some truth to that, but I would be looking for some black locust. It would give the treated wood competition as to how long it would last in the ground.


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## 4seasons (Mar 23, 2009)

I don't want to buy anything treated lumber or concrete. I have tin for a roof from another shed that was here when I bought the place. I have plenty of nails so nothing spent there either. I might be able to get more cedar or maybe some locust. Good to know that hickory is no good though.


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## MotorSeven (Mar 23, 2009)

If your going to put something in the ground, cedar is plentifull in TN, most folks here will let you have it for free. It will last a long time in ground. 
Oak, hickory, pine.....the termites will thank you......

RD


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## LANNY (Mar 23, 2009)

Hello to a fellow Tennessean. If you are wanting your shed to last, even cedar will only last 10 -15 years. The old timers never built in the ground with wood. Lay rock and build on that. There is no way a wood shed is going to blow away....Lanny


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## jeeptj19992001 (Mar 23, 2009)

pressure treated


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## Larry Ashcraft (Mar 23, 2009)

How about switch ties?

When I built my 20x40 barn several years ago, I used 15 switch ties on ten foot centers. I dug the holes about 48" deep, dropped a rounded rock in the bottom, then put the ties in and dropped a couple shovels full of gravel in, then straightened them and tamped them in.

After the barn was framed, I capped the area around each tie with cement, both for strength and to keep water out.

This is in the arid high plains, so this barn will probably last at least 100 years.


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## SAW (Mar 24, 2009)

If you can get your hands on some old creosote telephone poles they work pretty good


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## Ohiowoodguy (Mar 24, 2009)

Cedar, hemlock, power poles whatever- its all pine (read 'weak'). Its somewhat resistant to bugs (the pitch), but not decay. I used black locust- extremely heavy, very resistant to shear, seems to (like oak) become harder with age, and the old-timers around here say it'll "last 2 years longer than stone" in the ground. That's why locust fence posts are in such demand.


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## The Herd (Mar 24, 2009)

I vote for the locust, or find some more cedar. There are some old fences running through the woods up here that are very old and they are made of black locust. 

One trick that is cheap and will add another 15 years to which ever posts that you use..... Break down and buy a 5 gal bucket of roofing tar or basement wall waterproofing tar. Dip your post into the bucket before you plant them into the ground. If it is too thick you can usually thin it with diesel. If you take a stiff brush or a margin trowel you can also apply it that way. The bugs won't touch it and the water can't get into the wood to rot your posts.

Just an old carpenters $.02


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