# converting a pole barn to a workshop



## Suzkahn

I have a 30 yr old pole barn that will be turned into a workshop, about 24×42. I am gathering estimates to pour a floor, but there seems to be a great disparity of opinions about how to tie the new floor to the building… There have also been suggestions to build a plywood floor over gravel base. I can build fine furniture and turn a beautiful bowl, but construction is over my head. Just looking for any insight & experience. What about heat? I have access to a wood burning stove, or could do propane… would even consider radiant. The primary concern is the best environment for wood that's ready to work.


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## TopamaxSurvivor

Insulate the roof or it will condensate and rain inside ;-((


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## geoscann

IF you do it in concrete put two inch" of pink foam board and a six mil. plastic vapor beerier so it dont sweat in the summer and its easier to heat in the winter.


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## Sawkerf

Do yourself a favor and get a contractor involved. They will know the best ways to convert your structure into what you want/need. They will also be able to do it so it meets whatever local building codes you might be subject to.

The pole construction raises flags for me. You can tie your new floor to the poles, but keeping it where you put it might be problematic. The depth of the poles and the condition of the part below grade will be very important. If they aren't set deep enough - or in non-expansive soil - you will probably have movement as temperature and moisture levels vary.


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## Suzkahn

Thanks for the input.


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## muleskinner

Re. your heat. My experience is that going from cold to comfortable is going to take forever with a wood stove in a barn that size. Propane would be a lot quicker.


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## bandit571

Insulate! Think the spray-on kind of foam! I have a large Pole barn i use as a shop right now. Winter time is "Shop Closed" time for me. I look at bare steel walls all the time. Concrete floor is only in half of the barn I'm in.

Lighting: You WILL need lots of lighting, just to see. Unless you open them big barn doors to let natural sunlight in.









Walls: after insulation, add plywood over it. Then you'll have places to hang things up:









For more about a pole barn shop, go look up mine.


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## alkillian

A wood stove will heat it up quick if you use shop scraps and would chips. Then after it get p to temp put reg wood in


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## MrRon

I too would go with a wood stove, but whatever you do, DO NOT USE PROPANE. Propane burners give off a lot of moisture into the atmosphere which can cause humidity problems in the shop.


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## crank49

Check out this shop that was posted recently.
Very close to what you are talking about i think.

Here is a link to more pictures of this shop.

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/64732


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## Suzkahn

I have a contractor on board. We are evaluating whether to just make a wood floor since access for the concrete pour is not ideal… about 400' down a slope! Are there any alternatives to conventional (and expensive) 3/4 strips to consider… plywood? Once we get underway, I'll post some pictures.


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## Charlie5791

If you do a wood floor over dirt, it's going to be a problem at some point unless you REALLY take measures to keep it from being exposed to a humid environment under your floor. Isolate the floor from the ground even if using pressure treated joists. If you want any heavy pieces of woodworking equipment, OR if you want to be able to roll things around, I'd say find a way to get concrete in there. If there's just no good way to do that, then put down a stone base about 6 inches thick. Tamp it tight with a plate tamper and get it as flat as possible. Then cover it with HEAVY plastic, taped at the seams, then a gridwork of wood with 2 inch foam insulation (like bungy's shop floor). You can put 3/4" plywood over that and then you can get unfinished southern yellow pine wide planks or red oak for around $2 a sq ft. (for the wood flooring, around $1800 for the entire 24×40 floor). 30 sheets of 3/4" plywood at $50 a sheet (for example) would be another $1500. With stone, wood for gridwork, insulation, I'm guessing you're getting near 5 grand.

Anything less than "done right" and your floor will roll and rot.

I think I paid $6.50 /sq ft for my shop's concrete floor. I stripped the sod (and sold it). Contractor excavated the edges to give me thicker edges, stone, rebar, pour and then he and his guys spent a LOT of time troweling it hard. It's almost polished. No expansion joint material, and no control joints tooled in. He came back the next day and saw-cut control joints 2 inches deep. I can roll anything over them and not even feel them.

So… concrete may be more economical than you think.


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## ssnvet

The photo in post 10 was a timber frame built on a poured foundation with the wood floor installed over radiant heat in a concrete slab…...

A pole barn, by definition, has NO foundation…. Just poles in holes.

You need to do something to keep the frost out …. If nothing else, excavate the perimeter and put foam board ( the type used to insulate foundations) in…. Then poor a slab over a good vapor barrier


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