Winch For Building Construction
Marsilius Boa
The Pole Barn Guru continues to be inundated with reader questions, so we will be adding some mid-week PBG responses. First off is a questions about attaching posts to a square footing with dry set brackets, whether or not a Hansen Building can withstand a 40lb snow load (they most certainly can), and the use of winch boxes to raise trusses.
DEAR POLE BARN GURU: Can poles or square posts be attached to cement footings? 30 years ago we started working on a post and beam barn, cutting traditional joints, etc. Well that project was not completed you can guess why. Now we still have the footings that were going to have sills attached and the timber frame joined to that. My other half thinks we can essentially build a pole barn by bolting posts to footings. I have my doubts because as I understand it part of the stability of the pole barn depends on the integrity of the pole and its depth in the ground.
DEAR MIMI: There are dry set brackets designed for attaching post frame building columns to existing concrete, however our third party engineers will no longer certify them for use as they will not resist moment (bending) loads.
DEAR POLE BARN GURU: I am working with Mindi on my quote. I found info on using hand crank winches to raise preconstructed sections of the trusses and purlins. In the different articles, the construct a steel box that the winch is attached to and the box/winch is placed on the top of the poles. If I use wet set brackets, how much extra length is provided on the column? Would I be able to use the winch method with columns bolted into brackets? If I have a 24 ft span and 3:12 pitch, about how much would one truss weigh?
Thanks, LEE in HUNTSVILLE
DEAR LEE: Kudos for you to look to using winch boxes! Your savings in time (and safety) will more than pay to build a set of boxes. With wet set brackets you might want to have Mindi add two feet in length to your truss supporting columns, otherwise you will end up very tight for column above trusses. Cranking up trusses with purlins attached works equally well with either embedded or wet set brackets. Two pairs of trusses and all purlins for a bay will weigh somewhere under a thousand pounds.
My question is around the use of hand winches to raise trusses or assembled truss / purlin sections. I really like the idea of building a section on the ground, from a safety aspect, then raising and attaching.
Because you will actually look at plans and follow instructions. When it comes down to it, your prerequisites are only you being physically capable and able to read and follow instructions in English!
I am all for building sections on terra firma and raising them up with winch boxes. I have done it more than once, with trusses spanning up to 80 feet. Although probably not involving any new world order conspiracy, you are correct in this being a well-kept secret. While I have not personally tried mounting winches directly to columns without boxes, I know builders who have merely mounted a pulley wheel to column tops and then affixed winches directly to column faces and ground level with duplex nails, so your idea is not far-fetched. Each bay of your building weighs under 2000 pounds total (or less than 500 pounds per column) so it could be as simple as using say four or so of your five inch long Simpson screws for attachment as they will support over 250 pounds each and this would give a high degree of safety.
Now you have my opinion, I will be looking forward to your photos!
For extended reading on winch boxes: -boxes-a-post-frame-miracle/
Another variant of winch boxes (requires use of cables only and twice as long), places a pulley wheel on the column top, and the winch is attached to a flat steel plate affixed to the column outside. This method does afford the ability to do lifting from the ground, instead of having to crank off from ladders.
He was furious because he did not want heavy equipment, like a crane, run across his yard to lift his roof up. Luckily we were able to talk him down and assured him when he came home from work his roof would be up in place and there would be no tire tracks.
The first of these was seriously one of the largest post frame buildings I have ever seen being built. From the highway, it appeared to be well over 200 feet in length, with a center clearspan and large side sheds on each side.
By use of this method of lifting trusses into place, the trusses, their bracing, and all of the roof purlins can be lifted into place without the need for heavy equipment. All of the framing is done on the ground, other than the placement of every other bay of roof purlins.
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Founded by J.A.Hansen, Hansen Pole Buildings, LLC, was formed as a limited liability corporation in 2002, as an internet-based business providing custom designed, high quality pole building kits at affordable prices.
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Winches are often used to pull or drag items along surfaces which are level, as opposed to hoists which lift and lower things vertically. Winches are often used when areas of a site are inaccessible by cranes or other moving equipment.
While winches can be very simple devices, those used for construction purposes are often more elaborate, with gear assemblies and powered by electric, hydraulic, pneumatic or internal combustion drives.
The character-defining elements of the R.V. Winch Building should be respected.
Its Beaux-Arts Classical Style, and steel cage construction, for example: the symmetrical design about a central axis, and building boundaries defined by full
height rusticated corner pilasters; the classically inspired features that include oversized columns, a deep decorative
cornice, an ornate cut stone pediment at the main entrance; the pattern, form and materials of the windows and openings that include arched ground
floor windows and paired upper windows framed by engaged columns; the steel cage structural system encased in concrete and resting on granite piers; the concrete floors that are supported by steel beams encased in concrete and connected
to the steel columns embedded in the masonry walls.
The manner in which the R.V. Winch building is an integral component and establishes the character of a commercial/ warehouse block in downtown Vancouver as evidenced by: its close integration of design, materials and composition with the adjacent buildings,
including the Post Office, that are collectively known as the Sinclair Centre.
Disclaimer - The heritage character statement was developed by FHBRO to explain the reasons for the designation of a federal heritage building and what it is about the building that makes it significant (the heritage character). It is a key reference document for anyone involved in planning interventions to federal heritage buildings and is used by FHBRO in their review of interventions.
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