Buying/Moving A 40x65 Pole Building

Over the years I've been watching this approximately 30 year old pole building with interest....A plain-Jane 40x65' building with 8' side walls which come up farther out of the ground each year. The ends are probably up 1' or more while the center remains unmoved. Tonight I noticed a for sale sign out by the road. The steel is turquoise with roof and walls nailed, no overhang, one 8x12' rolling door on each end, two service doors, poles do not appear rotted, steel is not dented anywhere, three 2x4' window openings on each side. They want $2,000 for it but are eager for me to make an offer.

I checked with Menards, and the materials to build this building would be $13,000.

I currently have my tractors stored in a shed 20 miles from here, but I never know from one season to the next when the fellow will want his shed space all to himself.

I'm sure not looking for a big job now, but I've been wanting a building of my own for some time. I'm not too keen on the 8' side walls, but they would do. Maybe I could get 8.5' side walls when I set it back up.

The building is about three miles from here.

What are your thoughts on such a project?


Thank you,
Glenn F.

I have thought about getting a building that way a couple of times, one thing that has stopped me was the labor involved. I had a chance earlier this year at a greenhouse for $200. But with my work schedule at the time, I couldn't get remove it in the time required. Now that I am retired, I haven't seen any good prospects...( You will need ( IMO ), at least 3 people to do it. Good luck.

I would value it at the tin and the trusses. Those poles are rotted out. You need it in writing how much time you have to remove it.I would pay one third at most to start , one third when half done and one third when all removed. Good luck.

The 2 that I know of that were taken down and moved had new tin put on the roof.

You will never get it back the same to use the old nail holes.

Gary

Do you have a house mover in your area? A building that size should be moved intact. How mamy power lines in those 3 miles?

There has been a few in the area that sized moved by movers, one the poles were good they jacked them up and moved that way, redrilled holes and sat back down. Another one they cut poles off at ground level, building had two sets of 2x12 all around to hold buildding straight and then they made a foundation type building out of it when they sat it down at the new location. If it were shorter it would be possible to move yourself with a descent sized truck mounted to some power poles or timbers, but that much length i would say a mover is the only way to get it moved in one piece. I seen a smaller pole building moved where the guy had his flat bed truck inside the building and had timbers and poles braced from the bed to the barn and moved it a few miles that way.

Some years ago I moved a 48x72 Morton building wih 11' side walls about 90 miles. I numbered every piece of tin, and all the poles. We cut off all the tin nails with extended end cutters, and pulled all the poles. The rafters were taken down with a 1650 oliver with a boom in the bucket. When we put it back up, we flipped all the purlins and nailers over so we didn't have to pull the nails. I re-used every piece, but replaced the roof tin. I used the old roof tin to line the inside. This was a 25 year old building, and all the poles were good. It was a long job, but I was poor and the price was right. I'm not sure I'd ever do it again, but it was a memorable experience. It's still standing strong after 18 years.

Well, the trusses new will cost you at least that much. But remember that you would be demolishing it for them for free. Since you probably want to raise the sidewalls, I'd figure what you think the trusses are worth, deduct what your time is worth to take it down and that's the most I would pay for it. If you can salvage anything else, great, but don't count on it.

Glen
If you decide to take it down instead of trying to move intact you could raise the side walls by using different poles.
One suggestion was to cut the poles off and move intact to a foundation. Again build a block wall on top of the foundation to the additional height you want and set down. I would figure a way to tie on there though.
Check the price a moving company would charge before going that way. Remember your labor is "free".

This can be done. It will be a slow process so you'll need time and patience. AS the others have mentioned, the trusses will be the most valuable but will also require the most patience in taking them down. I tore down a 32x120 confinement hog barn and reused most all the material for a 32x70 hay barn. the hog barn had 8ft side walls also. I used the roof tin for the sidewalls of the hay barn. All the purlins and nailers were reused. About all you'll need to buy would be new poles and new roof tin. Take your time and you'll get it done. But trust me, there will be days when you'd rather just doze it all down. It will be like the Johnny Cash song......."One Piece at a time".

Metal has gone up quite a bit this summer. I just built a 43x64 pole barn and the quote Menard's gave you would have been accurate this past spring but not this fall.

been there, done that. its a lot of work but can be done. if you want to reuse all the material, you need to mark everything as to location and write it down.tin also, mark where each piece goes so you can reuse the old nail holes. to pull the nails off the tin, i make slide hammer pullers from pairs of long handle end nippers. get some bar stock about 3 inch in diameter, maybe 6 to 8 inches long, drill a hole thru he center so you can slide the weight over a length of 1/2 inch or 5/8 round stock, weld this to one handle of the nippers. weld a nut on the end of the rod for a stopper. to use, grasp the nail head with the nippers, and slide hammer the nail out. about 2-3 whacks will pull the nails, and it does not damage the tin. the ends of the trusses are usually bolted and nailed with 60 penny ring shank nails. wast of time to try and pull the 60 penny, just grind the heads off the nails, the truss will slip righ off them. to bring the tin down off the roof, we used a long extension ladder, pulled a tractor up near the roof with the loader up, then lay the ladder on the loader, back over the then tractor, so the back end of the ladder is behind the tractor on the ground, then slide the tin down the ladder, that way it wont bend. i didnt cut the poles off, i used a skid loader to pull the poles, shake em a little with the bucket, run water around the hole and they pull straight up. for the roof purlins, we put a couple 4x4 poles chained to the loader bucket, nail some 2x4's across so it looks kind of like a ladder, then a couple 2x4's across the top. raise the contraption up uner the end of each purlin at the truss and lift the loader, it will pop the 30 penny nails right out with the purlin.

If you were to just take the siding and roofing and remove one sheet at the point where the wood splices are and moved like 20 feet at a time there would be less putting back together and could be done your self with some I-beams for support and could be done faster.If you have some other poles to put in beside the old ones when you set it on the new site it could be raised to the height you would like or a crane could be used to set it higher on the new poles.

You can always add new extensions to the poles to move them up whether you pull them out or cut them off ground level. Probably the pole parts in the ground are going to be rotted quite a bit.

The Amish will come in and move that building by dismantling it completely. Even though you don't have any Amish in the area they do travel to the worksite. The township had a barn dismantled and moved by them as they were low cost bidder by a wide margin. They also modified the structure to fit the new requirements. You do have to supply any power tools as they do not own power tools, just use them.