Learning from Others’ Mistakes… Pole Barn Dream

Continued from last week’s wind “gym” sock.  I use the the Zoom’s new wind “gym” sock to record the sound for this video.  You’ll notice my hair blowing in the breeze while I stand outside and then walk around the old derelict cabin on the property. So far, my wind sock idea works pretty well to protect the microphone from excessive wind noise, except for that sock sticking out of my pocket.

I don’t believe I have ever really done a walk around on the old derelict cabin before.  I have mentioned it, but I never really showed the condition it is in.  When violating some common sense rules in building a structure, the results can be disastrous.  As the old derelict cabin enters its final stage in life, my wife and I are planning to build a pole barn structure that will act as our equipment storage, vehicle repair shop, and candle business.

The candle business is where my wife makes the candles, which she sells at businesses in the community and during the farmers’ market season.   The vehicles needing repaired are both Ford trucks the F150 and F250 plow truck.  The F150 needs a valve job and the F250 needs a complete engine rebuild, as well as electrical wiring, a new gas tank, etc.  The list for this truck really goes on and on and on.  The shop will also be used for vehicle maintenance such as regular oil changes, tune-ups, etc.  Hopefully, the barn shop will also afford a place to film and edit videos for various projects my wife and I like to do.

The shop is still in the planning stage and I really don’t know exactly what I am doing.  I am researching, planning and creating a working budget.  I am debating building the trusses myself or having them built for me.  I am pricing poles, concrete, and determining what size poles to buy.  The pole barn will have a large loft and the poles need to support this as well.  I am looking into building a french drain around the structure to prevent flooding during spring break up.  My mind is full at the moment and hopefully, with my job outside of the homestead and other volunteer programs I am involved in, I can keep everything straight.  Sleep is becoming more difficult as my mind organizes my thoughts on how to implement everything from 2 in the morning to about 4.

Reference Library info.

In this day with the e-books and online websites, it seems most people do not create a physical reference library for their home anymore.  If you still have a physical library for your homestead projects, what are some of your most favorite and treasured reference books?  Share them here.  Maybe I have a few of the titles, or I might just need to make a visit to the local library again.

Monte Burch’s Pole Building Projects is my go to pole building book that I use as a reference to gather more information, learning the terms, etc. to build my pole barn this year.  Here are some links to this book to price shop if interested.

Monte Burch’s Pole Building Projects Powell’s Books, Barnes & Nobles, Amazon.com

The electrical wiring book I reference, and I would say has become one of my most valued books, is the Creative Home Owner Ultimate Guide: Wiring 7th Edition. I included some price shopping link below, but I believe the links are to the 8th edition.

Creative Home Owner Ultimate Guide: Wiring Powell’s Books, Barnes & Nobles, Amazon.com

Next weeks post will be,  “Blog using YouTube? You need to know this! (Uncensored)”  If you blog and use YouTube videos in your blog, you will won’t to know this info.

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