I built a 40x48x16 with 12’ wide lean-to’s down each side, and enclosed the back 12x12 section of each back in 2015. Also planed to do a mezzanine and a 2 post lift. At the time I was younger, tried to save money and thought I would finish things along the way. Here’s my regrets and what I would do different.
Regret # 1, I let my contractor talk me out of doing either perma columns or a traditional foundation with their wet-set brackets. He convinced me wood posts backfilled with dirt would outlast me. Told me it would be 10k more to do a footer, and I cheaped out. He did do a nice job with grade. It looked level when we cleared the trees, but he told me
We had to raise it, so we brought in 6 or 8 tri-axles of pit run and it sits perfect now.
Our driveway and under the lean to’s is millings, and in the next few years I’d like to concrete under there and pave the driveway. maybe the post will outlast me? But I’m 35 and don’t want to deal with rotting posts when I’m older, so I may look into replacing them with perma columns soon. Also, if we do concrete and asphalt, replacing them in the future is gonna be horrible.
Regret #2, thinking I’d finish everything else myself over the next year or two to save some money. It took me 5 years to run electrical out to it, and the only light I have in there is a large plug in led parking lot light that I have attached up in one corner. It is still a shell, with outlets. No insulation, no hvac, no lighting, no mezzanine. I wish I wouldn’t have been so cheap and did it all when I built it. It will probably cost 2-3 times more for me
To do it now versus then. Circling back to replacing the posts, since the inside isn’t finished except concrete floor, I figure now would be the time to tackle that
things I’d do different
going a route with no posts in the dirt. Wether it be traditional foundation or concrete piers w/wet set brackets or perma-columns with their concrete skirt board, no wood touching dirt is the ticket.
Finishing everything when I built it. I have lost out on a decade of good barn time since its like a deep freezer in the winter and an oven in the summer.
The windows up high for light is good, I wish I would have done and will be doing before I finish the inside.
Get a price or two for standard stick built, and avoid any wood contact with the ground. Your older self or future owners will thank you
If think of anything else I will post here, but congrats and good luck