Pole Barn Pole Heaving

UP Oliver · Sep 12, 2014

I am working on a pole barn, and we have had a ton of rain since I started. I took all the topsoil out, and below it I have mostly a silty clay. When the building is completed there will be over 57 or 58 inches between the grade level and the bottom of the concrete chunk that is below the poles. I mixed two bags of quikrete and let it set at the bottom of each pole.

What I am worried about is the soil around the poles freezing and lifting the poles. That soil is fairly wet at this point. Not sure what I should do about this right now, or if I can do anything. We have around 3 months before it gets really cold around here.

Thanks.

casenut1 · Sep 12, 2014

Don't know where you are located but almost 5' deep on the poles should be more than enough. We always set 4' deep and never had a pole heave on us. As long as you are below frost depth you should be all right.

UP Oliver · Sep 12, 2014

According to the contractor at the lumber store giving me advice (he has been great by the way), code around here is 42 inches to the bottom of the footing, so I am more than a foot below that. But I am worried about the wet soil grabbing the pole when it freezes. Can that happen? There will not be heat in this building.

paul · Sep 12, 2014

Oh, I see.

Some will drive spikes or spike on a piece of 2x4 heel near the bottom of the pole, so that is below the frost line. That keeps the pole anchored in the dirt cants slip, and the frost has to slip on the pole.

There are plastic sleeves to put on poles, but that is typically just for going through concrete so the concrete can slip.

Paul

dpendzic · Sep 12, 2014

place clean round gravel around the pole for its height in the ground--at least 3 to 4 inches out from the pole. That way when the soil freezes and rises the gravel will roll and not transfer the lifting forces to the pole.
I have used this method also on concrete piers in the ground

just another old geezer · Sep 12, 2014

Around here where we have a frost depth of up to 6 feet they build a wooden box around the bottom of the post.then when it heaves off of the concrete pad, dirt cannot get under it, and when the frost goes out, it can go back down.

JOB · Sep 13, 2014

Neighbor had the same problem on a deck. The ground was clay around the concrete under the posts that hold the deck up. He did roughly what dependzic suggested. They dug around the concrete and back filled with sand. Sand doesn't hold water and expand and grab hold of the concrete and raise it. That worked for him, he says.

Pole Barn Pole Heaving

UP Oliver

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casenut1

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UP Oliver

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paul

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dpendzic

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just another old geezer

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JOB

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