Electrical work

[wolc123]

One nice thing, about the extended outside crap weather we are having this spring, is that it has given me time to finish wiring my pole barn.  I just about wrapped that up yesterday.  All that remains is installing a couple of 8 ft ground rods for the sub-panel. 
 

Electrical supplies sure have escalated in price, but fortunately, I already had many of the big ticket items, like the sub-panel box and most of the conduit.  
 

Some things were cheaper than they used to be though.  I never liked cordless drills, but with so much ladder work, I needed one for this project.  This Ryobi 18 volt kicked ass.  It came with an extra lithium battery and charger and Home Depot sold it for $ 80.  The thing had no trouble with 1-1/8” dia holes for the conduit, thru thick chestnut, and the battery life was impressive.  
 

I had been running everything out there with extension cords from a single 15 amp 120 volt outlet, that my grandfather had installed on the old barn that was on the site previously.  

Now, I have 30 amps and 240 volts out there, and plenty of 120 volt outlets.  I also put in a 30 amp, 240 volt outlet for a welder (that breaker cost $ 36 at Home Depot and I only paid $ 50 for the used welder), which works good for up to 1/8” rod.  My old 15 amp, 120 volt “buzz box” could only handle 1/16” rod.  
 

The LED lighting is really nice, compared to the fluorescent fixtures I had in my old shop.   I had to run an extra 2x6 thru the wall for the light fixture on the back porch (last picture), but that pretty much completed the job.  
 

  

 

[Lawdwaz]

As far as the cordless drill goes; welcome to the 90’s wolc.  
 

 

[sbuff]

Looks good and nicely done . But I can say ryobi is one power tool I refuse to buy . I've had great luck with ridgid and Milwaukee should that ryobi let you down .

I need to get power to my pole barn this summer . How deep did you bury the service wire .

[wolc123]

48 minutes ago, sbuff said:

Looks good and nicely done . But I can say ryobi is one power tool I refuse to buy . I've had great luck with ridgid and Milwaukee should that ryobi let you down .

I need to get power to my pole barn this summer . How deep did you bury the service wire .

I intended to get a Dewalt.  They showed a similar 20 volt package on the Home Depot website for $ 99.  They didn’t have it at the store and a worker there recommended the Ryobi.  So far, so good.  My brother and father in law like their Dewalts.  I used my father in laws for drilling holes thru the ice last month and it worked pretty good.  
 

I burried a 2” PVC conduit 2-3 ft deep for the service wire when I did the site work for the barn.  I left a 1/8” wire rope thru it, which I used to pull the wire.  There was a spare 30 amp circuit from the 200 amp main panel in the house (for an electric dryer that my grandmother used to have).  
 

I ran 100 ft of 10-3 UHB wire from that circuit, thru the conduit, to the sub-panel in the barn.  Pulling that wire thru the conduit was the toughest part of the job.  I could only get about a foot at a time by myself, running back and forth “pushing” from the house side and “pulling” from the barn.  I should have asked my wife to push for me, but it was real cold and windy outside that day, so I was on my own .  
 

If I ever need more power out there, it won’t be too bad to feed it they that 2” conduit. 
 

52 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

As far as the cordless drill goes; welcome to the 90’s wolc.  
 

 

 I have had a couple many years ago.  A 12 volt Skill, that didn’t have much torque, and a cheap Asian 14 volt one that the charger took a crap on.  I will admit that this new one is pretty nice, especially up on a ladder.  I couldn’t believe how  long the batteries lasted.

[rob-c]

I have a mix of ryobi and dewalt and the ryobi s are holding up just as good . And yes the LED lighting is fantastic . Nice job on the wiring too.

[hueyjazz]

Every contractor I know uses Dewalt.  Stay away from their Atomic line.  There's plastic parts where there should be metal.  Dewalt also sells a contractors line through distributors.  You won't find those at HD or Lowes.

I too have been wiring pole barn and the LEDs are great.  I'm down to wiring for a few ceiling fans and a LED projector.  One thing I added that's working great is cord reels you can pull down from center of pole barn.  That way I can get power anywhere in barn without extension cords to trip on.  I may do something like that for compressed air too.

Edited March 27, 2022 by hueyjazz

[mlammerhirt]

Wolc.....i agree the led lights are unreal. Added a few 4 footers to my hunting room and what a difference.

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[The_Real_TCIII]

I love my ryobi stuff. My cousin is a contractor and calls them my toys lol. But I've got lots of big projects on them with no problems and the batteries still last a long time


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[wolc123]

1 hour ago, mlammerhirt said:

Wolc.....i agree the led lights are unreal. Added a few 4 footers to my hunting room and what a difference.

Sent from my SM-A716V using Tapatalk
 

I have had the LED 4 footers  out there for a few years.  I had temporarily rigged extension cords to the two hard wired ones in my wood shop, and I was running everything from a power strip on a single 15 amp outlet.  That worked ok, because those LED’s take so little amperage.  
 

What I really like about them, is they you have instant bright light when you turn them on, unlike the old fluorescents which gave much less light and took a long time to give that when it was real cold out.  

[wolc123]

4 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

I love my ryobi stuff. My cousin is a contractor and calls them my toys lol. But I've got lots of big projects on them with no problems and the batteries still last a long time


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That one job was well worth the $ 80 that the Ryobi “one-plus” drill kit cost me.  I’ll ask for a recip saw for it for Christmas (they are only $  59) right now on Amazon.
 

 I’ll also take the drill up ice fishing next winter, and see if it works as well as my Father in law’s Dewalt on the auger.   I might not use it so much any more, out in my pole barn, since I have lots of corded drills and there are plenty of outlets out there now.   I do like it’s 1/2” keyless chuck though, so it might end up getting more use just because of that.  
 

 

[Lawdwaz]

You ever hang a deer in that building?

(Hell, what's a wolc123 thread WITHOUT a dead buck hanging?) 

 

[fasteddie]

53 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

You ever hang a deer in that building?

(Hell, what's a wolc123 thread WITHOUT a dead buck hanging?) 

 

You don't let up , do you ....... 

[wolc123]

2 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

You ever hang a deer in that building?

(Hell, what's a wolc123 thread WITHOUT a dead buck hanging?) 

 

Just euros when they are drying.  I hang carcasses and butcher in the insulated garage that is attached to the house.  

[Kmartinson]

That's a nice set up!

[wolc123]

On 3/27/2022 at 2:09 PM, Kmartinson said:

That's a nice set up!

Thanks, it will be nicer when I get it done.  I still need to enclose the back porch and add another porch to the back of that for firewood storage.  Stuff is open to the weather back there now and I am sick of storing firewood outside on pallets and covering with tarps .  At least there is a light in that back porch now. 

I need to drop and finish dismantling this last old “1883” barn first though, to get the rafters (for framing) and some roofing lumber (for siding).

As soon as I get the last of the siding off the south end of the old barn, and the ground dries up, I am going to try and pull it down to the south with a tractor.  It might hit our house and/or the new pole barn, if it falls north, the way it is leaning.  Currently, it is held up by a 1/2” wire rope, that is attached to a big pear tree out back.  
 

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by wolc123

[fasteddie]

Get that old barn down before the wind takes it down for you ........

[wolc123]

1 minute ago, fasteddie said:

Get that old barn down before the wind takes it down for you ........

We had two big (60 mph plus) wind storms since December and both stretched that 1/2” cable, that’s holding it up, a little farther.  As soon as I get the rest of the siding off the end and the ground dries enough, I am going to try and yank it down.  I am guessing it will be down by May 1 (hopefully to the south).
 

If it does go down before then, and falls straight to the north (the way it’s leaning) it will just miss the house and new barn, but crush the crap out of our favorite shade tree.  The maple  which you can see to the north in this picture. 
 

A siding-stripped twin to that old barn, that was originally on the site of the new pole barn, fell down on the east side of that tree in 2018, while I was at work and nocked off some big branches.
 

Our daughters called me at work and said it fell down.  They said it sounded like two semi trucks had crashed out on the street, and there was a huge cloud of dust.  I had noticed it leaning slightly, when I cut out the last of the diagonal supports the evening prior.  
 

[luberhill]

On 3/27/2022 at 8:10 AM, sbuff said:

Looks good and nicely done . But I can say ryobi is one power tool I refuse to buy . I've had great luck with ridgid and Milwaukee should that ryobi let you down .

I need to get power to my pole barn this summer . How deep did you bury the service wire .

I have all Ridgid and love them 

Edited March 28, 2022 by luberhill

[luberhill]

1 hour ago, wolc123 said:

Thanks, it will be nicer when I get it done.  I still need to enclose the back porch and add another porch to the back of that for firewood storage.  Stuff is open to the weather back there now and I am sick of storing firewood outside on pallets and covering with tarps .  At least there is a light in that back porch now. 

I need to drop and finish dismantling this last old “1883” barn first though, to get the rafters (for framing) and some roofing lumber (for siding).

As soon as I get the last of the siding off the south end of the old barn, and the ground dries up, I am going to try and pull it down to the south with a tractor.  It might hit our house and/or the new pole barn, if it falls north, the way it is leaning.  Currently, it is held up by a 1/2” wire rope, that is attached to a big pear tree out back.  
 

 

What size is the pole barn 

[fasteddie]

Is old barn siding still worth big bucks ? 

[wolc123]

1 hour ago, fasteddie said:

Is old barn siding still worth big bucks ? 

I sold quite a bit for $ 2 a board foot, which was less than wholesale cost pre-Covid.  I also used a lot for the loft and shops in the new pole barn.  I will probably keep the rest for siding the back porch and for wrapping tree blinds.  I have killed a few 3.5 year old bucks, including last year’s, from behind that barnwood.  
 

 

1 hour ago, luberhill said:

What size is the pole barn 

The main building is 36’ wide x 50’ long x 12’ wall.  It has (2) 10’ wide x 25’ long porches, one of which I will eventually enclose with old barnwood.
 

 Inside, the loft area is 30’ long x 12’ wide, x 8’ high.  Below that is a 20’ long x 12’ wide woodshop, which I can heat, and a 10’ long x 12’ wide metal shop, which is open to the rest of the building.  
 

The metal shell is a Stockade building (kit made in Ohio cost $ 27k in 2018), with 10’ truss spacing.  That makes for lots of useable space, up in the loft between the trusses.  I have plenty of room to store lumber up there.  
 

I keep most of the loft load over those interior 9” hand-hewn posts, that I salvaged from another old “1883” barn.    Each 9” post has a 3 ft long section of pressure treated 9” square laminated post and two bags of concrete below grade.  The loft floor is 1” thick x 12” wide chestnut boards recovered from the old roof of that “1883” barn and covered with 7/16” thick 4’ x 8’ sheets of osb (those were just $ 5 ea in 2019 at Home Depot).  The cross beams below that loft floor are 6” square hand-hewn from the same old barn, on 20” centers.  
 

The lofts in those old barns were similar, but the floor support beams were on 40” centers.  After we switched from loose hay to baled hay, in the mid 1970’s, those beams broke in a few places, from the heavier load.  The pilgrims didn’t design for baled hay.  I didn’t want to ever worry about that with this barn, and I had plenty of beams.  This loft would support elephants.  

Most of the barn floor is packed crusher run stone except for the shops under the loft and one porch, which are concrete. 

[wolc123]

I drove the two 8 ft ground rods last night and they are just over 8 ft apart (code requires at least 6 ft). Hopefully, I will be able to get them wired up to the sub panel on Saturday.   I can’t believe that I didn’t hit any hard fill (busted up concrete, etc), because we put in a lot of that, to get the grade up where it needed to be.   That was about the only part of the job that went easier than I expected.
 

The last “electrical” work that I need out there, is to replace the old 15 amp, 120 volt outlet, that is currently on the west side porch, with an exterior outlet with a GFI.   Everything should be “up to code” then.  
 

My grandfather burried the wire from that outlet, on the outside of the old barn to the house,  more than 40 years ago.    I Guess that an inside outlet is good outside for at least that long.   

[Lawdwaz]

The wind AND rain probably had the old barn on the edge today.........It was really humming at work today.

By the way, you MUST record that barn coming down if you yank it.

[wolc123]

23 minutes ago, Lawdwaz said:

The wind AND rain probably had the old barn on the edge today.........It was really humming at work today.

By the way, you MUST record that barn coming down if you yank it.

My wife will record it, like she did when I sledged down the silo.  Removing the siding weakens it a lot.  I will wait until I get the rest off, before I try.  If I cant yank it down then with my tractor, I will cut out the diagonal braces.  I am pretty certain that it will drop fairly easy after I do that.

[ncountry]

29 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

My wife will record it, like she did when I sledged down the silo.  Removing the siding weakens it a lot.  I will wait until I get the rest off, before I try.  If I cant yank it down then with my tractor, I will cut out the diagonal braces.  I am pretty certain that it will drop fairly easy after I do that.

Those old barns seem to want to stand forever.

We had an old barn on the farm .Roughly 36'x 70' and roughly 35' to the peak.

One end had the old wooden silo built into it and the roof was bad on that. After many years you could see that end of the barn was starting to collapse and slowly drag the rest with it.

We decided to cut the 30' off to save the rest. After cutting the roof on a rope with a chainsaw..lol. there was 1 last 10x10 holding the 2 together.

I figured for sure it was going to go down fast and was a"little" scared. Well I finished cutting it loose and the thing just stood there. I was all nervous for nothing. Had to end up pulling it down with a tractor. Among the wood we salvaged were 2 36' long 10x10 ash beams

The left over barn still houses an apartment and shop..