Building code & Engineered footings???

DannyH

DannyH

smokey burnouts
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Location
Stanfield, NC
So me and my father are attempting to build a pole barn style shop in Stanly county. 6x6 post encased in concrete 8ft OC, engineered trusses, etc... it’s a residential structure...

Originally was told by a woman at the front desk at the county permit office that we simply needed drawings/ plans of what we wanted to build. Well we get this together, make drawings based on code and a quote/ drawing on engineered trusses designed around our specs. After having the septic cleared by the health dept. go back to have them look at the plans, but the inspector won’t even see them without an engineered footing.

How can we go about getting such a thing? I don’t really see me getting solely footing plans due to liability of the rest of the structure.

Any experience or ideas appreciated...


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There's a guy on here that knows. I can't remember his name exactly but it's something Fullman, Fullerton, Fulton... something like that. He'll chime in if he sees this.
 
@DannyH you should be able to get engineered footings done. Your trusses should be engineered and the pole barn has codes you need to go by. The engineer is going to look at the up lift forces and design a footing that is big enough to not lift.


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I've always wondered how in the hell footings are inspected. Once the footing exists, there is nothing to see. Do they just inspect the hole?
 
Loganwayne said:
They have to see before it’s poured, they also will probe the bottom to make sure it’s on solid ground


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Yeah, I’ll start looking locally for someone to draw these up and approve. If anyone’s got any recommendations?


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I am not sure why they would not tell you what the code is for post for your county. I called and ask when I built mine and the was told hole size and footer thickness. They came and inspected the holes once complete, before concrete was added.
 
McCracken said:
There's a guy on here that knows. I can't remember his name exactly but it's something Fullman, Fullerton, Fulton... something like that. He'll chime in if he sees this.
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Lol just realized someone posted something similar and received the advice I’m really looking for...


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89wrangler said:
I am not sure why they would not tell you what the code is for post for your county. I called and ask when I built mine and the was told hole size and footer thickness. They came and inspected the holes once complete, before concrete was added.
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Every county and city is different. It’s a pain to deal with certain places.


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89wrangler said:
I am not sure why they would not tell you what the code is for post for your county. I called and ask when I built mine and the was told hole size and footer thickness. They came and inspected the holes once complete, before concrete was added.
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Lincoln county has a print out with all your required minimums/ maximums that you can fill out and carry in. Found it online. Seems like a reasonable idea to me. Called for 24” round by 48” deep holes of concrete. I think that should have you more than covered for a pole barn around CLT.

It just can’t be that simple for us.


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Loganwayne said:
Every county and city is different. It’s a pain to deal with curtain places.


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I hear ya. It was hell when we redid the Living Room. We had the carpet all picked out and we really thought we were doing good until the dreaded curtain discussion came up. On point, BTL.
 
McCracken said:
There's a guy on here that knows. I can't remember his name exactly but it's something Fullman, Fullerton, Fulton... something like that. He'll chime in if he sees this.
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I'm not sure, but are you talking about @marty79 ? If I remember correctly he builds this type of buildings, and knows alot about them.
 
Hmm. I dealt with similar issues with the bike shop we opened in Locust. Before purchasing the building, I met with the zoning and building departments to make sure everything would be ok.

When I met with central permitting, I was told the same thing. 'You just need some simple plans, and you should be ok.' It is a small commercial building that needed upfitting to ADA standards, new HVAC, and updated electrical.

I drew the plans up on AutoCAD and submitted them. I was given 4 pages of redlines (corrections) that needed to be made. It took about 10 months, an architect, and an electrical engineer to get passed plan review. It was a huge hassle. On the plus side, the inspections went well once the plans passed and permits were pulled. It helped greatly that the electrician knew the inspector well. Hire contractors that are local and know the inspectors!!

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in your area to recommend for the structurals. You can google Lone Star engineering. Don can be less than stellar but would probably be on the cheaper end of the spectrum (at least in the Charlotte area).

I just looked up Whitley engineering in Locust but have no experience with them. Maybe give them a shout.
 
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junkxj said:
I'm not sure, but are you talking about @marty79 ? If I remember correctly he builds this type of buildings, and knows alot about them.
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bro what you tryin to do here lol lol
 
broncosbybart said:
Hmm. I dealt with similar issues with the bike shop we opened in Locust. Before purchasing the building, I met with the zoning and building departments to make sure everything would be ok.

When I met with central permitting, I was told the same thing. 'You just need some simple plans, and you should be ok.' It is a small commercial building that needed upfitting to ADA standards, new HVAC, and updated electrical.

I drew the plans up on AutoCAD and submitted them. I was given 4 pages of redlines (corrections) that needed to be made. It took about 10 months, an architect, and an electrical engineer to get passed plan review. It was a huge hassle. On the plus side, the inspections went well once the plans passed and permits were pulled. It helped greatly that the electrician knew the inspector well. Hire contractors that are local and know the inspectors!!

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in your area to recommend for the structurals. You can google Lone Star engineering. Don can be less than stellar but would probably be on the cheaper end of the spectrum (at least in the Charlotte area).

I just looked up Whitley engineering in Locust but have no experience with them. Maybe give them a shout.
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Didn’t realize you owned the bike shop. I’ll have to stop in and say hi sometime.
Ill check out Whitley engineering today. I’m sure they can at least lead me in the right direction.


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How much land is it on? Gaston County gave me the same crap about the entire pole building needing to be engineered because it's non conventional construction. I drew a middle finger on their reply, went to the zoning office, and got an agricultural exemption so that I could build whatever I wanted.
 
jeepinmatt said:
How much land is it on? Gaston County gave me the same crap about the entire pole building needing to be engineered because it's non conventional construction. I drew a middle finger on their reply, went to the zoning office, and got an agricultural exemption so that I could build whatever I wanted.
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I thought about this route. We’re Only on 2 acres, but I’ve got a close friend who owns a farm. Thought about claiming something like “this building is used for maintenance on such and such’s farming equipment.” I’m not sure what the limitations to getting that agricultural permit is..


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DannyH said:
I thought about this route. We’re Only on 2 acres, but I’ve got a close friend who owns a farm. Thought about claiming something like “this building is used for maintenance on such and such’s farming equipment.” I’m not sure what the limitations to getting that agricultural permit is..


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They were pretty vague here. Basically youre good to go so long as it's intended for maintenance and working instead of storing furniture and boats. ( they kept mentioning boats, wonder if it has anything to do with the incident?)
 
Some feed back on this thread.

Got the plan for 18 abysses to hold our 6x6 post.

Engineer designed 30” wide holes 36” deep. Rebar at 12” and 24” through the pole perpendicular to each other. 6” pad in the bottom.

Seems beyond over kill to me, but whatever...

It was tough to get an engineer for such a small job and wasn’t cheap, but it is done.

Dug them out with the skid steer and a rental 30” auger. I had no clue they even made and auger that large, but we called around to a few places and that’s what we came up with. All but about 4 dug all the way, we are on some tough red clay that would bind the auger, so I got the joy of hand digging them by hand the rest of the way...


As of right now we are still well under the cost of installing a metal building. I’ll be interested to see what we’re at in the end.
 
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Dang that's a lot of hole for a 6x6. The (engineered) footings for my carport were only 32"x32", 12" deep. I have metal posts sitting on top and a slab over it all.
 
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