Building anchors

My Dad has a pole building (approx. 16x48').

The people that built it didn't put any concrete around the posts.

Well, it's winter time (he lives south of Buffalo, NY) and the building has lifted about 3-4" in the corners.

So, I was going to fix it for him this summer. What's the best way to get these corners anchored to stop this from recurring?

I was thinking of guy-wire anchors since they probably require the least effort but don't know if they're strong enough. I do see they have them up to 3000#.

Another option was to backhoe around the posts, put a sonnet tube around, fill with concrete and backfill.

Thoughts or ideas?

wow! that sucks!


hmmm.... I assume this is wood pole construction?

You remember John from the board he might have a good answer for you..

I am going to copy your post and send it to a friend that is an engineer and see what he has to say..

Is there a concrete pad inside?

My two cents is to try and dig under and around and get a good concrete footer in there. But I have only worked on building a few new ones. Never tried to fix your type of problem.

BC, what size posts are you dealing with 6x6's or 4x4's?

Doc - I'm honestly not sure but I "think" they're 6x6".

Rick - Yes, it's wood pole. No concrete inside. If the anchors won't work, the current plan is to dig and put crete in there.

I had an idea, but not being an engineer, I'll hold off on it because it probably is not possible. I'm afraid digging out each one might be your only option and will that stop the heaving for sure?
My pole building uses 6x6 poles. Quickcrete was put around each one, but it was dry, straight out of the bag. The contractor said rain water will set it up naturally after time. I've never checked to see if the poles have heaved upward ...I'll look for signs this weekend.

B.

Look like we need a little more information.

Here is the reply from my friend.

What should have been done is to auger a hole pour concrete in the
bottom to make a foundation base for the pole to sit on and then backfill
around the pole. Sounds to me like they didn't auger the hole deep
enough to get the concrete and pole below the frost line. The frost is
heaving the concrete and the pole upward. Or it could be possible that
the bottom of the pole is not below the frost line and the frost got
between the concrete and the bottom of the pole and is heaving it upward.

It really won't help by putting concrete around the pole because the
frost will get under the concrete and heave everything upward. Not sure
of an easy fix for this. I think the frost line for that area is like
5 to 6 feet so that means the hole would have to be 7 - 8 feet deep.

If there is concrete below the pole then we need to know if the bottom
of the concrete is below the frost line. If it isn't then the fix
just got real complicated because you have to get the foundation and the
bottom of the pole below the frost line.

If you can find out more info. from him find out if he would happen to
know how deep the poles are in the ground and if there is concrete
below the pole. A good question to ask him is what did they use to auger
the holes. If they used a bobcat auger then chances are the holes
aren't deep enough since a bobcat can only reach max. 4-5 feet deep.

Thanks Rick.

Let me check with my dad.

When my pole barn was built, they went down four feet, put in a round cement piece about four inches thick as the base for the 6 X 6. They then backfilled around the posts with dirt. This is in North Dakota where it gets real cold in the winter time. I have not had a problem with any heaving.

Wow

My new arena is built like the proverbial brick sh!t house! I have 36 8x8 posts set in 24"x60" holes, and filled with fiberglass re-inforced concrete up to ground level.