Pole Barns And More... 

In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, National Frame Building Association members in the southern coastal states reported how their post-frame buildings stood tall amidst the rubble of other buildings nearby. The reports were no surprise to those familiar with post-frame buildings; their unique design characteristics perform exceptionally well under tremendous wind, snow and seismic loads.

Right after Katrina and Rita, several NFBA members ecstatically reported how their post-frame buildings withstood the historic events. Patricia Askins of Longwood, Fla. emphatically stated, “Of all the hundreds of buildings we’ve built throughout Florida, we’re happy to report absolutely no problems except for minor damage to trim and other small architectural elements on just a few of them.”

Another person proud of post-frame’s performance was Jerry Wagner of Lake Wells, Fla. Wagner and other post-frame builders in Florida and Mississippi described miles and miles of demolished buildings, interrupted by the occasional post-frame building with little or no damage.

Wagner reported that one customer said, “I’m not complaining! My building is the only one left standing for 10 miles around.” There was another building right next to the Wagner erected, but the owner put it up himself. “The building he put up didn’t stand a chance against hurricane-force winds in excess of 100 miles per hour, but our pre-engineered building was fine,” Wagner said. “It highlighted for him the importance of hiring a professional builder who will erect buildings in accordance with building codes and structural engineering requirements appropriate for the area.”

Builder Dale Gay of Chunchula, Ala. noticed some breathtaking sights when he was driving around the countryside to see how buildings his company erected fared the storm. Strikingly, although not completely unexpectedly, he noticed that his buildings elegantly stood out in a barren landscape otherwise dotted by piles of debris – many of which used to be buildings.

Gay described mangled stud-frame houses, twisted metal-framed structures, and a concrete block building that had an entire wall collapse in between stops at various buildings he had erected. He described the scene as comparable to a war zone. Buildings of all types in all directions were leveled; but not his post-frame ones. He began taking photographs to illustrate the point.

Of course, within the path of a hurricane there are few buildings that won’t have some kind of damage. “Almost no building can survive a tornado, and we did see one that we could tell was destroyed by a direct hit because it scoured a path right through the lot,” he said. “But our buildings stood up fine to the hurricane. The 100+ mile per hour winds sucked the windows out of some buildings, and we lost some doors, but none fell down. Other buildings flew apart and the debris hit our buildings, resulting in some superficial damage; but every one of ours was still intact.”

Kevin Lawrence of Tallahassee, Fla., reported their area was hardest hit by the rash of storms that hit the state. “We erected a hangar at an airstrip in the greater Pensacola area,” he said. “There were a whole bunch of hangars there that got demolished. One not more than 12 feet away from one of our hangars was completely leveled to the ground, but our post-frame structure was unharmed.”

“We built one right on the coast in a residential area near Pensacola,” he continued. “They lost 12 houses in that neighborhood, but our building was left unscathed - except for the weather vane. Not one of our buildings suffered major damage.”

Kevin Dunn of Gainesville, Fla., noted: “There was airborne debris damage, but absolutely no major damage on any of our buildings. In fact, many Florida mobile home residents use post-frame buildings as hurricane shelters.”

“We got hit in the eye of Hurricane Katrina with winds up to 175 miles per hour,” reported J. Montague of Biloxi, Mississippi, the owner of a post-frame structure. “My building held up immaculately.”