Perhaps the biggest delay causing sticking point in a new Post and Beam Barn Project, or any project for that matter, is not having the right barn building tools to do the job.
You can have all the material ready, and think you have every tool you need on the job, except for that one essential barn building tool that you forgot you needed, or didn't even know you needed in the fist place.
That happened to me on the first barn
we built.
I knew I needed a hammer drill, to drill holes in the concrete, so that we could attach our U brackets to the concrete with wedge anchors.
So I rented a hammer drill for a day so that we could get all of our drilling done in one day, and we did... Why buy a tool when I am only going to use it one day right?
...Except there was one pier that the
concrete guys had neglected to pour!
Having to rent that barn building tool for an extra
day meant I had to spend the same amount on tool rental as I would
have had to spend had I decided just to buy the hammer drill in the
first place!
And then I would have owned the drill,
instead of having to take it back to the rental store... :-(
I decided that this time I would buy
the hammer drill.
If I needed it again, I wouldn't have
to spend all that time driving to the store, renting the drill, and
driving all the way back to return the rental.
Besides, If I ever decided I didn't
want to own the drill anymore, I could sell it and get at least some
of my money back, which is never the case when you rent a tool.
Now don't get me wrong, I love renting
big machines for a few hundred dollars, that cost tens of thousands
of dollars to buy, that saves a ton of money! But, those are
specialty items that wouldn't make sense to buy, like a telescoping
fork lift, or a man lift.
But a small hand or power tool on the other hand has a small price tag to purchase compared to a high cost to rent. So it makes sense just to buy that tool, so that you have it when you need it.
One time I rented a large Makita saw, the same kind I use to cut beams for my barns... But the rental tool was really old and worn out, it wouldn't make a square cut no matter what I tried!
I would have been better off to buy a
new one... You would think I would have learned this lesson the first
time! So again, I ended up buying a new one, and boy am I glad I
did!
That new Makita, cut through those
beams like a hot knife through butter, and every cut was square and
smooth as a babies bottom.
Check out the video below to see my Big Makita in Action!
Not many saws are made for cutting thick timbers, and the ones that are often come with a big price tag. These Prazi beam saws are perfect for cutting those timbers. This is the saw we recommend for the budget minded do it yourself-er. It doesn't cut as smoothly as the big Makita, but it gets the job done.
Just use caution, chain saw technology can be dangerous, if you are not comfortable using the saw please ask someone with experience running these types of tools.
I can't tell you how many times, way back when I started doing my own projects, that I found myself short on tools.
Just because I didn't know I needed
them...
I wish someone back then had put
together an essential list of tools that I needed to do that job. It
would have saved me so much time going to the hardware store.
Time I could have spent working on my
project!
That is why I have put together a list
of all the essential tools you need to build your new post and beam
barn...
Not only that, but I have put them all
in one place where you can order them right off Amazon and have them
shipped to your door!
You don't have to worry about not
having the right tool, because you have everything you need listed
out for you!
Think of all the time you will spend
building your barn instead of hunting for tools!
Here is my list of essential Barn Building tools.