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Steel Sleeves Solve Decaying Post Problems
You don’t need to dig out and replace rotting posts on pole buildings, says Shane Schechinger. Instead, you can “sleeve” them to save time, labor, and boost longevity of your pole barn or post frame building. As a distributor for the Strong Way Sleeve, he has sleeves for all different size posts and the equipment to install them.
    “It takes about a week to dig out and replace posts in an average size building (about 40 by 60-ft.). With this system you can do that job in a day,” he says.
    Installers need 10-ft. clearance around each post to accommodate a small walk-behind skidloader to power the hydraulic driver. It took the inventors of the system years to develop the driver to pound the 3-sided galvanized steel sleeves into the ground around the posts. The sleeves need 3 in. of clearance.
    “We drive them down to the concrete pad that is typically under the post. Or if they don’t have a pad, we go down about 4 ft.,” Schechinger says. That leaves about 2 ft. of the sleeve above ground, which is secured to the post with structural screws. Tabs inside the sleeve at the bottom grab into the post to prevent uplift. Usually posts only rot at ground level and about 6-in. underground so both ends of the wood are still good.
    The heavy-gauge galvanized sleeves have corrugations to make them stronger and have a reactive coating to protect the galvanized surface.
    “We have done salt tests and this coating lasts longer than hot-dip galvanizing,” Schechinger says.
    Trained service people install the sleeves for about $275/post for an average size building. Or customers who want to do the work themselves can rent equipment to do the job.
    Schechinger is based in Iowa but has installers that work out of state. He welcomes calls from interested partners.
    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Nextgen Group, Elk Horn, Iowa (ph 844-752-8628).



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2020 - Volume #44, Issue #3