Pole and Panel 3 Bedroom Farmhouse Plans

The house plans for this Pole and Panel 3 Bedroom Farmhouse includes board-and-batten siding, a vaulted ceiling and an open floor plan option. It is designed to be easily and quickly built out of inexpensive materials, even rough-sawn wood from your own trees using pole barn style construction. The plan is forgiving enough for even less experience builders to be able to build for themselves. And the plans are free.

Pole barns aren’t new. Post and beam construction has been around for centuries. But, in the 1930s used telegraph poles and other utility poles were inexpensive and easy to get. People started using these to build quick, inexpensive pole barns. Farmers just dug holes, stood these poles up in them and wrapped them with inexpensive metal siding. As farms got bigger and farmers got larger tractors and other machinery, these pole and panel barns progressed into more durable storage for their equipment investment.

Advancements led to pole and panel building for other structures, including homes. Timbers were less likely to be round and were no longer just placed directly into the soil.

This plan for a Pole and Panel 3 Bedroom Farmhouse was developed by the US Department of Agriculture. It was released June 1965, but is still available.

The plan uses pressure-treated squared posts. But, it is designed for areas with native oak that can be rough-sawn and used on location.

The elevation looks more like a ranch style house than what we now think of as farmhouse style.  It’s called farmhouse because the plan was developed as practical housing in agricultural areas.

The side elevations look very contemporary.

Pole and Panel 3 Bedroom Farmhouse House Plan
Living 1,400 square feet
Porch 40 square feet
Carport 370 square feet

It’s not a very small house, with three bedrooms and 1400 square feet.

Pole and Panel 3 Bedroom Farmhouse

Cooperative Farm Building Plan Exchange Plan No. 7164
3 Bedroom Farmhouse built using Pole and Panel Construction

New concepts of construction and design have been tested and proved by architects and engineers at the University of Illinois. These researchers developed plan 7164 for a 3-bedroom farmhouse while working on a project to utilize native oak in house construction. Flexibility in fitting the panels to the pressure-treated squared posts that serve as both structural frame and foundation permits the use of rough-sawn timbers that need not be accurately sized.

Vaulted (cathedral) interior ceilings emphasize the rugged strength of the native oak beams that support the built-up roof. Vertical board-and-batten siding of creosoted rough-sawn oak makes effective use of readily available lumber.

Pole barn construction is quite different from what you are used to seeing. The plan has you set the posts and build the roof first, even before the floor.

First Build a Roof

Construction of this house is easier if the roof is built first to provide protection from the weather. Set fifteen 6×8 pressure treated posts; then bolt the roof beams to them. Install the rough oak deck and built up roof on the 2×6 purlins to shelter the excavation for the concrete skirt wall and the grading for the slab floor.

Here are some details of how the roof angles work.

The floor is done after the roof.

Then Cast the Floor

Perimeter insulation of semirigid material such as polystrene or foamed glass set into the concrete skirt wall rests against a 2×4 sill of treated wood bolted to the skirt wall. The sill serves as a screeding rail for leveling the floor line of the slab. Be sure to have the required plumbing and heating roughed in if it is to be contained in or beneath the slab.

And next the outside walls. The walls are made as board-and-batten panels. They can be made with rough-sawn lumber.

Build and Place the Exterior

The floor with protecting roof may be used as a working area for constructing the 38 exterior wall panels. The panels are made with ample tolerance; finishing will take up irregularities that result from use of rough framing and siding materials.

Interior Layout Options

You can see the suggested basic layout on the electrical layout plan.

The kitchen has built-in cabinets in sizes that are still standard.

Because the exterior walls bear the roof load, the interior walls are not structural, so the house can be redesigned to suit your needs.

Here are some variations for the interior. We think of open floor plans as more recent, but this plan from 1965 has open floor plan options.

There is an eat-in kitchen, family room and living room.

Fit Interior Partitions

Interior partitions may be conventional, or they may be designed as storage walls between the bedrooms. The right end of the house may be as “open” as desired.

Site Plan

The plans include a site plan. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a yard this big!

Complete working drawings may be obtained through your county agricultural agent or from the Extension agricultural’ engineer at most State agricultural colleges. There is usually a small charge. It is Plan No 7164 3-Bedroom Farmhouse.

Additional Advances in Post and Beam Construction

There are a lot of better products available now than there were when this plan was first developed. Products such as Post Protector, Plasti-Sleeve and Postsaver can be used to create an impenetrable membrane around the wood posts, extending their life. Products such as Sturdi-Wall brackets bypass the need to bury the posts at all. Posts can be bolted directly to a wall or slab.

Post Protector In-Ground Post Decay Protection

Post Protector delivers a tough “Barrier System” which eliminates “soil-to-wood” & “concrete-to-wood” contact. Protection for both pressure treated and cedar posts.

Plasti-Sleeve Post and Column Protection

Plasti-Sleeve offers more by completely covering the embedded portion of the post or column with a molded plastic post cover with an enclosed bottom, designed to fit posts cleanly while still allowing ventilation. The clean fit means builders don’t have to alter construction methods or worry about fit and finish of other framing members.

Postsaver Post Sleeves for Added Protection Below Ground Level

Each thermoplastic heat shrinkable sleeve is lined with a layer of bituminous material, adding a long-lasting air and watertight seal in the ground, right where the post needs it. Applying the sleeve to posts will prevent decay, rot, post cracks, splits and termite damage, giving you a 20 year warranty.

Or, instead of burying the posts, they can be anchored directly to a concrete slab or foundation with a product like a Sturdi-Wall brackets.

Sturdi-Wall Post Brackets

Connect post frame structures to traditional concrete foundations such as monolithic slabs, formed walls and existing concrete pads. Sturdi-Wall® brackets are a heavy duty anchor system used for new construction, post repair, renovations and more.