Table of Content
It couldn’t be stashed in the back of a shed, because it’s also our snowplow. Plus, with the ROPS, the tractor is too tall for our existing structures. View your order history, track orders, and create wish lists at any time. All the tools & materials you need can be found at Menards®. We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.
Hopefully this helps you decide if buying a shed or pole barn kit from Menards will work for your project. The post frame building kit contained all the materials we needed to build the project. We didn’t have to buy any additional materials, but there were definitely certain tools that made the job easier. It was easy to design the post frame building with the tool. The metal arrived pre-cut to length, so after the wood structure was built, the building came together quite quickly. We ended up with an attractive, structurally sound loafing shed.
Finance Options
We had to wait a little longer because the red & black were special order colors, but it was worth it.
We did use some 2x4s and other scrap that we had laying around to brace the posts while setting them. If you think you’ll need to do the same, order a few extra boards. Your experience with a kit like this is obviously going to be heavily dictated by the skills, knowledge, and abilities you bring to the table. Metal color was mostly my decision, and I wanted the classic barn look. I picked the Brite Red for the walls, Midnight Black for the roof, and White for the trim.
Store Locations
This isn’t a deep-dive into the “how to” aspect of building one of these structures. There isn’t a lot of information about the Menards post frame building kits floating around the internet. We tried finding reviews before we started our project, but didn’t have a ton of luck.
While Menards is geographically limited to the Midwest, you’ll find Home Depot stores right across the country. If you can follow along with the directions in the booklet, you’ll probably be fine building one of the kits. But if the book isn’t clear enough, you may struggle with a building kit. There are no written instructions beside that booklet, so you’ll never receive anything written that’s specific your exact project.
Menards Post Frame Building Kit: Project Review
Thankfully, the rest of the roof section was simple to put up. Next, we established the bottom of the building based on our build site, and set the grade board accordingly. If you’re lucky enough to build on already level ground, count your blessings. We’ll have to bring in sand and earth in the spring to level the ground, but the focus was having the structure built before the snow.
The eavelight was a much more cost effective option than adding in actual windows. Aesthetically, we think it looks really good, and the panels were really easy to install. The eavelight is what Menards calls Pro-Sky Panels – they’re basically clear polycarbonate panels shaped with ridges that align with the steel panels.
Home Depot had the largest amount of home improvement stores in the US. Currently, they have 2,296 physical store locations nationwide. Unlike Menards which is geographically limited to the Midwest area of America, you can find Home Depot stores right across the country. Everything went up pretty quickly from this point. Once you get the wood structure built, all that’s left is to hang the metal. We really appreciated the kit because the metal was mostly pre-cut to the exact dimensions we needed.
It is pretty difficult to pick one from Menards and Home Depot because they stock many of the same products. Some people prefer Menards for certain items while they will also head to Home Depot for particular tools or materials. They are a bit limited in physical stores – they are just over 50 in the USA spread over 27 states – but you can get home delivery. If you are taking on a bathroom or living room DIY project, their Scandinavian-inspired flat pack furniture is great. Both Menards and Home Depot feature a wide range of items and materials.
If you can, we recommend going into your local Menards when you’re ready to place the order. We wanted to apply a rebate check to the total, which we couldn’t do online, so we made the trip to the store. Also, our store’s staff is helpful, and it’s nice to have another set of eyes review your order before purchase. We can’t speak to the online ordering process, since we didn’t use it. They have a lot more physical store locations than Menards.
The written booklet provided was helpful, but a little too generic for me. I would have struggled to figure out what applied to our specific build, and what information I could just ignore. Granted, I have much less building experience than my husband. He relied on prior experience when he didn’t know what the next step was, and I would’ve been stuck. Because the metal colors were a special order, and there was some lumber that wasn’t normally stocked, we were given a 3 week timeframe.
It’s incredibly solid and sturdy, and it looks nice, too. Hang your bottom steel panels first, add a trim piece, and align the ridges in your plastic panels. We have 2 headers across the front, along the opening, and 3 rafters going along the width of the building. The vertical posts along front and back of the building all had to be notched so that the headers and rafters would fit into them. Within a few business days after purchase, our emailed plans arrived from Midwest Manufacturing.
It covers everything from power tools, building materials, furniture, electrical items, and much more. We wouldn’t say that there is much between Menards and Home Depot in general. Menards offer their own app which is available on both iOS and Android devices. It features a cool Augmented Reality function which means you can virtually place items inside your home to see how they look.
The only metal that needed to be cut were the left and right sides, where the pieces needed to match the pitch of the roof. This wasn’t very clear in the plans, and it was probably the most involved step of the build. It was time consuming, and if a mistake is made, it could mean re-doing a sizeable portion of your build. Cutting the notches is a critical step, and it’s disappointing that the plans weren’t more help.
The loafing shed is 32 x 18 feet, and 9 feet high. For the loafing sheds, the height is the low side of the building. Nine feet was what we needed for the tractor, but because the building was so wide , a steep pitch was going to make the front roof incredibly tall. We chose a pitch of 2/12, because beyond lowering the price a little, it made the height a more manageable. We have snowy winters, but steel roofs shed snow well enough that it wouldn’t be an issue. Given the vast amount of products that both Menards and Home Depot offer, it can be difficult to directly compare their pricing.
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