Old farm buildings with tapered concrete columns- any info

jack of all

I was holidaying in West Clare last month and I noticed a number of old concrete farm buildings, which (to me) were unusual in their construction. The external walls were stone or poured concrete but internally the roof spans were supported by concrete columns, square in section but tapered over their height.
I'd never seen anything like this before, I wonder were these precast or poured insitu, if the latter it looked like a lot of work. The spans were small, given how close the columns were to each other and the columns seemed to take up a lot of floor space (as they tapered out to their maximum size at ground level. I presume these were favoured over standard steel columns due to their coastal location and corrosion issues. Anyone able to tell me anything more about these types of columns/ sheds?

st1979

jack of all wrote: »

I was holidaying in West Clare last month and I noticed a number of old concrete farm buildings, which (to me) were unusual in their construction. The external walls were stone or poured concrete but internally the roof spans were supported by concrete columns, square in section but tapered over their height.
I'd never seen anything like this before, I wonder were these precast or poured insitu, if the latter it looked like a lot of work. The spans were small, given how close the columns were to each other and the columns seemed to take up a lot of floor space (as they tapered out to their maximum size at ground level. I presume these were favoured over standard steel columns due to their coastal location and corrosion issues. Anyone able to tell me anything more about these types of columns/ sheds?

Can't remember the name of the company who made these. Looked them up about 10 years ago as there was some of the uprights and rafters for sale at an auction nearby. They are factory made. Seemed more common in industrial buildings from 30 or 40 years ago. Seem more common in UK.
The ones for sale had portal frame rafters and were about 60 or 80 foot long. I briefly considered it but transporting them would of been a nightmare. Plus hire of crane. The system seemed to have a concrete gutter for a valley.

jack of all

Thanks for that info. The buildings I saw were very small maybe 40 x 40. They looked like a lot of work compared to steel, but then again these buildings were still standing and no rust!

aphextwit

Think maybe
Masstock

_Brian

Presumably this process was used before steel for such spans was uneconomical in comparison.

jack of all

Just to be clear the buildings I saw were small, maybe 40 x 40 overall, with maybe 14' between columns. Measurements are pure guesswork- I just made a quick mental note when I peddling by on my bicycle! It just seemed to me that the concrete columns took up a lot of floor space for such small buildings.

148multi

jack of all wrote: »

Just to be clear the buildings I saw were small, maybe 40 x 40 overall, with maybe 14' between columns. Measurements are pure guesswork- I just made a quick mental note when I peddling by on my bicycle! It just seemed to me that the concrete columns took up a lot of floor space for such small buildings.

Perhaps the columns were recycled, as they say.