Barn door location?

[npaden]

Okay, I'm about to pull the trigger on my barn. I know everyone said that 30' x 40' would be too small but that fits in the budget and I put an outline on the ground and parked all my equipment inside it and I think it will work for now.

With that said, I do have a question on what is the best location for the door. I think I want a 12' wide door instead of a 10' wide one because that will allow my tractor to stay parked in front of the door while the ATV's can go in and out.

I guess one option that I don't know how much would cost would be to put a small 9'x7' door in on the other side of the barn just to get the ATV's in and out of and have a 9'X10' door for the tractor.

If I just put in one door, I can't decide if it should go in the middle or if I should put it off to the side. I think I want the entry door on the side of the building that is nearest to the house. I thought with the window on the opposite side of the door and the predominant wind out of the South (where the main door is) I could get a nice breeze through there in the Summer when I'm in there working on something.

The plans are for all the equipment to be toward the front of the barn and my workbench and stuff like that toward the back.

I drew up a crappy sketch:

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks, Nathan

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The first barn I built (back in 1973) I put the main door along one side like you described. Never again! You loose "wall space" that way. With the door in the middle, you enter and turn either direction to storage space.

 

[daTeacha]

Have you considered dual sliding doors? On a good building, they can be locked to a center anchor point and the posts at the sides. You can use half the width of the building as door, or more if you don't mind the door track extending out past the wall. You can open them as wide or narrow as you wish, one side or both, etc. I think you might find them cheaper than the overheads, so maybe you could have both doors.

How about a large door in the left end and a smaller one in the right end?

I inherited a 28 x 40 shop building with a single OH on the side and a double in the gable end. I have a walk in door in the gable end next to the single. Right now, I have the place divided into hay storage and a shop, with the hay getting most of the room and the double door. I find the single OH in the shop a little narrow at times, but the location with respect to the shape of the shop is good. The shop is 28 x 16 and allows me to have benches along two walls. There is room to hang the truck cap, park the tractor inside, keep the bush hog in there, etc. I have a lean to that serves as parking sometimes and wood storage all the time. Another one on the other side and downhill is for the sheep and donkeys.

 

[1bush2hog]

A guy I was talking to from Morton recommended putting doors big enough to fit your equipment on both ends - unless of course you don't have room, or don't mind backing your equipment in the barn all the time

 

[KentT]

As far as your ATVs go, I'd think you could use a "double entry doors" approach instead of your single entry door and kill two birds with one stone.

That would give you a 6 ft wide door, 7 ft tall to take your ATVs in and out. You mignt even want to consider a set in front and back.

 

[npaden]

Okay, thanks for the quick replies.

A couple things I need to add. On the top side of the drawing I think that eventually I may add a lean to for storing implements. I guess that rules out a door on that side.

The other is that the back side of the building has about a 2' drop and a big tree on the bottom side. I don't want to get rid of the tree (they are rare around here).

What about 2 doors both on the front? One larger door for the tractor and one smaller one for ATV's and stuff. I could just leave the tractor parked in front of it's door and not worry about moving it around to get other stuff in and out. If a small overhead door is only $300 more that's what I think I will do.

How about this setup?

Thanks, Nathan

 

[bigtiller]

I think planning a project is half of the fun. Just keep on drawing and planning and you will come up with the perfect plan for your stuff on your ground.

I had a Morton building with a 2 foot drop on the back side so I put an over head door there and used it as a loading dock. The 2 feet difference was very handy when loading or unloading a pick-up truck.

 

[BB_TX]

I have a 30'x40' with 10'x10' doors centered front and back. Makes easy access to all areas. I don't have to move something out to get to something else. I have probably about a two foot drop at the back. Since you state there is a tree in the way even though you haven't built it yet, I assume you are limited on location of the barn. Is it not possible to shift 10' or so to one side to avoid the tree?
Attached is a rear view.

 

[BB_TX]

Here it is from the front.

 

[daTeacha]

Morton is about top of the line for pole buildings. They should be more than willing to make a site visit and help you sort things out. I've worked with the office here somewhat and they indicated that a site visit was no problem. They have some differences from other pole buildings regarding placement of posts and such that might let you make a slightly different size building at a more economical cost per square foot. Around here, Morton won't let you build one of their buildings, they have to do it, so take advantage of all the service you will be paying for.

When I used to build the things, a site visit, a talk with the customer about their wants, another visit with some plans I made up, some changes back and forth, etc. usually preceded a final plan from which I worked up a cost for the job. I found early on in that part time job that a lot of detail work in the planning stages not only saved time later but often meant we got the job instead of someone else. By detail, I mean drawing in all the wiring and plumbing, carefully calculating the best way to cut the parts to minimize waste, bird bars, vapor barrier, spouting runs, drainage runs, figuring the number and kinds of nails needed and allowing for some being lost, bent, or whatever, and so on.

Go into their office and talk with the sales guy. You will be amazed at what you can find out just by asking, and it may influence your plans.

On the other hand, if you go with a private contractor instead of Morton, you will be able to afford about 20% more square feet of space under roof.

 

[Oleozz]

I have three 9x7 doors on the front of my 30x40 building. I realized quickly that was a mistake, I have just now finished tearing out the middle of the side wall and built two sliding doors that will cover a 10 foot opening. You are smart for really thinking this out, door placement can be critical.

 

[EddieWalker]

That's pretty smart to place your tractor and impliments on the ground and see how they all fit!!! Have you also laid out a workbench and shelving? Put it all down and see how it fits. Than you can decide if you want doors on either end, or on the side.

One thing you might want to reconsider is keeping the tree that's close to your barn. Trees do more damage than good and sometimes just building close to one will kill it. If you remove it now, you'll never miss it and never have to worry about it!!!!

I have a 10x10 foot roll up door on my shop. It's big enough to drive anything in, but not so big as to be wasteful. I like my wall space on either side.

I'm also a really big fan of roll up doors. Some posters have mentioned slider doors. If you can, avoid them. No way to seal them, they come off their tracks and need allot of exterior wall to support them when you open them. The only advantage to one is it's cheap. Do yourself a favor and don't skimp on doors!!!

Eddie

 

[npaden]

I'm planning on the regular overhead doors. The ones like a regular garage door. Also planning on putting garage door openers on them.

From talking with people the problem with the roll up doors is that if you get a dent in them they won't roll up anymore and unless you get the really expensive ones they are hard to open and close. I've never had one though.

 

[BadDog]

Opinions are like a-holes... everyone has one. Here's mine:

Overhead doors suck. Why? Mechanisms bind or wear out. They get in the way of other things. They block overhead lighting options. Their hingles make them complicated and complicated things mean more things to break. Go for double sliders. They are cheaper as well.

Get one big double slider right in the center of the front and back of the building. You need to be able to drive through the building, trust me on that. If the tree is an issue, cut the freakin thing down and plant a new one! What, are you married to the tree?

Don't even bother with a people door. You can open a slider easily part way if you need to get in. If you *must* have a people door, build it right into the sliding door. Otherwise you're wasting wall space.

Spend money on good windows. You can't have enough of them. Make sure they open and have screens. You'll thank me later, when it's 100F and 100% humidity outside. Put windows on the sliding doors too.

Put geotex fabric underneath your gravel at the doors. This will ensure you'll never have ruts going in/out of the barn.

Make sure you have excellent drainage *away* from the building site. The last thing you need is a building you can't get into because it is surrounded by a mud pond, a building full of water, or worse: frost heave in the winter.

Spend money on eavestroughs, without them you are risking seepage into your building and it will be also covered in mud right after the first good rain.

Sorry if I sound a bit grouchy... it's been a long, nasty Friday...

 

[BB_TX]

My plan is to replace my roll ups with regular panel type garage doors with insulation. Several reasons. First the roll ups can't be insulated. So if heating or cooling is a consideration, think about that. Second, they do not seal well. They (at least mine) are made of corrugated metal that rides in a channel track on each side does not seal at all. And when down, there is a gap at the top of the door because the roll is now smaller. My door should have been mounted about a foot higher, but it was not long enough to do so. When the wind blows, it comes thru the sides and top as if nothing were there. After a heavy wind, my building is full of leaves. And because of the design, you can't put rubber molding around it to seal it. Third, if someone wanted in, they could push hard and push it out of the track and step thru. I caught the pull cord on my canopy and pulled it out of track. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Fourth. Mine is heavy to raise. But I probably just need to add tension to the spring.

 

[npaden]

One thing I've learned from my various posts on this building is that it really is amazing how widely varied construction practices are from one part of the country to the next. The other thing I've learned is that we are blessed to have about the easiest building conditions of any.

One thing I don't understand is that several people are saying that I should put a door at each end. I don't understand why I would need to drive my tractor through the building instead of just backing it out the door? This would completely kill my idea of having a little shop type area in the back of the barn with the nice window looking over the canyon and my pretty tree! (The sad thing is that it is just a mesquite tree but people telling me to cut it down haven't lived out in West Texas! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif )

My local contractor also doesn't recommend the light panels either. Says they are prone to leaks and hail damage. I was just going to put in some shop lights.

Thanks for the input! Keep it coming!

 

[Joe1]

You need to measure the ehight of your equipment. In our second opening, you were planning a second door, of 9 X 7. It should probably be at least 8' high. I think your single centered door would work, if you make it wide enough. The wider the better. The loss of storage space of a couple of feet on each side should be offset by the convenience. If you can't afford to lose the storage space with a larger door, you building is probably too small.

 

[BadDog]

Ahhhh, West Teksuss, a windswept barren land with a few nasty trees... better keep the ugly little thing. Me, I'm surrounded by the light sucking, poison ivy spreading bird poop generators. Hate 'em! Gimme my chainsaw!

Lots of reasons to have doors on both ends. Heres a few and only one of 'em has to do with driving through the building:

1) Ventilation. Sometimes thet-thar building will just get a horrific stink to it. Opening up both doors fully gets rid of the stink real fast.
2) Convenience. You can leave your tractor parked inside the front, but you can drive your truck around back and unload 35 bags of 80lb cement just as the rain starts. Without that back door there you'd be backing out your tractor and swearing later as you decide what to do with all those oddly shaped bricks you now have in your nice wet pickmeuptruck.
3) Convenience. You can drive your tractor right in with the bushhog still attached. In the morning you can drive right out and not worry about getting your armpits wet when you fishtail the hog into the side of the building. For some strange reason reversing inside a building is a lot harder than doing it outside a building.
4) Convenience. You won't ever have anything 'stuck in back of the barn' that you just don't use as much as you like because it's too much of a PITA to get to.
5) Convenience. I think you probably get the picture by now.

Remember you're new to this, you can only see how nice it will be the first day the building is up, and how much better it will be compared to *no* building. I've lived the nightmare of bad building design and survived to do it right, hence my strong, well conveyed and completely correct opinions.

I forgot to mention that light panels suck! They leak, they don't support loads, and they're just plain fugly! Invest in good windows, vinyl ones that have cranks to open them up and levers to seal them tight. Get the screens unless you like bugs.

 

[flusher]

IMHO, your layout is not a good idea. Puts stuff in the closed end of the building too far from a large access door.

Better to put your big doors in the eave side of the building rather than in the gable end (see attachment). My garage shop is 24'x42' with 12' walls, two 10'x10' roll up doors. Easy access to the main doors from anywhere inside the building.

 

[srs]

Don't even bother with a people door

In Maryland it's code that you must have a "people" door. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif