Barn loft uses... not hay

[BLSXJ]

I'm thinking about building a small barn and have mixed thoughts on a hayloft.

My biggest concern is if I ever stop using small square bales (or they are no longer available) what can I use a hay loft for?

Anyone have a great idea what to use a hay loft for? besides Hay.

 

[Doofy]

Parts storage. It sure helps keep the work areas more user friendly.

 

[/pine]

M.I.L. quarters...!

 

[Doofy]

Date Night!

 

[Fuddy1952]

My 2 cents. In the 80s I had this pole barn/garage built. Originally it was going to be one story. I asked contractor about a second story and it wasn't that much more because as he said all you're adding is more panels, 2x12 rafters, tongue and groove plywood floor (which I put in). I wished now I had made it 3 story. You never can have enough room.
I have stairs one side, opposite wall I have a 4x4 ft opening upstairs with ladder for safety.

 

[riptides]

Build it big enough, add water, electric and rent it out as an efficiency.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Build it big enough, add water, electric and rent it out as an efficiency.

Then have an engine dyno down below!

 

[super55]

In my pole barn loft I use part of it for storage and the other half of it is use as my wood shop. I have all my power tools, fishing poles, scrap lumber and just about any other thing I can drag up the stairs.

Trust you'll find things to fill it. If not your friends and family will.

 

[MossRoad]

When we build our building, it's going to have a 2nd floor. I figure once my wife gets tired of me, I'll be up there in a hammock with an old orange cat named General Sterling Price....

 

[Doofy]

You need some type of platform lift or hoist to make it easier to get things up and down. Steps or stairs get old in a hurry.

 

[bunyip]

You need some type of platform lift or hoist to make it easier to get things up and down. Steps or stairs get old in a hurry.

Pallet forks on the FEL?

 

[Fuddy1952]

Just don't goof like I did making steps over a foot tall!

 

[Doofy]

Pallet forks on the FEL?

Thinking more on the electric winch raising about a 4'x4' platform up thru a trapdoor in the ceiling. Thought the old pulley and rope on the outside would work too.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Where I grew up my Granddad built a small barn like this in 1942. I wish I was there to take a picture, I'm terrible at sketches. The main section is 2 story cinder block I'm guessing about 30'x20' deep. Either side is like a wood pole shed. Bottom double doors and upper have windows, each bay window in back , windows in front and back of middle section, so plenty of light.
Roof overhangs about 6ft. so even with doors open no rain/snow.
Top roof where loft doors are that section you walk out, almost level. There's a 8x8 post out about 8ft with pulley and rope.
Bays for tractor, equipment, 2 cars.

 

[oosik]

When we moved down here from Alaska there was an old two story barn - from the original homesteader. Sold that old barn to a contractor who used the wood in some fancy-dan rec room in an uber expensive house in Spokane. Wish, now, that I had that old barn. I live so far out in the stick here - the upper floor would have been a good place for my still.

 

[KYErik]

I have an old 36' x 36' barn with a full hay loft. I place all sorts of spare parts, lumber, tin and misc things up there that I seldomly need. About once a month I will climb that ladder and retrieve some "treasure" for a project or repair. I even have a car engine, a 275 gallon tote and a "spare" riding lawnmower up there (the loft door is 44" wide and I use my tractor loader and front forks to lift big items up there).

 

[Doofy]

The possibilities are endless...

Build it and worry about how to use it later. Cheaper to build it now rather than later.

 

[bigtiller]

My Dr. turned his unused haymow into a party barn. He has a bar, several tables, pool table, air hockey, pinball machines, etc. He even has a porta-potty just outside the door a few feet.

 

[Doofy]

My Dr. turned his unused haymow into a party barn. He has a bar, several tables, pool table, air hockey, pinball machines, etc. He even has a porta-potty just outside the door a few feet.

Now, there's a thought! Father-in-Law had his woodshop in his. All his equipment could be bolted down instead of being moved and in the way when they were in his garage.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Lofts are cute, but expensive and useless. Build a building you can drive into, for hay, equipment, parts, or shop use.