Barn size and related questions

[npaden]

Okay, I've about decided on getting a 30' X 40' steel building put up. I've been quoted $12,150 for it with a 4" slab, overhead door, 1 entry door and a window and 12' tall walls.

What is going to go in the building is my Kubota L4200, 2 - Suzuki 250cc ATV's, Yamaha FZR 1000 Motorcycle, 46" Murray riding lawnmower, 1 push lawnmower plus my tools, a small welder and hopefully enough room to have a nice workshop area that I can start adding things like a table saw, drill press, etc. down the road.

I'm trying to decide if I want to have another 12 or 16 foot lean too put on the side of it to put my rotary mower, blade, maybe 12' and 16' trailers, etc. out of the worst weather but not take up space inside the building. I've thought about having the roof on the lean too part shorter than the rest to give it a little more protection. The price for adding the lean too on the side is pretty high compared to the price of the building overall, about $3,000 without cement. This is in West Texas where the sun is the worst part of the weather for equipment sitting outside. We get some rain but overall equipment left outside usually doesn't rust up, but tires and paint get to cracking from the sun fairly quickly.

I'm trying to make up my mind on this and would appreciate any thoughts or input.

Thanks, Nathan

 

[DUMBDOG]

Just make your steel building longer. You will find that the square foot price will be less than the original building as the end walls are already priced in. The only thing is that you will be cementing this also so that price will add to the project.

It is always wise to build the building twice as large as you thought as you will run out of room sooner than you think. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

 

[wushaw]

Your shop space in a 30X40 building is going to get real small quickly when you start putting all your equipment in there.
I have a 50X40 with a 15' lean to on the 50' side that I park all my equipment under except for the BH.
The equipment gets dusty but it keeps the sun and direct rain off.
My initial building size was 40X40 and I am sure glad I went 10' longer.

 

[Oleozz]

My steel pole barn is 30 by 40 and if I had it to do over I would have gone much bigger, you'll be surprised at how fast they fill up. Be sure they put a big entry door on for you so you have room to manuever when going in and out.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Well, by the definition of a storage barn, it is too small. They are always too small. Equipment inventory expands to fill all available space -- plus just enough more to annoy you and make you think you should have made the barn just a little bigger. This is an evil thought. It is a temptation. If you make your barn ten feet longer, it will not change the result, just the amount of stuff it takes to over fill it, and it's harder to get to the stuff at the back.

All this is to say, build the largest one you can reasonably build. (And by the way, did I mention it will still be too small?).

Cliff

 

[daTeacha]

Make the building longer, but don't cement the whole thing. You can simply gravel the extra. Better yet, just concrete where you plan to put the wood shop. Heck, my FIL had a 60 x 80 with just a 20 x 20 corner paved where his shop was. The rest of it was fine driveway gravel. When he had a family gathering he just rolled the gravel level and it was great. What you save on concrete will pay for the extra length. If you just have to have a hard floor, use crusher run and have them run a vibrating roller over it. The stuff is amazingly resistant to tearing up.

My FIL used a scissors style truss and he hung a second floor over the shop area. He had dual sliding doors on the end and in the side plus a walk-in door to the shop area.

 

[BadDog]

I have a 60x60 post&beam barn w/ a 20x60 loft.

It was built 6 years ago. It is fully used now:
4 bay garage
Workshop (lots of bench tools)
Several workbenches in garage (one for tractor, one for car&truck, one for woodwork, a few just for tools and small item storage)
Usually 2-300 bales of hay in loft, and all kinds of other 'stuff'
4 horse stalls
Wash Stall
Large center aisle for grooming and horses to stretch legs when it's really cold outside
Everything has 12" cement floors except horse stalls, which are limestone w/ rubber mats

All this, and I still had to put the 2 small garden tractors, garden tools and pool equipment in a separate building.

The point is, no matter what you do, you will grow into it and you'll eventually need even more space. Just make sure you have somewhere to build out or add on and you'll be fine.

 

[rambler]

Put the money into building it bigger. You'll add the lean-to in 4 years when it gets full. Then in 4 years, you'll be looking for where to put the workshop building, because you can't get any tools in this one.

30x40 will fill up real fast. Put the lean-to money into your main building.

--->Paul

 

[hunterridgefarm]

I agree the 30x40 will fill up real fast. To get a feel for how fast; get some landscape paint and spray the dimensions of the building out on the ground. Don't paint where your overhead door is; now park all your equipment inside the painted outline and see if it is big enough. This gives you a good perspective of the size.

I have done this with barns and outbuildings and it really helps, especally if your can put your equipment in the painted area. And if you are going to have a work shop in the building be sure to spray the outline of your shelves or work tables. You can also check the ease of moving the equipment around in relation to your door location.

 

[JimWalch]

I’ll pass along what my Dad told me 28 years ago. When I told him that I didn’t think my 30’ x 36’ “extra” garage I built was big enough, he said, “When you get around to building it big enough you won’t need it any more”. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif