Barn with living quarters

Amelia Farms · Jul 20, 2012

Here is the garage/apartment we are finishing up now. It is 30 x 30. all open downstairs for storage. Upstairs is 2 bedroom/1 bath with open den/kitchen area. We have right at $75k in it, and I did a good bit of the work myself.

EddieWalker · Jul 20, 2012

Thinking about this a lilttle more, be sure to consider what it would cost to just build a house on it's own and a barn on it's own. I'm all for an apartment in a barn, but that would be a very small, simple place to stay short term. Putting anything extra into it to make it nice and comfortable seems like a waste if your long term goal is to have a stand alone house.

Eddie

Dr Dave · Jul 20, 2012

Nice looking garage/appartment, any more pics.

Tororider · Jul 20, 2012

Amelia, that is beautiful. I wouldn't mind seeing more pics too, living space as well.

Eddie, I am tending to agree more and more. Plus now that the wife knows I am serious about this she has indicated she isn't. If we ever buy a vacation or lake lot I will still consider something like this, but for now it will have to be the house first. Thanks for all the great ideas.

Redbug · Jul 20, 2012

Here's a past thread about this same subject...I like the idea, personally. If I were single, that's how I could live.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/199824-pole-barn-house-building.html

shortthrow50 · Jul 20, 2012

Just when you thought you heard it all hahahhahaaha
is how i live

jinman · Jul 21, 2012

EddieWalker said:
Thinking about this a lilttle more, be sure to consider what it would cost to just build a house on it's own and a barn on it's own. I'm all for an apartment in a barn, but that would be a very small, simple place to stay short term. Putting anything extra into it to make it nice and comfortable seems like a waste if your long term goal is to have a stand alone house.

Eddie

I was thinking something similar or close to it. I think Tororider is not considering what a job it will be to have the entire 2nd story of a shop as a living area. I would say that he'll have to make it huge to have enough head space in the shop and still have room for the apartment above. The best solution is to follow what most people do and build a bigger square footage barn/shop and then build living quarters on one end. The living quarters can be two story or a single story with storage above. If it were in our hot weather here in Texas, I'd say keep the living quarters on the first floor for cooling/heating cost savings. There is just no way I'd put my living area completely above my shop. The initial investment and continued costs associated with that seem excessive.

mvwicker · Jul 21, 2012

Ditto on the temperature issues for second story living quarters inside a barn.

There is 20'x40' one-bedroom residence built into one end of my 60'x40' metal barn. The residence is very well insulated all around and the concrete slab keeps is above 40F in winter and below 80F in summer. The barn part is only insulated under the roof and gets below freezing and above 100F. A second-floor residence would be more like that, requiring more heating and cooling effort and expense.

Drawbacks of living on the slab include condensation on the floor in summer (need a dehumidifier, if not A/C) and mouse and insect invasions.

While the metal barn was cheap to build and the residence comes in handy, it is more like a hunting cabin or caretaker's outpost than a house to raise a family in. I'd only do it while building a more normal house dedicated to humans, with a basement, more and bigger windows and porches and stuff. But that's just my opinion.

wedge40 · Jul 21, 2012

Barnplans [Blueprints, Gambrel Roof, Barns, Homes, Garage Workshops, Dormer Window, Cupola] Just to get some idea's.

I'm in Indiana, so I don't know exactly what the local restrictions are, but there is a family up the road that built a real nice garage with living quarters up stairs. He had a wife and two small children and lived in that for about two years. Eventually he built a real nice house that architecturally went with the garage. I also know a some people who built a huge pole barn then took part of it and finished the inside. From the outside it looks like your typical pole barn, but once you get inside the "House" part you'd never know the difference.

Wedge