Converting a house to a barn???

[dave1949]

That's an interesting question you have.

If the house would be usable as a hay shed and stalls without raising the ceiling height, you could keep the corners intact, say 8' of wall on each side of a corner, then replace wall sections by building headers across new openings. The height of the openings would be about the same as for a standard 6'-8" door way. The width of the new openings could be whatever you need up to 10'-12' without risking too much structurally.

It seems like you would have to either cut down the foundation or raise the roof to make it very practical. If you cut down the foundation (assuming a crawlspace) at new wall openings, you would need to bring the outside grade level down also at those points. And make the drainage work. Raising the roof/ceiling height just doesn't seem practical from a cost/effort standpoint.

All in all, it would be more work to make a shed out of it than to fix it up as a house I think. It looks too nice to just tear down, but if you went that way, you could leave the fireplace standing and build a new barn with tack room around it. You may have to add some height to the chimney depending on the new shed design.

Good luck.
Dave.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

I purchased a peice of property a couple years ago that has a 2200 sqft single level brick home on it. The home structurally is sound but it is in need of more repair than I am willing or want to do. I have it listed for $10000 and the buyer moves it but if it does not sell I am wondering can I make it into a barn somehow?
Can the bricks be removed and the walls and floors brought down just leaving a standing roof structure That I can make into stalls and tac room and hey storage?

Thanks
Wade

It doesn't look to be in bad shape, If I may ask, why don't you rehab it and rent it out?
In looking at the pics, most of the repairs would be cosmetic, and probably not all that hard to do, or if you don't want to do it yourself, hire out.
In todays economy, to have a cash flow out of a rental is a
real plus. There are a number of loan programs that address remodeling/rehabbing if you don't have the funds available.

 

[deepNdirt]

It doesn't look to be in bad shape, If I may ask, why don't you rehab it and rent it out?
In looking at the pics, most of the repairs would be cosmetic, and probably not all that hard to do, or if you don't want to do it yourself, hire out.
In todays economy, to have a cash flow out of a rental is a
real plus. There are a number of loan programs that address remodeling/rehabbing if you don't have the funds available.

I know the answer to this, it will be very costly to rip out the drywall down to bare studs in order to remove Mold spores, you will have to use special companies in the Field of removing and desposing of the contaminated materials and who knows what else is lurking inside the walls, could even Lead to termite infestation, I've seen this more then a few times, and actually started into rehab jobs only to find that the houses will have to be condemned and torn down, Yes if you spend enough $$$ you can bring the house back to code but is it worth it, Nope! I can give you 3 people to talk to that thought they could afford to clean it up and restore their houses, but wound up folding about half way through simply because every little thing had to be inspected and approved by environmental inspectors, and there just no satisfying those folks short of demoing the house, Plus the liabilty of renting a house with these kind of issue can be a hole other can of worms... if you think the house has reached this stage then count on having it taken down and deposed of in green plastic bags,
Sorry!

 

[gwjd]

i think your best option would be to sell every peice of cabnatry, trim, and doors that you can plumbing lighting fixtures to, if its ten years old then all that stuff is not made any more nd people will be looking for it some were. after that you prolly have to eat the cost of the roof job you had done.

you could then dismantel the whole thing and re use the foundation in some way to build a real barn.

as to rasing the roof you realisticly need a pro to do that safely, and to acomplish open sides you would need some pretty serious headers, that being said it would prolly be cheaper than a stick built barn due to roof being finished.

a metal building or pole building will be cheaper due to different more eficent matireal use so dont cmpare prices directly

 

[Pops15]

It needs a heating and AC system. All new carpet. It has mold in the walls where the roof was leaking in about 20 different spots. It would take way more to fix it up than what I want to put in it. It is also sounding like there is a lot more to converting it to a barn than I care to do.

We did put a new roof on it which ran about 4500. It has 3 year old storm windows. It has already cost me 5000 in taxes to just sit. Adding all this up is where I arrived at the $10000 price. I am definately negotiable if you know anyone in the south carolina area. ;-)

That house is way too nice to move or convert to a barn. It would be cheaper to build a barn than convert it. You don't have to rip out all of the drywall. Just the areas that are moldy. Some of those may even clean up. Clean it up, fix it up, and rent it. Around here that house (rehabbed) would easily rent for $1500 or more a month. After taxes a couple years of rental income would cover the rehab costs. After that its just a money maker.

That house can be moved, bricks, fireplace and all. It's probably not cost effective to do so. In my area when a house is moved it has to be brought up to current building codes.