Barndominium/Shop or "real" House?

[zzvyb6]

OK, here's my 2 cents. "Experience is a good & hard teacher".

Build the shop first. You need extra height for that vehicle lift. Infrared heat works pretty good in a shop environment.

Then build the house. The shop should be large enough to store the home's intermediate building materials. Put a camper in it if you want to stay there occasionally to protect your assets.

Your shop will probably have fuel(s), vehicles, welders, gases, a loud compressor, saws, tools, sand blaster, and a tire changer. Not a good idea to keep the flammables and vehicle operations in or near your home, especially if loved ones live there too. Some projects are best performed while you are alone with no-one else interrupting or interfering with the occasional mechanical disasters, oopses, and blunders. Trust me...

 

[ETD66SS]

OK, here's my 2 cents. "Experience is a good & hard teacher".

Build the shop first. You need extra height for that vehicle lift. Infrared heat works pretty good in a shop environment.

Then build the house. The shop should be large enough to store the home's intermediate building materials. Put a camper in it if you want to stay there occasionally to protect your assets.

Your shop will probably have fuel(s), vehicles, welders, gases, a loud compressor, saws, tools, sand blaster, and a tire changer. Not a good idea to keep the flammables and vehicle operations in or near your home, especially if loved ones live there too. Some projects are best performed while you are alone with no-one else interrupting or interfering with the occasional mechanical disasters, oopses, and blunders. Trust me...

This was my plan for this lot all along. But in 2021 the town passed a bylaw that does not allow me to build a barn first, has to be a residence, then a barn. My land is zoned RR (Rural Residential) and is classed as abandoned AG, yet, still can't build a barn first. Welcome to NY!

 

[turbo36]

This was my plan for this lot all along. But in 2021 the town passed a bylaw that does not allow me to build a barn first, has to be a residence, then a barn. My land is zoned RR (Rural Residential) and is classed as abandoned AG, yet, still can't build a barn first. Welcome to NY!

We have similar zoning where I am at, I ended up buying a dilapidated house just so I could build a pole barn behind it. I should’ve just parked a dilapidated mobile home as it would’ve counted the same.

 

[hcallaway]

I have not done what you are planning on doing to that level. I did build a pole barn and living quarters inside. Had a permit for the garage and finished it out as I wanted. Never an issue. Lucky a garage first w/o a house was an option. Approximately 40 x 60. Friend liked it so much he bought it and then we built a 60 x 100 with a mezzanine to view his car collection. The home we built 7 years ago is ranch style 1800’ (oversized garage) and a large detached garage with a second floor, including 3 4 post lifts. It has been the best arrangement for me so far. I will enjoy watching.

 

[ovrszd]

It's not a footing. The footing is at the bottom. He's gonna need the same footing for a crawl space or a basement wall. The only additional expense is a deeper hole, the 18 additional yards of concrete, twice as much rebar, and taller forms. The labor is the same.

Moss, you are simply wrong. And I know where a footing is.

 

[MossRoad]

Moss, you are simply wrong. And I know where a footing is.

You keep saying I'm wrong. All he'd have to do is add 5' of additional wall around the perimeter. That's it. We're gonna end up hijacking his thread, so I'll bow out.

 

[ovrszd]

You keep saying I'm wrong. All he'd have to do is add 5' of additional wall around the perimeter. That's it. We're gonna end up hijacking his thread, so I'll bow out.

No floor?

 

[MossRoad]

 

[Paystar]

While the thought of a barndominium is appealing at first, and not to be negative, these are just the thoughts I've had on the subject over the years...

- I would not want a shop attached to my home. There's a small, but real risk of fire, fumes, carbon monoxide, etc. I don't and won't have an attached garage for the same reason. At the most, I'd have a breezeway between them to keep the rain off bringing in the groceries.

- Speaking of bringing in the groceries, I would not make my retirement home a place where I had to climb stairs. While I'm currently fit and able, a 1st story master, kitchen, bathroom, living room, are all necessities.

- If you ever have a birthday or holiday celebration, all guests will be required to climb stairs to get to it. May not apply to you, but we have family and/or friends over at least every week. My mother in-law cannot climb stairs very well.

- At the very least, make provisions for an elevator if you go with 2nd floor only living. When you're 80-90 or even if you're young with an injury, you won't regret it.

Anyhow, good luck with your decision making process. It's an exciting time.

My thoughts exactly! I've seen too many vehicles burn from a battery shorting out, or from bad winch contactors on ATV's.
If you do put living quarters in your shop/garage make sure you have a good fire detection and escape plan in place.

 

[ETD66SS]

When the ICF estimate came back so high, I did start working on a stripped down stick frame version:

Poured foundation walls, 8ft 1st story walls instead of 9ft. Just a parking garage, no car lift, so "normal" 4" slab. 18-12 pitch on the faux a-frame as opposed to 24-12, no natural stone veneer, etc.

If the ICF estimate comes in still too high this time maybe I'll revisit this version.

 

[ovrszd]

When the ICF estimate came back so high, I did start working on a stripped down stick frame version:

View attachment 783307


Poured foundation walls, 8ft 1st story walls instead of 9ft. Just a parking garage, no car lift, so "normal" 4" slab. 18-12 pitch on the faux a-frame as opposed to 24-12, no natural stone veneer, etc.

If the ICF estimate comes in still too high this time maybe I'll revisit this version.

Love the drawings. Wish you were our next door neighbor when wife was trying to figure out our floorplan. She would have baked you a great batch of cookies for your designs.

 

[ovrszd]

Also wanted to mention your cost estimates earlier. $460 p/sqft!!!!! The amazing part is there are people who will actually pay that much!!!!

 

[ETD66SS]

Also wanted to mention your cost estimates earlier. $460 p/sqft!!!!! The amazing part is there are people who will actually pay that much!!!!

Yep, it's why I am having a hard time finding a builder. People will just "pay" it, with a mortgage for the rest of their lives. I'm trying to build without a mortgage.

 

[LouNY]

I like your ideas, and I will agree with all the others about stairs.
Have you considered a steel frame building with the "house" on the grade level in the front corner or side of the building.
It doesn't need to be age that makes stairs a problem. A simple broken leg or ankle can make stairs almost unusable.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

What my Brother did. Build a shop with a restroom. Put RV next to it and hook up the water and power. Build a “Lounge Area” at the end of the shop with the office/restroom/break room. Living space which isn’t.

Use the shop as storage and assemblies area during the build of the house. Set up the wood shop, so you have tablesaw jointer, etc. to build cabinets and make your own trim. Storage for materials, etc. If your tractor has forks, you can take pretty large deliveries, and then move them from your storage/shop to the new house as needed.

 

[MGP4506]

So, been wanting to build at a lot that I have owned for nearly 20 years now. I think I am finally in a position to do so, albeit at the worst time to build... That's my luck.

I have attached my shop/living space design. Talked to various residential and post frame builders. Many of them suggest bookshelf framing the garage and upper living space portion of the structure. Most of them recommend sheathing the garage and living space walls with 7/16" OSB and the living space roof with 5/8" OSB before the steel siding and roofing is installed. One of the builders thinks that's just a waste of money and that the steel provides the anti-racking for wind loads just fine. Thoughts? Will drywall in the living space be subject to more cracking without the sheathing?

The 10 X 12 OH door bay will be for a 2 post asymmetric truck lift. The 14 X 14 sheet roll doors will be in a 48 X 48 area where I'd like to have a 5-7 ton bridge crane someday. Want to go with sheet roll doors to make sure the doors do not interfere with the future shop crane.

The living space is minimal, per the municipality, I cannot go under 900 sq-ft living space, this design ends up at around 990 sq-ft.

I have also attached an ICF design as the "real" house option. Both designs are of my own making, but RA's have looked at both and they will be stamped, which is required in my area.

One of the builders is looking at both of these designs and will be pricing out the builds for me. (For either design I will be helping with labor wherever I can digging my own trenches, etc, but I do have a fulltime job) If they are similar in cost, what would you build? This would be my final residence, so the decision is a life decision...

I really want a shop ASAP because I am almost 50 years old and sick of working on my equipment outside in the weather.

At the same time, a "real" house would be nice as opposed to living in a barn. Not to mention it is an upper story with stairs that I will have to deal with the rest of my life.

If I were to build the ICF house, that puts out my shop probably at least another 5 years.

The ICF house design has a decent garage and will have provisions in the floor for the asymmetric truck lift. So I will have somewhat of a shop to tide me over until I put up a larger structure for working on my equipment. (Not an contractor of any sort, equipment is personal/hobby stuff).

i looked at a barndominium for the house I am building. I liked the time frame the shell could be done. It was more expensive than I thought because it would have been a Mortan build which is great quality. However, it was shot down by my area's building codes because of how close to the 100-year flood plane it would have been so I had to go with a stick built house.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

When the ICF estimate came back so high, I did start working on a stripped down stick frame version:

View attachment 783307


Poured foundation walls, 8ft 1st story walls instead of 9ft. Just a parking garage, no car lift, so "normal" 4" slab. 18-12 pitch on the faux a-frame as opposed to 24-12, no natural stone veneer, etc.

If the ICF estimate comes in still too high this time maybe I'll revisit this version.

Have you looked into Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)? If you have a contractor they go up really fast, and you are dried in shortly after that. You don’t have to hunt down framing crews, and then insulators. Biggest issue is if your electricians and plumbers haven’t built with, their quotes will be high.

 

[ovrszd]

Yep, it's why I am having a hard time finding a builder. People will just "pay" it, with a mortgage for the rest of their lives. I'm trying to build without a mortgage.

We were as conservative as we could be and still went over budget by $80K on a $300K build. We lived like paupers for 18 months and paid it off. We wouldn't have been able to build in today's cost market.....

We were very Blessed. Our builders are family. One is our Nephew. One is married to our Niece. They helped us every step of the way. Showing us ways to cut costs with little effect on usability of the house. Also showing us things to not cut corners on such as insulation, windows, doors, etc.

 

[ovrszd]

What my Brother did. Build a shop with a restroom. Put RV next to it and hook up the water and power. Build a “Lounge Area” at the end of the shop with the office/restroom/break room. Living space which isn’t.

Use the shop as storage and assemblies area during the build of the house. Set up the wood shop, so you have tablesaw jointer, etc. to build cabinets and make your own trim. Storage for materials, etc. If your tractor has forks, you can take pretty large deliveries, and then move them from your storage/shop to the new house as needed.

We were fortunate to not have restrictions on what we did. So we built our shop first. Stored materials. The crew even used it to have their breaks during the day and eat their lunch. They built our house thru the Winter. Heated shop was a Blessing for them.

 

[5030]

Keep my RV in the tractor shop in the winter, plugged in so I have hot coffee and a place to sit. I would never consider a barndo just for the fire hazard issue.