Barns with Living Quarters

[B&B]

I have convinced my wife that we should move to the country, and build a 40x60 barn with living quarters on one end of the barn. She wants at least the front to look somewhat like a house with a porch, the reason for not building a new home is, about 10 yrs we will inherit a large ranch home and land, therefore we do not want to build on our land and have a home we have to sell, and let someone other than family live on our farm land. Does anyone has a suggestions, or previous experiences with building a barn with living quarters. I will very thankful for all suggestions.

Thanks,
B&B
Fairfield, Texas

 

[MikeD74T]

5 years ago a local contractor sold his business to retire & expand his wife's horse interests. They bought 45 acres of bare land (no buildings, some woods ,some fields) and sold their 5 acres & home. They build a 40x80 gambrel barn with living quarters on 1/2 of the second floor until they had time to build a new house. They've since built an arena and abandoned the house idea. The living quarters are very high end as is the center front section of the barn which contains lobby & office space. Just because your house is in the barn doesn't mean you have to live in the barn.
Barn sits centered on a slight rise at the back of a 7 acre fenced pasture facing the road. The front center section is a gambrel dormer with a balcony. Also has a large cupola with a brass chandoleer that can be seen from the road 800' away. Very nice looking property. MikeD74T

 

[MikeD74T]

On the other end of the scale, Farm Show had an article where someone built a 30 X 70 building 16' high, pulled in an older used mobile home, jacked it up to the second floor level & supported it with beams & posts. They parked vehicles & equipment under the mobile home. The rest of the barn was for hay, not livestock. MH could be easily removed when no longer needed. MikeD74T

 

[EddieWalker]

I built a small living quarters on a shop when I got divorced. It was a little over 400 sq ft of living area, and kind of cozey. For what it was, I was happy with it, but it was kind of crowded when Steph and the kids came over while we were dating.

My current home started out as a shop with a livng quarters on it. It evovled into the shop with a small 3/2 home. Nothing fancy, just 1,000 sq ft of living area that we're very comfortable in. We want to build our dream house next to it sometime in the future, but we're not in a rush as this has worked out very well.

This is the thread on my current home.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/56621-creating-workshop-home.html

This is the thread on the barn, then if you read through it, you will see where I built the living quarters.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/33401-my-container-barn.html?highlight=container+barn

I know it's not what you asked for, but maybe close enough to give you some ideas.

Eddie

 

[tallyho8]

How about just pulling in a double wide to live in till you move again then move the double wide out.

It seems like a combo barn-house would be a nightmare to insure and possibly taxed higher than a home and barn separated. Some utility companies even charge higher rates when connecting to a barn first instead of a home.

 

[drssg]

When we looked into it, the banks weren't interested in financing that sort of thing. There are also insurance concerns, since a fire in your barn will also burn your house down.

I know people who have done it, and are quite happy with it, but they have enough money that they weren't concerned about these things. Often times, the barn help ends up living in the barn apartment. So they get a place to live as part of their salary.

 

[schmism]

we had seriously considered building a barn and living in the "loft".... after discussing plans it became clear that it would be easyer to build the front half of a 30x60 barn into an apartment.

we had plans drawn up and were going through the offical bid process before we came to the conclusion that it was going to be to expensive.

we settled on finding a used single wide trailer (easyer to move) for $16K, and purches it and set it in aprox the same location as the barn would have been.

In hindsite we are happy we chose this route as it was much cheeper, quicker, and allows us to re-sell the trailer in a few years once we have the "big house" built. (or in your case the farm is yours)

If your woundering, yes living in a $16K house is exactly what it sounds like. everything is cheep, crappy stuff. But its great to lay in bed and think i have no house payment either...

 

[Jimbrown]

Barn belongs to my cousin 40x40 (I think) steel building with apt inside. Click for larger.

 

[hudr]

I have been living in the barn we built since 1999. Our original plan was to stay there for 5 years. We built a 60x40 barn and put 800 sq ft of "apartment" in one end.
Well, there are now 5 of us living in about 1300 sq ft. We added on 2 bedrooms, a laundry room and another bath inside the shop a couple of years ago. Its a little cramped, but it and the 55 acres we built on are REAL close to being paid for. There are several things we would do different (hindsight is 20/20). Especially if we knew we were going to be in longer than our original 5 year plan.
Like I say, w/ 5 of us in there its definitely cozy, but no matter how I figured it, my wife and I were just not going to be able to get that apartment we were renting paid off.

 

[bigtiller]

I have convinced my wife that we should move to the country, and build a 40x60 barn with living quarters on one end of the barn. She wants at least the front to look somewhat like a house with a porch, the reason for not building a new home is, about 10 yrs we will inherit a large ranch home and land, therefore we do not want to build on our land and have a home we have to sell, and let someone other than family live on our farm land. Does anyone has a suggestions, or previous experiences with building a barn with living quarters. I will very thankful for all suggestions.

Thanks,
B&B
Fairfield, Texas

What a tight wad! Spend your own money now and enjoy live rather than wishing for your love ones to die sooner rather than later. Besides, they may just give the church your share of the inheritance.

 

[MossRoad]

What a tight wad! Spend your own money now and enjoy live rather than wishing for your love ones to die sooner rather than later. Besides, they may just give the church your share of the inheritance.

You ever think maybe his folks are gonna retire in 10 years and move somewhere else and give him the place? Hmm? Don't jump to snap judgements.

It sounds like a great plan.

 

[bigtiller]

You ever think maybe his folks are gonna retire in 10 years and move somewhere else and give him the place? Hmm? Don't jump to snap judgements.

It sounds like a great plan.

woops, my bad. next time i will think before talking.

 

[Rara Avis]

You ever think maybe his folks are gonna retire in 10 years and move somewhere else and give him the place? Hmm? Don't jump to snap judgements.

It sounds like a great plan.

What if the parents plans change...sounds a little like Great Expectations...

 

[PaulieD]

I have convinced my wife that we should move to the country, and build a 40x60 barn with living quarters on one end of the barn. She wants at least the front to look somewhat like a house with a porch, the reason for not building a new home is, about 10 yrs we will inherit a large ranch home and land, therefore we do not want to build on our land and have a home we have to sell, and let someone other than family live on our farm land. Does anyone has a suggestions, or previous experiences with building a barn with living quarters. I will very thankful for all suggestions.

Thanks,
B&B
Fairfield, Texas

I'm attaching a link to a CountryByNet thread. One of the barn/home combinations that they discuss appears to be a house over barn design, but there is also a discussion and some pictures of a 40X60 metal barn with a side apartment.

Paul

CountryByNet.com Forums :: Advice on Barn / House

 

[quicksandfarmer]

In my town, agricultural buildings are exempt from zoning and building codes. There was a case recently where a family was denied permission to build a house on a parcel of land, so they built a building that was stables on the bottom and residential on the second floor. The town ended up taking the family to court, but the family prevailed.

The kicker is they have no horses, never had.

 

[Tororider]

My sister-in-law and future brother-in-law are hoping to build a barn/house combo. Does anyone know of any websites that have plans for this type of thing? Thanks

 

[Rara Avis]

Barn Plans - Blueprints, Gambrel Roof, Barns, Homes, Garage Workshops, Dormer Window, Cupola

Barn Plans, Stable Designs, Building Plans For Horse Housing - StableWise

The real high priced stuff...

.::Barn Pros::. Traditional, Wood Horse Barn Kit Packages

 

[300UGUY]

What if the parents plans change...sounds a little like Great Expectations...

I know a guy who was a multi millionaire, he had 4 kids. None of the kids did very well financially, but didn't worry too much. When the guy was in his 70's, his kids were in their 40's to maybe 50. Then the mother died. Dad waited less than a year, and married a 40 yr old bombshell. I mean drop dead gorgeous. Last I heard, the guy was in his 80's, enjoying his new life, and his kids had all gotten real jobs. Didn't do much for family unity....

More to the point, it is hard to get permits for putting living quarters in a barn, especially a pole barn. On the other hand, some folks have done it, but resale value might not be much. And your neighbor's might turn you in to the building department.

 

[Redneck in training]

We have done it. We build a Morton 48X90 barn and converted it to a house. To get a mortgage was the biggest problem. We got only 60% of the budget and ended up spending all of our savings and profit from sale of our previous home. Outside is (purposely)unassuming but inside it is somewhat upscale. We have geothermal floor heating, AC, maple or tile floors, marble baths, 13 ft vaulted ceiling etc all built for about 85-90 USD/sqft. The cost includes .75 ac pond and about 1000 ft of driveway. We did a lot of work ourselves. We had no formal plans. Just few scetches so we could place plumbing in the floor. Morton built the shell and concrete floor. We finished the rest. The living quarters are about 2400 sgft, garage 1800, the balance is porch, part of the porch has heated floor for the case we would enclose it and made it to additional space such as winter greenhouse.

Would we do it not knowing what it takes? Yes.
Would we do it again? NO Well yes if somebody makes us at least 20 years younger. It was fun project.

We were allowed to accumulate vacation at work so I took only one week/per year for several years. The when we started finishing the house I took four months of vacation. We lived all summer in the garage and worked 12 - 16hours/ day seven days a week. We had few celebrations during the process. First toilet and shower in operation and when we put a bed to our first partially finished bedroom.

 

[okclumberjack]

In 2006 had a Insulated 40x50 metal bldg built 30,000$ could have done cheaper but I usually don't, built a 675sq. ft apt on one side of it 20,000$ could have cheaper but once again didn't, the apt is Complete with central heat& air, kit,w&d , bathroom & also insulated total electric, Have a disabled older brother that lives with me were close but usually alot closer when were not under the same roof so he gives me 100$ month rent he spends average 100 month on electric & were both pretty happy & i have a 1375 sq ft shop(yea) the bldg was more expensive due to insulation, higher pitched roof with gutters, extra lg overhead 2 residential doors 1 for shop & 1 for apt & 3 windows in the apt, the apt expenses were insulation AGAIN, quality central heat & air, engineered ceiling joist( i ahve all the space above the apt for storage very very sturdy) I got this Idea from someone who was going to have to put there dad in a nursing home for 25000$/year that was a dump & pretty sad. so dad said take my 100,000 dollars & build that shop you always wanted & build me a apt, dad lived 8 more years probally wouldn't have lasted a year in the 25,000 dump. very pleased with what i have the apt is very efficient/functional & from the inside you wouldn't know you were in a metal bldg, but besides the building looks pretty sharp. live on the out skirts of OKC could maybe send pics if I could learn how or could over my phone.