Bought Land, Tractor and then got Stupid

[cmmac]

Greetings - Here is my story:

About 16 months ago, the wife and I purchased 92ac in the Wake/Durham area of North Carolina. The general purpose was simply to get some dirt for a weekend retreat, but also with longer term retirement house build possibilities.

Of course, a tractor was on the list of must "haves" after buying the property. I went with a Kioti 45SE and have no regrets.

For the record and being a newbie, I did not believe it when people said a tractor would get "stronger" after the break-in period; however, after hitting 60 hours the thing found a whole new gear which is awsome.

Anyway, after putting the tractor through the normal initial paces - I started to get stupid. I was mowing one of my smaller fields and said: "You know this field would really look authentic with an old tobacco barn in it"

Long story short - I looked at buying an old one (there are lots in this area of the country) and then moving/assembling it on my property, but then figured it would be more fun to build one new and try to make it look old(ish).

I will try and post some pictures of my progress as I go. My plan (the stupid part) is to try and build the thing myself. One man vs One building.

Attached Pictures:
Tractor with grapple
Overhead of Property (I own from the star up including the swamp on the right of the picture. The structure will sit in the small field above the star).

 

[cmmac]

The first step in my project was to find a plan or starting point from which to build.

I have no formal construction skills, but figured if I could not build what was essentially a square box, I had no business buying a tractor and land in the first place. ggg

To be honest, I was really excited to see if I could do it by myself. I had grown up listening to stories of how my Grandfather had built his own house and still remember the level of craftmanship that the house still has today.

In looking at shed and barn plans/books, I could never really find what I was looking for and had thoughts of simply "winging" it. This thought quickly went away after talking to the permit folks.

Since my property is not classified as a working farm, I would still need to go through the permit and inspection process (ugh). This would also require me to get a plan set with Engineer Review (More on this later).

Anyway, one afternoon my wife says "what about this?". She had been looking at a Southern Living magazine and saw a plan my an architect named Jason Bigelow.

The rendering looks like the below. I am only building the tower structure and thought with the right siding/etc - It would look like a restored tobacco barn.

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice looking place. I see lots of diversity there with the pastures, woods and you swamp. Should make for a lifetime of projects and adventures!!!

I've never seen a tobacco barn before. Do you have any pics of one? Especially one that will look like the one you want to build?

Eddie

 

[cmmac]

The Permit Process......

In hindsight, I could have handled this part of the process better......

After buying the plan, I quickly learned that in this part of NC you can not just buy a plan and submit a copy to the local permit office.

I also learned that you should not let your wife say "guest house" or "weekend cabin" in the permit office. It took a significant amout of effort for me to get the office to classify it as an Accessory Building after that.

Getting it classified as an Accessory building saves me alot of headaches. (Number of inspections, Insurance Amounts during the build, Etc).

The county would have also wanted me to sub-divide (or survey out) a seperate parcel if it was classified as a dwelling.

Lesson learned - Had I spent 20 minutes researching the facts - I would have submitted the form to get my property classified as a working farm. I could then build whatever I wanted - however I wanted.

In order to get the plans approved, I needed to get the plans reviewed by a structural enginneer and also produce a certified roof plan.

I then also found out that most Engineers turn their noses up at "book bought" plans and want to charge you to redraw/etc. After some time and money, I got what I needed and received permission to build on my property.

That last sentence pisses me off to type - The fact that I had to get permission to build on my property.....

 

[farmboy12]

cmmac-
Welcome to the site! That looks like a nice piece of land. Good luck on the barn!

Eddie: There are lots of tobacco barns in our area, they don't look any different than any other old barn out there.



Kyle

 

[cmmac]

Eddie -

To be honest, you are one of the reasons I decided to try and build this thing myself. After reading and seeing some of your various projects, I started to feel lazy.

I will search the PC for a couple of the older tobacco barn pictures I took when researching this project. The are basically just a small structure used to hang and dry tobacco. They dot the landscape here in NC, but are getting harder and harder to find in good condition. Most of the farmers have switched over to metal buildings/etc.

Funny thing - I actually called the architect of the plan and asked him if he had any advice. I told him what I was wanting to do. He told me it was satifying for him to hear since since the inspiration for his plan was the old tobacco barns he grew up around in NC.

 

[Dmace]

Congrats on the purchases and Welcome to the Pack! Nice looking tractor and property too!

 

[cmmac]

Digging the footings -

After getting plan approval, I started by getting my footings dug out.

This was the first One Man vs One Building decision. I hadn't even started the project yet and I came to the conclusion that I would be better off paying someone to dig the footings.

After doing the layout, I realized that the slope of my field would not let me do a slab foundation. I therefore needed to regroup and go the route of a block foundation. (Hard to see in the picture, but there is a 4 foot grade difference from front to back. I did not want water problems so I opted for block foundation)

I do believe I could have done it myself with a rented backhoe/etc. However, for the small size of the structure it was more efficient to bring in a pro.

He banged it out in a little over an hour. Cost me $300 bucks. Since the $300 bucks got me two hours, I had him dig me a trench for a new culvert across my drive also.

Mistake number 2. Changing the plan (from slab to block crawlspace) after getting approval requires a new engineer stamp. More time - More Money. Not off to the start I was hoping for.....

Pictures of footings with rebar

 

[Double Orange]

CMMAC,
I found your post most interesting. I have a Circa 1700 barn on my farm. With the crib barn attached. Not a single nail in the whole 2 story barn. All hand sawn wood and wood pegged.. Yes All Pegged.
Suppost to snow tonight, I'll get pictures tomorrow if you wish.

Frank

 

[cmmac]

Background -

The structure will be a 16 x 24 two story structure.

It started out simply going to be a fancy shed, but the misses statement of - "It would be cool as a little guest house/cabin" changed everything.

The structure will have a metal roof, porch and a small bathroom.

I am currently fighting the battle of trying to make sure it looks like a restored tobacco barn in my field vs something that is new and was just built.

However, since this is a weekend property - I want to make it low maintenance. (ie - hardi-plank siding, vinyl windows, etc)

I started out with the goal of seeing if I could build it, but the project is quickly growing away from the intial fancy shed idea.