Our barn/home - per requests

[jk96]

Tom,

Here's the pics requested. Just to give you a little background, we built the building two years ago on land we purchased about five years back. I needed a bigger building for my business and for extra equipment storage. I'm in the display fireworks business and outgrew my old location. My wife and I also wanted to build a house on the property so we decided to combine the two.

When we built the building, we built bigger than needed and divided the lower level. The entire building is 50' x 200'. Garage/shop on the north end - (50'x75'), office/bathrooms/kitchen area in the center (50'x25'), rental hall on the south end (50' x 100'). House is all on one upper level (45' x 50').

I use the garage/shop year round and we rent out the south end (rental hall) on the weekends for parties, wedding receptions, etc. It's worked out great for us. I have a large shop year round, a larger shop if needed when the halls not booked, and a house on the upstairs. The best part is the rentals so far have been enough to make the payments.

Hopefully the pics will make sense of some of this, I don't have my drawing any more from when I designed the floorplans.

Outside pic of building and pic of land
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Building-View.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Land-Panoramic.jpg

Shop/Garage (north end of building) - you can see it's been neglected lately. The upper level is the south end of the house.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Shop-Side.jpg

Hallway leads to bathrooms/office/etc located under the house and to the rental hall (south end).
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Hallway.jpg

Rental Hall - (south end) - currently building a shed here - next rental is end of the month.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Hall-View.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Hall-View2.jpg

House on upper level
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Kitchen1.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Living-Room2.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Rec-Room.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Dining-Room.jpg

Just finished painting and adding cedar panelling as well as wraping the window in the laundry room
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Laundry-Room.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Laundry-Room-Window.jpg

My proudest acheivement - outside deck.
I built this last year, before we had a suicide step out the front door. I had never built a deck before and didn't have a whole lot of contruction knowledge. Bought a how to book and went to work. Took me forever though.
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Deck.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/Deck2.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q263/jk96/View-from-Deck--Living-Roo.jpg

Sorry for so many pics, I got a little carried away.

jk

 

[Timber]

That is quite a place. When I was a kid my Buddy's dad bought an old railroad warehouse. 3 story building on pylons 4 feet off the ground. He build a 6 bedroom house on the 1st floor and it took up about 1/3rd of that floor. The building was so big we could ride are bikes around on the 2nd when it was raining. It was the coolest home I can remember. You place is incredible. Good luck and that was a great idea

 

[Volfandt]

I like it. Looks very nice.
Back in the day. before we built our traditional house, I tried to talk the Mrs into doing a building similar to yours but I would have never thought about making some $$$'s by renting out part of it. Good idea.
My idea was to have 3 or 4 drive through bays with overhead doors on both sides, one w/a drive over pit and another with a lift. I also wanted ample space to stow my toys and long term projects
Unfortunately, that was the 1st of many decisions I've lost
I do have a 1200sq ft shop though

Bet that was a job getting all those ceiling tiles in
I like the finish of the floor also.

I used to make up 100', 200' & 300' 25pr cables with male/female amphenol ends for a local fireworks display company based in Lafollette, TN. Back then they were called Pyro Shows. They do shows all over the south.

One good thing about this forum, there ain't a such thing as too many pics

 

[jk96]

Timber and Volf, thanks for the comments. I have a 1 year old and 2-1/2 year old. My 2-1/2 year old already takes advantage of the downstairs with his battery powered john deer gater. Kinda hard for me to tell him its too cold outside.

It's funny you mentioned the ceiling tiles. When we built the place, I had a friend that was remodeling a library. They were tossing all of the florecent fixtures and ceiling tile. I salvaged enough fixtures and tile for the whole place. BIG MISTAKE. After our ceiling guy put in the tile, the variations in color of the old tile became obvious since they were no longer in the same pattern. I ended up taking all the tiles out myself and replacing them with new tiles so I didn't have to pay the labor on it twice. It was a chore.

As for the fixtures, when my electrician installed them, several no longer worked after the reinstalling them in my place and several others have since shot craps. Labor for an electrician isn't cheap. I'm not sure I came out much ahead on this either. Guess that's what I get for trying to save a buck.

 

[Bird]

I had told my wife a long time ago that I always thought I'd like a big steel building with living quarters in one end and garage/shop in the other end, but I had in mind a single story (with the exception of possibly some upstairs storage) about half the size of your place. I would think your place is a "one of a kind" and I'd really like it myself, except that as I get older, I don't think I want a two story or upstairs anymore for myself. I've seen too many old folks who can't get to the upstairs part of their home anymore.

 

[jk96]

Hey Bird,

thanks for the comments. I'll turn 29 in a few days so right now the stairs aren't much of a concern for us. Hopefully by the time they become a problem I'll have my log cabin on a secluded lake I've always dreamed of. One thing about the upper level is that we have a great view from the living room and deck. One of the hardest parts of building is the fact that you only have two walls for windows. With the floor layout, it worked out pretty good. The only rooms that don't have a window is our daughters room and the bathrooms. I'd like to add a skylight to her room this summer.

jk

 

[Bird]

Yep, jk, when I was your age, I didn't mind those stairs at all. But the skylight is another idea that I'd avoid personally, although it's probably not a bad idea. I've never wanted any more "holes" in the roof than absolutely necessary because I figure each one is just another potential rain leak or hail damage. We have a daughter who has a skylight in a bathroom that has no window. She had to have the place re-roofed after a hailstorm a few years ago. The hail didn't break the skylight, but the roofers did, and after the roofing job, the roofers came back 4 or 5 times before they got the roof to quit leaking, by which time there was enough water damage that they had to do some extensive repairs.

I've also had salesmen try to sell me cars with "sun roof" or "moon roof" at extra cost and I always told them I'd pay a lot more for a car without a hole in the roof than I'd pay for one with the hole in the roof.

 

[tallyho8]

Do you store your fireworks in this building also?

 

[jk96]

Good point Bird,

I'll definately consider it. I guess most of her time won't be spent there anyway. Now if I can convince my wife and use the "money we saved" (seems to be her line anytime she buys something on sale that we didn't need in the first place) to buy my tooth bucket I've been wanting.

 

[jk96]

Tally,

No, just the equipment. All of our product is 1.3g explosive for professional use. We have to store in ATF approved magazines. I wouldn't like the idea of living on top of a powder keg anyway.