Remodeling Old Barn and Building New 24x40 Pole Barn

[bobm6996]

A year ago I had a Amish crew put up a 40x80 pole barn for hay and equipment storage. And as I have heard many times a barn will never be BIG enough and that is the case. Good hay year so the barn has a lot of hay in it and now there is no room for the equipment so I can get it out of the weather before winter. The property we bought 3 years ago had a small barn (21x25) with an equal size lean to that was caving in. So, we tore that off, put a new roof on the gable roof portion of the barn and tore all of the old corrugated metal off. Covered with OSB, put in a few windows in and Tyvek'd it then started working on cleaning up the inside, taking it down to the studs and completely re-wiring. The plan was to use it for a woodworking shop, but that plan has changed and will explain later in the post. Now it is going to be a farm type shop to use for working on equipment, would like to start trying my luck at some welding and it will be a nice place to park the 2 Mahindra tractors, the zero turn and other power equipment. The 24x40 new pole barn sits directly behind this barn and will be used to store implements, hay equipment and a trailer or two. And again I can see it will be full before you know it.

We plan to start building our new home on the property next year and hopefully the following year I will be retiring so I can enjoy the new home and all of this new work area along with the property. We plan to build a pole barn style house and the wife came up with the idea of making it big enough that we could have a garage and a good size woodworking shop as well. So, being the good husband I said "Yes, Dear" and inside was working hard to hold back my excitement because now I will have a farm shop, woodworking shop and big garage. It will be great not having to move stuff out or around to work.

I did decide to do all of the barn remodel and the equipment barn myself to try and save a few bucks. Got started this past weekend; poles in the ground, headers and wall girts up and now waiting on the trusses and metal to arrive. Will start taking pictures of the new build and the remodel as soon as possible and post them. Will also be starting a post for the new house build early in the new year.

Looking forward to advice and ideas that the members are always willing to share.

 

[boggen]

pole barn hose with metal sheets for roof and sides. one person near me, noted the rain was LOUD!, another house different construction on inside is a different story. using the hard board insulation on roof, and then the metal sheeting on top of that. and then filling in all the caviets with rolled insulation if memory serves. for garage area upper sides and ceiling using more metal on the inside, lower part plywood for shelving / ability to put hangers on. the living area had an attic above it, more of a storage area.

other words it was a pole barn, but extra care was taken to reduce sound via rain/wind hitting the home.

 

[zzvyb6]

I would never recommend putting a woodworking shop in a house or hay barn. No matter what you do to contain the dust, it will saturate the entire building. You should dedicate a separate building to a woodworking AND welding shop.

All the fellows I know that are serious woodworkers with very powerful dust collectors and air cleaners and static particle filters have the same cough and the dust is even in the walls.

I personally keep my welding area away from my woodshop because of my view (and my insurance company's) that's its a fire and explosion hazard.

Just sayin' ....

 

[mark02tj]

bobm - did you find the Amish crew yourself? I'm about 2 hours from you and am interested in putting up a structure on our property. I had an Amish crew do some storm repair on another house that I co-own with someone else and they did a nice job. But I didn't like the "English" contractor so would rather deal directly with the Amish if I knew how to get ahold of them.

 

[EddieWalker]

I do all my woodworking and welding, and repairs in my attached 24x30 shop with 12 foot walls. I have a 10x10 roll up door that I keep open when working in there most of the time. I've found that I need to turn on my fans at the house side of the wall to blow out the smoke from welding and keep the dust down, but otherwise, it's just the right size for working on a project and storing all my tools. It's really just big enough for one project at a time, otherwise I'm tripping over stuff.

I'm a huge fan of pole type buildings because you can get a huge amount of enclosed storage for such a small amount of money compared to traditional stick framing. You don't need a foundation, you don't need to frame out the walls or deal with load bearing walls.

But if you are going to start from scratch and build a house, it is not the way to go. You will pay for the cost of the pole barn and for the cost of stick framing it so you can have sheetrock walls or whatever you want for walls. Once you factor in the cost of the foundation and framing the walls so you can finish the interior, the cost is now more then if you had just built it like a normal house.

The only real advantage to framing in a pole barn building is if it's already there, or you really want to hide the fact that you are living in it to avoid paying taxes.

Eddie

 

[bobm6996]

mark02tj - I will find the name of builder, they are located in southeast IN if I remember right. Amazing crew, price was right and they built a 40x80x14 in 2.5 days.

 

[bobm6996]

Eddie - thanks for the advice. We have not got into costing yet so we may find just what you stated that it will not be cost effective. My thoughts were centered around not having load bearing walls allowing for more flexibility in the design, higher insulation capability and other considerations such as, a lot more square footage for less construction dollars. As we move forward I definitely will be looking at costs very closely. Would like to just sit down and draw up a set of plans and go build it, but this county wants very detailed blue prints. I might consider finding someone who for a reasonable price could take my drawing and create a set of plans the planning commission will accept.

The other things that matter most are; energy efficient, solar possibilities and other means of saving money on utilities.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

[bobm6996]

zzvyb6 - very good points to consider, I know from using the attached garage in the home we live in now the dust and noise can be a problem. This will not be a shop I will be working in every day, just a place to tinker and make xmas gifts each year and a place to teach the grandkids the fun of woodworking. We are in the very early stages of deciding design, who knows I may get lucky and convince the wife I need another building just for woodworking.

Thanks for your comments

 

[EddieWalker]

When drawing up plans, I like to look at House Plans, Home Plans, Floor Plans and Home Building Designs from the eplans.com House Plans Store | Garage Plans and Blueprints and put what I'm wanting into their search option. I think that just about every room configuration for a given amount of square footage has already been figured out. Start with a plan you like, then modify it to fit your needs and lifestyle. I prefer smaller master bedrooms, bigger showers, lots of storage, minimal hallways and just one dining area and living room.

With a pole barn design, you are very limited in shape because of their rectangular design. While this is the most cost effective shape for a building to be, it's rarely the most attractive or easy to lay out. If you want to maximize your square footage with the least possible cost of the building, look at the floor plans for mobile homes. They are geniuses at figuring out how to get the most out of a rectangular shape of a house.

Be very careful of using your own design for a house. There is a trick to it, both is practical use of the space, and cost to build. Sometimes the most simple design feature can cost thousands or tens of thousands extra, and you don't even realize it. People have posted their designs on here fairly often, and in every case, faults are found with the plan. Some get angry and go away, others try again and come up with a much better plan. Then before building anything, talk to at least five builders and ask for their input on the plan. They should all be able to tell you where you are wasting money, or wanting a feature that is very expensive when other alternatives are available.

I'm in the middle of building a custom cabinet for a client who wanted a certain molding at each of the corners to match what they have in another part of the house. I found what they wanted online and for all of it, the cost for materials was over $400 extra. I told them that I could add a nice detail to the corners of the cabinet with my router for nothing extra and showed them some pics. They liked my idea better. Both in how it will look, and the savings in materials. A good house builder will do the same for you, or at least present you with those options.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[s219]

bobm - did you find the Amish crew yourself? I'm about 2 hours from you and am interested in putting up a structure on our property. I had an Amish crew do some storm repair on another house that I co-own with someone else and they did a nice job. But I didn't like the "English" contractor so would rather deal directly with the Amish if I knew how to get ahold of them.

Check out CHA Polebarns out of Pennsylvania -- it's an Amish business. I believe they do work in Ohio. They put up my barn in May in Virginia, and did an awesome job. Real nice guys and good workers. They cranked it out in just a couple days, and this was wood siding/trim that was labor intensive. If it was metal siding, I bet they would have been done in a day. Price was very reasonable.