Posted 2015-08-02 11:12 PM Subject: Converting barn into house....
Expert
Posts: 1477 Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton
I know I've seen posts on here from people that have done it so wanting opinions and pictures please. We are looking into converting a barn into a house. It's not an old barn. It's maybe 10yrs old if that. Were looking at it just being temporary because eventually we want to build our own house. But at the same time I want it to look good and like it just incase we never get around to building a house. All the inside has been taken out and it's left with a concrete floor 4 walls and a roof. So were starting totally from scratch. We're going to paint/stain the floors. We sorta like the idea of building a loft and using it as a bedroom but I don't think I like the idea of having to go down stairs at 3am to the bathroom. Need ideas of how to make a very large empty room into a home. As well as some good space saving ideas. If anyone has pictures please post :)
Posted 2015-08-02 11:39 PM Subject: RE: Converting barn into house....
"Hottie"
Posts: 1373 Location: Okemah,OK
We lived in a barn apartment for about 5 years before we built a house. We didn't build the apartment but we did have to gut and redo most of it. It was two story, bedroom and large closet upstairs. I wouldn't do that if you have the space to go all on one floor. The building wasn't really tall enough once you added the space between the two floors and so the ceilings were really low. Few tips to avoid mistakes....make sure you have good support walls for the ceiling or upstairs, the plumbing on ours was run between the wall of the apartment and the metal of the barn (lots of blow in insulation but still had trouble with pipes in the winter), be sure there's rebar in the concrete floor (there wasn't in ours and a crack went right thru the living room) & caulk seal and caulk. Basically, it's just not as tight as a house and critters will find their way in.
Posted 2015-08-02 11:50 PM Subject: RE: Converting barn into house....
Expert
Posts: 1477 Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton
I guess it's more of a shop than a barn but it has 20ft ceilling so if we do decide on a loft there's enough room. I would love a loft but I'm clumsy with stairs so imagine me half asleep trying to go down stairs. Because of city building codes any building over a certain size(this one is well over the size) has to be built to withstand at least a Cat3 hurricain. I hate storms and the idea of being in a metal building doesn't make me feel any better but I guess if it's built to withstand a hurricain it's pretty sturdy. Our winters aren't very cold so don't think that would be much of a problem for us.
Posted 2015-08-03 8:49 AM Subject: RE: Converting barn into house....
"Hottie"
Posts: 1373 Location: Okemah,OK
Ours wasn't really a barn either, it was a shop building. II think it's 50x75?? Metal building with concrete floor. There wasn't a door from the outside straight into the house. You walked into the shop and then into the apartment. A couple of other things I'd do different would be the air conditioning / heat. There was an all in one unit on each floor but it vented into the shop. That means condensation /water in the shop so we were always managing that problem. Plus, the windows were awkward. You had to factor in the depth of the beams and so you end up with a really deep / hard to seal window sill. If I was to build one, I'd look at the Morton professional ones and see how they conquered some of those problems. We currently rent out the apartment and that's been nice. But we also have no idea what we're gonna do with it if it ever gets unusable. Lots of tearing out and a dumpster I guess lol
Converting barn into house....
