[SlowLerner]

I need to build and am looking at a barndominium. The main factors are cheaper cost of building, less maintenance as years go by, and lower taxes.



I've found a couple of places locally that build and I'll be asking them questions, but does anybody here have any general advice? I've never really looked at barndos.


Thanks.

 

[ChuckTin]

Insulate! A bad barndominium would be like living in a tin can.

 

[SlowLerner]

Yes. Thanks. Spray on foam insulation is popular around here (Texas). I'm also thinking of a back-to-front garage on the west side, which gets hot in the afternoon. A bay door on each end to help vent air through the garage.

 

[mark sr]

I painted a barn/house for a carpenter friend of mine. The original plan was to have an apartment in the loft with room for the cows and equipment below but he got married before he finished and 1/3 of the bottom also became living quarters. In the end the livestock got evicted from the barn.


I know of a couple of barns that were converted to houses, not sure there is any less maintenance. Spray foam insulation is great ..... except for the initial cost.

 

[Old Thomas]

It still needs to meet all the code requirements for a residence, including fire separation of the dwelling from the barn part. Our town bases the assessed valuation on whether it is new or old construction (1940ish cutoff) and square footage, with a multiplier if it is lake front or somehow more desirable, so taxes would be the same. Maybe yours is different.
I have a small studio apartment in a fairly new barn at my farm, about an hour from home. I stay there occasionally overnight and it is comfortable.

If you can build it cheaper than a conventional house, and it is worth less than a conventional house when it is done, I don't see any harm in doing it. That is, other than having a mate who doesn't want to live in a barn.

 

[SlowLerner]

I wish I had a barn to convert but I don't. Going to put the building up from scratch. That will mean a caliche pad, then a slab, then the shell over the metal trusses. Framed inside with traditional lumber, then drywall and so on. New construction but of a less valuable type for tax purposes.