- Joined
- Feb 12, 2020
- Messages
- 3,693
I'll have to take some pics of the current state of my barn, but it was a massive wooden barn that was destroyed by a dead tree owned by the timber company. It fell over my fence and on the roof of my barn right in the middle. We consulted some tree removal people and they said they couldn't reach it with their equipment to remove it. Estimate to tear down and replace or to try to fix it was $50k. Insurance didn't even cover 1/4 of that & they canceled right after for bogus reasons.
The roof ridge caved and more of the barn is falling down. We'd hoped it would stay up. It's not really safe for anyone to go in and try to reinforce it & the cows are wary of it but it's their only main shelter from the weather. So, I want to get a new barn built. It won't be anywhere near the size of the old barn, but I want something decently sized for the cows so they can take shelter during the rain. I'm not expecting massive winter storms like this year, but I want to be prepared just in case.
I looked at some options on the lot at Hayco Buildings and tried to ask about modifications and upgrades but the owner said he didn't know offhand. He'd have to ask the companies who make the stuff. I've ruled out wood because they have to be prefabbed with flooring and transported-- and my roads get too narrow. I've decided I want an American Steel Carports structure. Ideally I wanted to build my own, but at the rate I'm going on my other projects, the cows would die of old age before I got something built. As a bonus, the official site for ASC has a design tool.
While on site, I saw a barn I liked (except it had a plywood floor and doorway was only 6' so my cow would hit her horns on it). So, I wanted something taller but not too tall-- since I need to be able to reach the pull-down door. I saw some of the structures had "storage" buildings with a sort of porch overhang. Most of those had a very small building with long covering since it was designed as a car port with small storage (which would actually be great). I wanted a larger building with a small porch. I also saw some of the buildings had a "lean to" part. Some of the advertisement images showed things being stored in the lean-to area and on my way to the place I saw one of their buildings in a yard that had rolls of hay stored under the lean to.
I came up with a very crappy not-to-scale sketch of the barn idea.
I forgot to have the lean-to set back in the drawing but I also started thinking it would look better if it went all the way to the front. The design tool's minimum width for a lean-to was 8'.
Anyway, after playing around I came up with something where the closed in building is 12'W x 16'L x 10'H. Door is 6'W x 7'H. Porch is 20'W x 4'L x 10'H. Lean to is 8'W x 20'L x 8'H (that was the height that made it line up with the end of the main part. Roof pitch 3/12. I chose 12 gauge steel. I played around with some of the options to seal off sides to block wind. This barn will be to the southeast of my house and the back side will face south. Floor will be dirt. So long as the ground level doesn't vary more than 3" it won't cost extra for leveling. I will still need to get anchors of some sort. I wish I could remember more about what we did when the car port was installed in the front.
I wanted the closed in part on the gable on the front to block some wind and rain a bit and to work as a spot to put a solar powered exterior light that attaches with sticky tape. Not sure if it will get enough sun there, so I will have to look at the shadows at different parts of the day.
I was thinking something like this:
I also want a solar powered gable fan at the back. I'm still shopping for a good one. I'm open to suggestions but am hoping it won't be too expensive. I think I want something with batteries to store power. I also wish I knew how to link in some LED shop lights. I will see if I can discuss this with the guy who sells the barns and has them delivered and installed.
I want to order a stall mat kit. They sell them in 12x12 but I can order 1 set of extra pieces to make it 12x16. I'm thinking I could use step 1 and step 2 paving stone sand underneath (but I'm trying to find out from the mfr it if can be used under stall mats).
The roof ridge caved and more of the barn is falling down. We'd hoped it would stay up. It's not really safe for anyone to go in and try to reinforce it & the cows are wary of it but it's their only main shelter from the weather. So, I want to get a new barn built. It won't be anywhere near the size of the old barn, but I want something decently sized for the cows so they can take shelter during the rain. I'm not expecting massive winter storms like this year, but I want to be prepared just in case.
I looked at some options on the lot at Hayco Buildings and tried to ask about modifications and upgrades but the owner said he didn't know offhand. He'd have to ask the companies who make the stuff. I've ruled out wood because they have to be prefabbed with flooring and transported-- and my roads get too narrow. I've decided I want an American Steel Carports structure. Ideally I wanted to build my own, but at the rate I'm going on my other projects, the cows would die of old age before I got something built. As a bonus, the official site for ASC has a design tool.
While on site, I saw a barn I liked (except it had a plywood floor and doorway was only 6' so my cow would hit her horns on it). So, I wanted something taller but not too tall-- since I need to be able to reach the pull-down door. I saw some of the structures had "storage" buildings with a sort of porch overhang. Most of those had a very small building with long covering since it was designed as a car port with small storage (which would actually be great). I wanted a larger building with a small porch. I also saw some of the buildings had a "lean to" part. Some of the advertisement images showed things being stored in the lean-to area and on my way to the place I saw one of their buildings in a yard that had rolls of hay stored under the lean to.
I came up with a very crappy not-to-scale sketch of the barn idea.
I forgot to have the lean-to set back in the drawing but I also started thinking it would look better if it went all the way to the front. The design tool's minimum width for a lean-to was 8'.
Anyway, after playing around I came up with something where the closed in building is 12'W x 16'L x 10'H. Door is 6'W x 7'H. Porch is 20'W x 4'L x 10'H. Lean to is 8'W x 20'L x 8'H (that was the height that made it line up with the end of the main part. Roof pitch 3/12. I chose 12 gauge steel. I played around with some of the options to seal off sides to block wind. This barn will be to the southeast of my house and the back side will face south. Floor will be dirt. So long as the ground level doesn't vary more than 3" it won't cost extra for leveling. I will still need to get anchors of some sort. I wish I could remember more about what we did when the car port was installed in the front.
I wanted the closed in part on the gable on the front to block some wind and rain a bit and to work as a spot to put a solar powered exterior light that attaches with sticky tape. Not sure if it will get enough sun there, so I will have to look at the shadows at different parts of the day.
I was thinking something like this:
I also want a solar powered gable fan at the back. I'm still shopping for a good one. I'm open to suggestions but am hoping it won't be too expensive. I think I want something with batteries to store power. I also wish I knew how to link in some LED shop lights. I will see if I can discuss this with the guy who sells the barns and has them delivered and installed.
I want to order a stall mat kit. They sell them in 12x12 but I can order 1 set of extra pieces to make it 12x16. I'm thinking I could use step 1 and step 2 paving stone sand underneath (but I'm trying to find out from the mfr it if can be used under stall mats).