When we moved to the Houston area, and were talking about our "dreams", one of mine was to build a house, with my own two hands, and pay cash for it, as I went ... even if it took 10 years. Well, when we sold our house in Richmond, we had the cash to do it, so we decided to build a barndo, on our recently purchased land in Fulshear. I was pretty sure I could have it done in 6 months. We're a little past that point, now, but I'm literally about a tube of caulk and 3 cabinet doors away from being completely done with the living area, even though we've been "in" it since January of last year.
The basics.
It started as a 30x60x12, half of which would be living area, and half would be my shop. Before the metal was ordered, Tina's scope creep had it grown to a 40x80x16. First pass was supposed to be 600 sq ft of living area, that ended up 1,600 sq ft, with a 500 sq ft tandem garage, 500 sq ft attic, 20x40 front porch/carport, 30x40 rear porch/well house, and 1,600 sq ft of shop.
I subbed out the concrete, Andy Crow sent his crew out to rough in the plumbing, my boss helped rough in the electrical, and my mom's 3rd ex-husband erected the steel shell. Everything else, Tina and I did ... framing, cabinets, painting ... all of it. We wanted it to look old, but new at the same time. I can NOT do sheet rock, so we opted for nickle gap siding on all the ceilings and walls. Of course, I'm not going to pay for straight up nickle gap boards, so I ripped and routered 3/8" plywood, to mimic nickle gap. 160+ sheets, to be exact. The top ceiling is old tin that Tina found on Facebook marketplace.
So, if you made it this far, here are the pictures, through all phases of construction. I'll try my best to note what's in each one.
Staking the corners of the barn.
Konnor has always been fascinated with heavy machinery.
Starting the foundation.
I told them the ground was soft. Luckily the dozer was still there and we got him out.
Framing.
Steel siding going up.
First wall going up, which is now the kitchen.
The basics.
It started as a 30x60x12, half of which would be living area, and half would be my shop. Before the metal was ordered, Tina's scope creep had it grown to a 40x80x16. First pass was supposed to be 600 sq ft of living area, that ended up 1,600 sq ft, with a 500 sq ft tandem garage, 500 sq ft attic, 20x40 front porch/carport, 30x40 rear porch/well house, and 1,600 sq ft of shop.
I subbed out the concrete, Andy Crow sent his crew out to rough in the plumbing, my boss helped rough in the electrical, and my mom's 3rd ex-husband erected the steel shell. Everything else, Tina and I did ... framing, cabinets, painting ... all of it. We wanted it to look old, but new at the same time. I can NOT do sheet rock, so we opted for nickle gap siding on all the ceilings and walls. Of course, I'm not going to pay for straight up nickle gap boards, so I ripped and routered 3/8" plywood, to mimic nickle gap. 160+ sheets, to be exact. The top ceiling is old tin that Tina found on Facebook marketplace.
So, if you made it this far, here are the pictures, through all phases of construction. I'll try my best to note what's in each one.
Staking the corners of the barn.
Konnor has always been fascinated with heavy machinery.
Starting the foundation.
I told them the ground was soft. Luckily the dozer was still there and we got him out.
Framing.
Steel siding going up.
First wall going up, which is now the kitchen.
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