Dos and Don'ts of Barndos

[bbqfan5909]

Whatever your start budget is, plan on spending another 50k!

Best of luck OP

[BitBackShot]

I got a 40X60 with a loft priced out 3 years back and it was $325K with only 1600 sqft of living space, 400 of which was just the loft, which isn't exactly high dollar square footage.

I was expecting like $250, but just couldn't go $325 for a barndo. So we're going to wait and see if the neighbor's place comes up for sale by the time we're ready to build.

[tmkrueger]

Install a 6’wide door to get your Moose in!


TMKBDD

[Arrowsmith]

Our house/shop barndo in Southeast Iowa is 40x40 living area with 12' sidewalls. 40x40 connected shop with 16' sidewalls. 80x9 wrap around porch. 40x16 overhang open storage for RV.

We did not use spray foam. We went with Tyvek under the R-Panels, R-25 batt insulation in the walls with a poly vapor barrier behind the drywall. R-50 blown in above the living area ceilings and R-40 above the shop ceiling.

Our building is a post frame building with an insulated slab foundation. The columns inside the exterior walls are on Perma Columns. We stained the concrete in the living areas.

We started dirt work in the spring of 2018 and we moved in May 2019. We lived in our camper from October until May.

If you have any questions PM me.

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[Quackerbox]

We had the slab poured and the shell erected ... I did the total build out, and Tina painted everything. Here's some pictures.

The Fulshear Project

The biggest lesson was insulation. I wanted the whole thing insulated, including the 40x40 shop (because I know how the sun will bake you, in a metal building), so I ordered the building WITH insulation; only to find out that spray foam will NOT stick to the vinyl backing of the insulation. So, I ended up using more, conventional rolled insulation to finish it out.

If you plan on a second story, go with at least 16' eaves. We have a loft type upstairs, with a full bath, extra bed, and closet.

The area above what we call the garage, is all attic, roughly 12x40, with a full size access door at the top of the stairs.

We have NO sheetrock. Everywhere that would normally have sheetrock, is 3/8" plywood, ripped and routered to look like nickle gap siding.

There's way too much info to type about this thing. If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask.

I didn't catch the siding walls during the build. Is this something you did or someone else?

Just rip the 3/8 and rounter the edges and go from there?

[Mike D]

With the wiring, my buddy who is an electrician will set a high box and low box for the tv, then connect the two using the 3/4 blue plastic loom, allowing the homeowner to fish an hdmi cable through it. I don't believe that this is the norm, but it is a great idea.

Speaking from very recent experience go ahead and carry it up into the attic space as well. Also use 1-1/4” minimum size. I installed 1” in mine and had to buy specific hdmi cables to get the connectors through and even then it was a ***** to pull through.

Sure is nice not seeing a bunch of cables running everywhere.


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[Codie]

That comes out to $62.50/sqft. Areas of the state are different, but you can't touch a new barndo build in our area for less than $95/ft and most of them are more like $110/ft. I realize you said you don't mind doing some things yourself or leaving some unfinished items, but in our area there would be a LOT of items unfinished or you would have to do the majority of the build yourself on a 2,400sq/ft barndo if your total budget was $150,000.

[TMC50]

We started with a barndo layout and plan but we ended up going wood with a metal front and roof. We came in at around $70 sqft. 1980 living with a 10x40 front porch, 20x40 carport, 12x14 back porch.

We are tradional insulation and our bill this last month was 155.

Only thing I can suggest is double vent your bedroom or make sure it’s close to the unit. Our bedroom is warm

[abilliott]

Venting bathrooms and ventahood out is a must with spray foam. Make sure u get someone who knows how to install boots over vents on roof. Waterproofing windows sucks, we have 4 not under a awning and it takes a lot of caulking to get them not to leak


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we used a custom "window" flashing on ours to combat this. It is the same trim in principal as is custumarily used, however it has about 3/8 to 1/2 "upturn" inside the house. If used properly it also creates a "stop" when installing your windows that sets them in place perfectly... just caulk the inside corners where the trim changes direction and travels up the jamb... that is the only break in the mechanical waterproofing. Caulk the outside and its good to go. The window sill on the inside covers up the "upturn" I speak of.

Worked good for us at least.


I would also say that if you end up having 12" thick walls like a lot do, go with big windows... the proportions look way better.

As I remember others I will post them... I learned oh so much while building ours.

[Stolle]

Like stated above make sure you have enough eve height to get your living area in. We have 21' eve heights on ours. 8' ceilings in the bottom floor and 9' ceilings in the upstairs. This leaves very little room on the exterior walls.

If you are going to have a shop area I would make sure to run plumbing for a restroom and outdoor kitchen area. We did not and wish we had it now.

Search "Stolle Fish Camp" and you can see the build process of ours.

[breederbuck33]

That comes out to $62.50/sqft. Areas of the state are different, but you can't touch a new barndo build in our area for less than $95/ft and most of them are more like $110/ft. I realize you said you don't mind doing some things yourself or leaving some unfinished items, but in our area there would be a LOT of items unfinished or you would have to do the majority of the build yourself on a 2,400sq/ft barndo if your total budget was $150,000.

Let me clarify on how I'm using the term "budget". I'm going to have that much to spend to get this thing livable. My goal is to have the master suite, kitchen, and living space done or close to being done with that "budget". The kitchen is just going to run into the kitchen in an open concept layout, so that's really just one room. First couple quotes I have for getting the building built and insulated with covered porch and car port are around 55K. Add in about 17K for AC, Septic, Electrical, and plumbing?

[Texastaxi]

I didn't catch the siding walls during the build. Is this something you did or someone else?

Just rip the 3/8 and rounter the edges and go from there?

I did it all.

The plywood is ripped into 6 pieces. They're actually a little less than 8" when you subtract the kerf. Then I built a big router table, with two routers set up; one with a 1/2" rabbeting bit (top of the board) and the other with a 1/4" rabbeting bit (bottom of the board). It's a lot of work; last count, it was about 160 sheets of plywood, but when you have zero sheetrock skills, it's not all that bad. Plus, I can hang anything I want, anywhere I want.

[abilliott]

Let me clarify on how I'm using the term "budget". I'm going to have that much to spend to get this thing livable. My goal is to have the master suite, kitchen, and living space done or close to being done with that "budget". The kitchen is just going to run into the kitchen in an open concept layout, so that's really just one room. First couple quotes I have for getting the building built and insulated with covered porch and car port are around 55K. Add in about 17K for AC, Septic, Electrical, and plumbing?

"Add in about 17K for AC, Septic, Electrical, and plumbing?"

I don't see this happening, I would budget double this

[Tbone3636]

we used a custom "window" flashing on ours to combat this. It is the same trim in principal as is custumarily used, however it has about 3/8 to 1/2 "upturn" inside the house. If used properly it also creates a "stop" when installing your windows that sets them in place perfectly... just caulk the inside corners where the trim changes direction and travels up the jamb... that is the only break in the mechanical waterproofing. Caulk the outside and its good to go. The window sill on the inside covers up the "upturn" I speak of.



Worked good for us at least.





I would also say that if you end up having 12" thick walls like a lot do, go with big windows... the proportions look way better.



As I remember others I will post them... I learned oh so much while building ours.

We used j trim which turns up 2-3” inside, under the panels. The top piece over laps the sides and the side piece laps the bottom piece. The problem is you get water running down the side trim and gets behind the sheeting. It also depends on how good your sheeting guy was on fit and if your windows sides fall on highs or lows. We ended up having to caulk around each window where the sheeting and trim touch. It’s been working so we will see.


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[Quackerbox]

I did it all.



The plywood is ripped into 6 pieces. They're actually a little less than 8" when you subtract the kerf. Then I built a big router table, with two routers set up; one with a 1/2" rabbeting bit (top of the board) and the other with a 1/4" rabbeting bit (bottom of the board). It's a lot of work; last count, it was about 160 sheets of plywood, but when you have zero sheetrock skills, it's not all that bad. Plus, I can hang anything I want, anywhere I want.

Ok, cool. And it's just standard 3/8 plywood that you painted?

We're starting a 30x40 shop soon which will get a full bathroom and a bar / kitchen area. I wanted to trim it out and do it on the cheap this sounds perfect.

Thanks for the info

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