Why should horses have all the fun? If you’re a fan of the cable show Fixer Upper, you already know that rehabilitating barns and turning them into spacious residences is a growing trend. Chip and Joanna Gaines may have moved on, but don’t expect that to bring an end to barndominiums.
What’s changing is that it’s no longer necessary to find an actual old barn – minus the farm animals – and go with a complete renovation. Today, property owners are opting to put up prefabricated steel and metal buildings. Today’s designs are no longer the stereotypical “metal box” structures you might associate with steel and metal buildings. They even come with gambrel roofs.
All in the Name
Barndominiums are appropriately named. They give you the best of all worlds – as much space as you want to claim, but as customized as you wish to make them. They combine traditional living space with storage for oversized recreational pursuits like RVs and even boats. Yes, it’s a shared space, but it’s meant to be adaptable so you can claim some of it as your family grows. And because it’s made of prefabricated elements, you can increase the size as needed.
Most new barndominiums feature a metal roof and exterior walls. Design and customization is saved for the interior, where the additional height allows for a second floor or rooms with dramatic cathedral-height ceilings.
If that design aesthetic appeals to you, be sure to seek out prefabricated building kits that feature clear-span trusses. Ours come in four pieces that are test assembled at the factory. The design banishes flat ceilings and low hanging rafters, giving you more usable interior space for a nice open feeling in the living areas. Meanwhile, you’ll have plenty of overhead space in your garage, storage, or multipurpose areas.
You Can Build It Yourself
Our kit-style buildings are created with DIY in mind. Once the four truss pieces are bolted together and tipped into the air, the legs simply bolt to the top of a concrete pier through pre-drilled holes in the column base plate.
Edge-mounted wood studs run horizontally from truss to truss in the walls and in the roof that secure to a pre-positioned steel clip. This key feature is important because they create an automatic 24-inch on center stud pocket that makes the interior area capable of accommodating standard building material. Buy it right off the floor at your favorite home improvement and building store.
A barndominium might be too much space for some people. If you like the idea of affordability and ease of maintenance that metal and steel structures offer, build something more to your size with one of our residence and cabin kits.
