I’m just looking for some different opinions. Back in Nov my husband & I signed a contract with MDBarnmaster for a pretty simple shedrow barn (3 stalls, with one being storage, plus tack/feed room, with an overhand). We bought our property just over a year and a half ago and it backs up to a river that has been known to flood. It wasn’t the PERFECT property, but by comparison to what else has been for sale in our area, it was much better than average. Our pasture is in the 100 year flood plain, which we knew, but we didn’t think was a big deal. We were planning on building the barn at the fringe of the flood plain. The county won’t issue a permit to build the barn unless it’s above flood elevation. I’m of 2 minds…the idea of building in the flood plain as always bothered me on the 1% annual chance the river does flood, but there are already 2 other buildings in our pasture area (the flood plain) that have been there for 25+ yrs. One is a run-in shed, but it’s against a hillside so it always stays wet (which is why we are building a barn) and another is a storage shed which seems to have been there for a long, long time! It looks older than our 25 yr old house.) Anyway, I had a surveyor out and we’d have to bring in about 6’ of dirt to get the barn high enough to satisfy the county. We have 7 acres that is pretty much a rectangle. Our house sits on the front 1/3, then there is a hillside that does down behind the house to the pasture (i.e. flood plain). We can build the barn at the top of the little hillside, which sits about 16’ above the original barn site (and about 10’ about flood plain…the 16’ elevation drop is about over 140’ in distance). However, it’s going to require probably about $5K to get the barn site level, plus another $3500 to take out the trees in front of the barn, plus I figure another couple of thousand for dirt to create a slope since the grader said there will be about a 6’ drop-off where he builds up the barn site to the slope in front of it…so maybe about $10K for site work? If the barn is level, but on a slope, what problems do you foresee for the horses walking up and down the slope? The grading contractor sort of jokingly recommended a barn bank, which may be a consideration, but all of my barn from MDBarnmaster has already been bought & paid for and sitting on our property. Part of the reason we chose Barnmaster was because it was modular…if we had problems with flooding, we could move it. Besides in the floodplain, we really don’t have any other appropriate flat property - we have some area, but it’s right on top of a neighbor’s house. They’ve lived in their house for 25 yrs and aren’t horse people, so I don’t want to put up a barn right outside of their house! So does anyone have an success stories for working with a slope? Any other suggestions? I feel so defeated!! What was suppose to be a simple project has turned out to be anything but simple, and like everything else, the price gets going up!!
Do you think your neighbors would really care about a barn near their house? It sounds like you just want a small barn, which is a pretty innocuous structure as long as you have good management for anything that smells (clean stall frequently, stellar compost management, etc.) & do anything noisy in reasonable hours. I’d have trouble spending thousands for a different site just to locate it further from them (as long as it wasn’t going to be something really obnoxious).
The modular barns tend to also have great re-sale value, so you might not lose a lot if you re-sell before installing it & build a bank barn. I love the classic quality New England bank barns, but the ones I’ve been in have had terrible ventilation. I’ve never seen a modern-built one, so it’s certainly possible newer designs have circumvented that issue.
Have you talked with the neighbors? I would ask them how they feel about it and ensure you care about it from their stand point and don’t want to impose something that would upset them. The best solution would be up by the house at the highest point of the land so you never have to worry about the barn flooding; even though it is the most expensive solution. How steep is the hill getting up to the house from the pasture? The other concern with putting the barn in the flood plain is getting back and forth to it, I’m assuming you will be driving up and down the same hill to get to the barn if in the pasture area. How would it be for hay trucks, vet, farrier to get in and out of there, especially if it’s very wet?
Thats lady! Believe me, selling the barn has crossed my mind, as has selling the whole darn place & moving! 
BUT…it would cost way more to move than to do $10K worth of site work, and that’s even assuming I could find other property (we have a child in elem school who has friends, etc., she has a neighborhood friend…it’s just not as easy as picking up and moving b/c I don’t have a good barn site, plus it also cost money to sell a house & move).
But as for the barn, thanks for your help. I was just thinking earlier that maybe it wouldn’t hurt to look at other barn designs. I designed the shed row, which is really an L shaped building (with the over hand coming off the end of the L to make it a roughly 36x26 rectangle) to face east. If I put it near the neighbors house, it would face north, and being an open shedrow, it would get whacked with weather, so maybe that’s where another design would be best (and yes, I just want something fairly small & simple - enough for 2, maybe 3 horses). As for the bank barn, we really don’t have probably enough bank to put the stall walls completed underground, but I guess we could do a double story so it doesn’t look like a half a building stick out of the ground!
Also, I guess I’m also having a hard time with the idea that I may have more than $40K tied up in a simple shedrow barn when we still need to buy horses, a trailer, etc. since we’re starting over after taking a horse-free break. (banging head on table…)
No, I haven’t talked to them; and I guess I should. They know we are trying to build a barn and are having permitting issues, but we haven’t discussed moving it up the hill by our houses. They’re retirees that are hardly ever at home (they travel ALOT) - another neighbor said they were talking about downsizing, so who knows, they may sell the house before too long. Guess if they are, now would be a good time if they’re agreeable. The hillside where we’d put the barn isn’t too, too steep (over about 140’ the elevation drops about 16’). We actually have a gravel road that runs to the right of the proposed hillside barn site, so we can drive down to the pasture (and access the other storage building that exist in the flood plain). So that isn’t a problem. But it would certainly save me some steps if the barn was closer to the house, plus there is the perk of being able to see the barn, see what’s going on, etc. I wouldn’t have as much visibility if it was down the hill.
Grading a barn site and shifting around the dirt / adding fill dirt will get you a level site to build the barn. Having the horses walk up and down a slope is not a huge issue unless you have a horse with a lameness problem who cannot manage the slope.
The bigger issue, from my experience of living on a hilly property for nearly 30 years, is controlling the drainage and slope subsidence above and below the barn. We had to build retaining walls and install french drains in several locations in order to deal with these issues in several places around our property. Discuss this with your grading guys and get them built, if needed, before the barn goes up.
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Yeah, drainage is a problem. My barn is on a slope and it floods every time it rains due to runoff down the hill. (Granted- it’s also not a very well built barn in general.)
The problem with the hill on the “down” side of the barn is that it will be slick in wet weather. Especially if the horses have access to this area vs being led in and out. The problem with the “up” side of the barn is that water tends to pool in front of it, or simply drain right into the barn. You can remedy these issues with some extra drainage. I did mine to an existing barn on the cheap, so “drainage” for me meant “dumping gravel everywhere”. But you’ve got the benefit of planning in advance, so you have more options.
FWIW I think it’s a saving grace that you’re being prevented from building the barn in a floodplain. In the event of an emergency, where would the horses go? If your pasture and barn are both flooded, you’re stuffing them into a trailer and evacuating… vs just walking them up the hill to their familiar barn.
Thanks all! See the link for a photo of the property, which may help. Our property line is in yellow, the floodplain is in blue, and the proposed barn site is in red (and it’s NOT drawn to scale). The row of trees behind the house is where it slopes down to the pasture. The hill is quite steep right behind our house (the house sits at the highest point of the property), but the property also slopes down to the right side of the house (towards the barn site). You can see the neighbor’s house I mentioned on the left edge of the photo. But even if I built the barn on top of the hill (not on the slope), I would probably still need to clear out trees so that the horses can walk back and forth to the barn. Ideally I’d like for them to have 24/7 access to the barn. Sigh…any ideas? This is SO not easy…
http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u163/hokie98/Barn/IMG_0450_zpsgorjneai.jpg
your picture doesn’t show up for me.
Is the slope going to be an issue for you? Thinking loading hay/grain, pushing the wheelbarrow and such. What about for the farrier?
I would likely just hire someone who understands dirt work/landscaping to come up with some options. We had to do a LOT of dirt work before we could put up our barn/arena. There is NO way I could have conceptualized it myself, but these guys were pros and knew what to do.
What if you build just past the trees, so the one door opened into the treed/higher area, and the other had the slope, so you still have two doors, but only one has a ramp. Could you use a retaining wall to make that part high enough so it is safe from flooding?
Are you somewhere that gets much for snow? Ice and a ramp would be an issue…but you could do something slightly terraced so steps instead of a ramp (although that might be hard for a wheelbarrow).
I don’t think a barn like you seem to have ordered, right below your house close to the neighbor’s house, with trees around, should be a problem, as it will be right in the cluster of buildings.
Maybe don’t call it “barn”, that means to many a large structure, but “shedbarn”, that is a smaller one.
I would visit with the neighbors about this, if you can find a way to make your case without making them defensive of what you are talking about, how much it may impact them.
Make what you are talking about clear right up front.
It is your land after all, you are being neighborly and considerate, but not everyone may believe you if they are confused about what you want.
Assuming the entire yard up to the line of trees is fairly flat, i think you could make this a winner by placing the barn along the west (left) side closer to the road.
Maybe even in that upper corner and with a good turnaround driveway spur to it from the existing driveway for access for the hay truck, farrier, vet, truck laden with grain, etc.
Btw, where IS the driveway?
Add a corridor from the barn to a switchback pathway for the horses down to the pasture with gates at the barn and the top of the hill—from the left at the top of the hill to the right and zig zag your way down the hill.
A switchback path will create the most moderate slope for them to traverse, while fencing it will save the trees which will prevent erosion and water problems.
Add the best and most attractive fencing you can up by the neighbor and the road for maximum safety and good neighborliness. Maybe even a deep hedgerow between the barn and the neighbor’s property line would be appreciated.
Thanks everyone!! I just added a bunch more photos…
http://s168.photobucket.com/user/hokie98/slideshow/Barn
But to answer questions - our driveway is tree lined, so you can see it from the aerial view…but the nice round oak trees coming from the center of the top of that aerial photo is our driveway (the neighbor’s drive is what you see just outside of our prop line).
As for snow/ice…we’re in the piedmont of NC, near Greensboro, so while we may get some snow/ice, it’s not as if we’re in the NE or anything!
I’m still going to have to push a wheelbarrow up and down the hill I think. I plan on building a 3 bin compost bin, and rather put that down by the pasture.
Yes, I’m calling it a ‘barn’, but really it’s a shedrow. That’s what’s killing me - it’s going to cost a fortune for a simple shedrow! :sigh:
We’re not really in a “neighborhood” but are on a cul-de-sac (there are 11 homes in total on our street), and we were given an HOA document from 1990 when we bought the house, but told it was basically useless. There are no officers, no dues, no meetings, nothing. The next door neighbor is an original owner, so he’d know if there are any formalities or may be any problems with other neighbors. If we built it down by the pasture, literally no one else would be able to see it, so we didn’t care about the other neighbors! 
Beyond not having fencing around the field next to the house, the only other issue is that our septic drain field is out there, somewhere. I have a copy of the permit from 1989 and it looks like my 4 yr old drew the diagram for where it is. :-/
But thanks so much for all of the replies…I’m listening to all ideas right now. I just want a simple place to safely house a couple of horses. Sigh…that’s it.
Possibly barn site by neighbors looks like the best access to the barn for supplies and seems closer to the house.
The picture of the shedrow barn looks very nice.
I would, when going over to talk to the neighbors, go picture in hand and explain it is portable, so it can be dismantled to be moved also.
That is portable is something you may want to also bring up when it is coming up for appraisal, it should be rated lower than a permanent structure.
The tax appraisal office should be the one you need to talk to about this, when you report the new structure is finished and now in use.
That is all a mere guess, too much information missed without being right there.
Soooo, your first limiter will be the site of your septic system and leach field if you have one. Then if you have a well, then if you have any sorts of underground pipes or easements for pipes, and lastly are there any power lines running overhead. You will have a Problem if the barn site is on top of any portion of your septic or the pipes to and from.
You already know that the county wants you to raise the grade in order to place the barn in the floodplain. If you are looking at putting in the barn in a county that demands permits then what are the setbacks from any other structure, the property line, stuff like that? From what I recall minimum Federal is 50’ from a property line. Your neighbors are probably further away than that but one never knows.
From what I see maybe knocking down an existing shed and putting in a cut and fill pad a little higher up with a French drain and a LOT of stone for drainage might work. Even in a county with obnoxious rules if you replace an existing something they don’t look at it with quite as much scrutiny.
Here in KY at 10+ acres I can get away with all kinds of stuff as a statutory farm, at 9.99, I couldn’t get away with it. So do some checking on that if you haven’t already.
Our barn is built on a hill that slopes down from our house.The only issues are that it is hard for vehicles to get up the hill to the barn for deliveries when it snows, and I cannot see into the barn from the main level of our house. I can look into our barn from the second story of our house. I wish we had put the barn closer to the house, but we had to avoid the well and septic. Also, the County required that the barn be at least 100’ from the property lines.
[QUOTE=ReSomething;8107604]
Soooo, your first limiter will be the site of your septic system and leach field if you have one. Then if you have a well, then if you have any sorts of underground pipes or easements for pipes, and lastly are there any power lines running overhead. You will have a Problem if the barn site is on top of any portion of your septic or the pipes to and from.
You already know that the county wants you to raise the grade in order to place the barn in the floodplain. If you are looking at putting in the barn in a county that demands permits then what are the setbacks from any other structure, the property line, stuff like that? From what I recall minimum Federal is 50’ from a property line. Your neighbors are probably further away than that but one never knows.
From what I see maybe knocking down an existing shed and putting in a cut and fill pad a little higher up with a French drain and a LOT of stone for drainage might work. Even in a county with obnoxious rules if you replace an existing something they don’t look at it with quite as much scrutiny.
Here in KY at 10+ acres I can get away with all kinds of stuff as a statutory farm, at 9.99, I couldn’t get away with it. So do some checking on that if you haven’t already.[/QUOTE]
That’s sort of the thing, if we had 10 acres, we could apply for an ag # as a farm and we could pretty much do what we want. But we can’t with 7 acres, so we have to follow their rules. Actually we’re in a small, rural county. Everyone is shocked we need a permit for a barn. The county just on the other side of that small river doesn’t require a permit for an agriculture building.
We have a septic (the tanks are close to the house), so we won’t be close to them (our contractors says we just need to be 5’ away from them and no matter what we do, we’ll be WAY beyond that). We’re all on county water, so no worries about wells. It’s just the drain field, and it looks to me it probably hooks around towards the front of our house.
As for taking down that other building - we could, BUT, that’s 7-8’ below 100 yr flood elevation. So to satisfy the county, we’d still be talking about hauling in ALOT of dirt - not just for the pad, but to spread out, and then the barn will be sitting onto of a mountain basically. Plus that building is behind a much more severe sloping hill. Occasionally we have some water running in it but surprising, it has a dirt floor and it stays pretty dry. Our surveyor (who measured the elevation) suggested if we wanted to build in the floodplain, he’d be willing to help us negotiate with the county. We could build up a pad 1-2’ high and roll the dice. In the 8+ yrs the previous owner lived here, the river flooded once. There was probably 6" of water where we would put the barn, if we put it in the flood plain. Looking at historically flood records, that was a pretty “average” flood. We were all shocked how far below the flood elevation we were sitting - we thought maybe a foot or 2, not 7-8 feet!
Decisions, decisions.
Not me man, LOL! But the year my DH and I went looking for homes to buy on a local river that had regular floods we had THE record breaking flood. We were trapped in our little rental house behind a raging creek with a car sticking out of it for four days.
When we finally got brave and bought on the river that had regular floods, 8 years later because it was the cheapest place around, it had the SECOND highest record flood, and then yet another one six weeks later. So not me, no. I’d ADD two feet myself.
