Has anyone every finished their loft into a “hunt box” type apartment? Any feedback? Things you love or would do differently if you did it again?
Just one warning, figure a way to manage if you are incapacitated enough not to be able to manage stairs, several times a day, to get to your living necessities up there.
The first thing you may want to check is whether living over your barn is permissible in your county, assuming you are using your barn as a barn. Some counties don’t allow that.
I’ve always thought that I would love to do that. There may be old threads here about this topic. IIRC, one mentioned how disturbing it was to hear the horses moving around/munching all night.
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A trainer friend put an RV inside his barn.
He lived in that for several years, until he married.
Then had to live in a regular house.
He still tells how happy he was living right in there.
Some here are building “barndominiums” now:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barndominium
Some for horses or other livestock, some use the barn part as a shop.
Those are a barn/house combination, separated by an open or glass enclosed porch.
The separation helps with noise, insects, rodents and dust/dirt control.
In the South heat is an enemy. Heat rises. So “loft” constructions must address this issue. That can mean significant cost increases in insulation, ventilation, A/C, etc.
The idea of an RV in the barn is quite smart. Clean out a stall, fix a door, and run a few utilities and you’re in business. Make the RV as fancy or plain as you wish. Or add a lean-to and put the RV there.
Many places will balk at LQs in barns. Some won’t go with attached structures. Carefully check the zoning rules.
The access issue is also real. Stairs, too, can become an enemy as one ages!!! 
I Googled “barndominiums” and got quite a variety of “takes” on that term. Some were houses built in the shape of barns and were never designed to see the outside of a horse! Others are some some form of barn/living quarters, but they actually appear to be in the minority.
Maybe for simplicity, cost, and “brightness” an RV inside a barn is the way to go!!!
G.
As a young 20-something I lived in one. The owners had built 2 one bedroom apts over a portion of the barn. It was lovely except they didn’t install bathrooms, you had to go downstairs into the main barn for that.
Aside from that, I loved it. It was cozy, it looked out over the pastures, and it was just the right size.
I had a friend who built a barn/home on a rather grand scale, it too was lovely, and 3 levels - stalls/basement/storage (she only put in 2 stalls), main living level with a guest bedroom, and upstairs loft with master bed/bath. It was a gorgeous log cabin type structure.
As an older adult now, I would agree with others about stairs potentially being an issue. Aside from that, I would think an eye towards insulation and sound proofing would help with horse noise.
LOVE! the RV in Barn idea!
As an Aging Adult, the idea of stairs being mandatory is not attractive at all.
I’ve been toying with adding a small LQ to my indoor that is attached to the barn & renting the present house.
Tiny House variety @ ~500-600SF.
Bet I can find a nice house trailer - aka Modular Home - with that amount of space.
Probably easier to get that allowed rather than file for a building permit.
Anyone living in such a trailer on their farm:
I am on a well now, but got lucky & have City gas to the house for cooking & heating.
How tricky is it to get plumbing & city gas attached to a trailer?
Or do you deal with a propane tank & composting toilet?
Water from??? < do not want to deal with gray/black water tanks
@Anne Sorry for the hijack.Can you consider adding a 1-level rather than converting the loft?
Look at Horsemans Ranch in TX:
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I’ve done above and adjacent. Even in my 20s I fell down the exterior stairs several times. I absolutely loved living adjacent, 1 bed and bath, next to one room open kitchen/living. If I had to put a size, I would say it was 2 stalls by 2 stalls haha like where my bathroom and washer dryer were backed up to the washrack, my bedroom backed up to a stall.
Having lived in an RV and a horse truck for months at a time at various points, honestly, I prefer a small apartment. I know there are people who live forever in RVs quite happily, but meh, even in the million dollar stefex truck that had a way nicer bathroom than mine, I still preferred having a “home”.
try to sleep in the middle of the interstate or at an international airport first, all the noises the horses make at night would not be conducive to restful sleep
even with the barn being a couple hundred feet away, they can hear the door open at the house and start screaming for food
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2Dogs, one of the first season of HGTV’s Tiny Homes had a couple, a firefighter, and nurse I think, that wanted to live on the family pear orchard property, and it’s the only tiny house I could personally live in. It was about 600 feet, all on one level, a regular bathroom, and was hooked up to all utilities. The other tiny homes with stairs or ladders wouldn’t work for me, but I really liked this one.
@JanM site won’t let me see the vid w/o turning off my adblocker :no:
I’ve looked at a boatload of Tinies &; just need to research how I’d have to get rezoned to allow one.
May end up being doable, as the neighbor just to my North sold off part of his 5ac & got a permit to build a 2nd house “for his son” - that was several years ago & just this Summer construction started on House #2.
Just need to get some estimates on tieing in to my well & adding (City)gas & electric.
Huntboxes are extremely common in the horsey areas around Southern Pines, NC.
We recently finished a barn apartment for our live-in barn help (stalls, feeding, turnout/in), and it’s been a long road, but no regrets.
Even though the space is ~1200sq, it feels smaller because the roof sloping in means you have less space you can walk comfortably, and also taller furniture can be difficult to place.
Ours is 1-2 bedrooms, a small bathroom, and an open living room/kitchen area. The tenant can hear the horses moving around a little but not enough to keep him up (we did put in extra floor insulation), and the horses can hear him moving around upstairs, which wasn’t enough to scare anyone, but did result in messier-than-usual stalls for a week or two until they adjusted.
Above comments make good points about the stairs aspect. In our case, if someone can’t navigate stairs, they’re not a good fit as barn manager. But when DH and I were farm shopping, he was against a huntbox design for that very reason. I’ve seen some neat modified versions where the house level (kitchen, LR) is on the first floor, and upstairs are bedrooms, etc, sharing the second level with hay storage. I like this design because you’re not carrying groceries upstairs, and if you break a foot, you can sleep on the sofa for a few weeks.
Things to consider:
farm-friendly finishes. We used tile floors and Pergo to minimize damage from barn dirt/grit.
Don’t get the install package from Lowes: ours was a disaster, with the project taking several months longer than promised (100% over time projection), poor communication, zero follow-up, etc. Next house project, I’ll find an independent contractor to use, even if we still bought the appliances and cabinets/counters from a big box store.
our house is still attached to our barn (first level) and I love it. It’s priceless being able to do night check in pajamas, and stay dry when checking a colic-y horse or broodmare during the wee hours in winter.
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I worked at at stable 30 years ago. The barn was very large- 50 horses. There was living quarters above the office, tackrooms, bathroom area but not above the horses. It was a nice 2 bedroom, 1 bath, galley kitchen, living area/dining area, washer/dryer. Hardwood floors, cathedral ceiling above the living room/dining area. Very light and airy. Living area/kitchen
I would not have carpet in an apartment attached to or above a barn.
I have seen some really nice-looking barn plans online that have a small apartment at one end of the barn, ground level, with maybe a breezeway separating the human living quarters from the horse living quarters. At least one of these was by a Florida designer, so I’m pretty sure they provided for good air-conditioning as well as heating!
I’ve ridden at a couple of barns that had small apartments on the same floor as the stalls and things. Very convenient! Noisy and dusty and pest-infested? I don’t know. Neither apartment was being lived in when I was riding at those barns.
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In a lot of places if you say “barn apartment” you’ll get a negative reaction. Probably not justified, but there it is.
I’m wary of the “tiny house” trend as many of them are nice but carry “fad” price tags. Just a quick look around gave me a low end price of about $50/sq.ft. to a high end of of $275/sq.ft. Those low end numbers are from places with very sketchy information on what they are including in the number. If that’s just the shell then look at at least 50% more to complete the interior. I’m kind of goosey about what happens when the trend peaks and these become just really, small mobile homes (as many are built on trailer frames).
If you decided to go the RV route the big question is waste water. A proper septic system, presuming good soil. is going to run $1500-$15,000 dollars depending on size and soil composition. A one bedroom system will be towards the low end and that would do for an RV. You might get by with a “grease trap” for gray water and an Incinolet or composting toilet for human waste. Electricity and water are much less problematical, assuming you have regular utilities to the site. If not, plan on more capital expense.
G.
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Hmm. I live in a condo with exterior covered stairs and walkways, on the 3rd floor with an extra flight of stairs to the parking garage. So more stairs than the proposed barn loft apartments. Even my mom’s suburban house you either have a flight of stairs up from the basement entrance or the equivalent front steps plus garden steps up from the driveway.
So I wouldn’t see a correctly built set of stairs up to a barn loft being a deal breaker for an apartment and like the idea of being above. Ladder would be a deal breaker.
But the idea of having people cooking up above the barn scares me about barn fires.
I should add that when a horse broke my foot I was housebound for 5 weeks so stairs are a problem for injuries. But I wouldn’t have been able to get out and about from a ground level suite either.
The big fancy eventing barn nearby has apartments upstairs with a walkway overlooking the aisle… that cannot be used because the county doesn’t allow it for one reason or another. I’m not sure if it’s zoning (they are fussy about multiple residences on agricultural property) or that it is a barn. Regardless, that wasn’t a cheap mistake! So I’ll second checking your zoning/permits.
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most likely because the barn is considered a business, no overnight accommodations are allowed in any business in any zoning district in my city… none, zero
Safety is usually the bases for the exclusion
Here’s another link to the home, from a magazine, with the name of the builder included. They have a nice gallery.
http://www.redbarnorchards.com/RBO/Tiny_House.html They used conventional plumbing, and there’s an oversized closet in the hallway back to the bedroom with a front loading washer/dryer.
Here’s a link to the pdf of the magazine article, it starts on page 24:
https://issuu.com/thegorgemagazine/docs/tgm_fl15_fnl_complete_lr
