Barn w/ loft apartment...anyone built one?

[SAcres]

My barn is getting to the point where it needs a major overhaul. It’s an older morten barn, and over the years previous owners have done things to it like cut skylights into the roof, cut uneven dutch doors into the sides, etc. The roof is leaking, there are rusted spots on the siding, and the wood has seen better days.

Ideally I’d like to knock it down to the frame, replace whatever wood necessary, and rebuild with a second story loft apartment.

It’s 70 ft long, 30 wide, and right now is a low profile style with no loft. I’m not sure how hard something like this would be to do, if I’m better off knocking it down completely or trying to rebuild from the frame.

Has anyone done something like this? What are the issues you ran into? I’m not sure if this is even possible, there’s already a house on the premises and technically we can’t have another, but I don’t know if a loft apartment would have to be considered a “house”, or if it could just be built as the barn structure.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

TIA!

[PeteyPie]

Well, I had a whole new roof put on a house and it is not rocket science. The house had a flat roof. I had it removed and replaced with scissor trusses so that I had a charming roof on the exterior and a high ceiling inside. It was totally worth it.

Of course you will have to have an expert evaluate your foundation and structure to make sure they are built to support the extra weight of a second story, and you will need to do the whole permit/engineering thing.

As for the structure and work, an easy way to design it yourself is to go to a truss plant and work with their sales staff. The one I worked with had a guy with a computer. I sat next to his desk with the plans I had drawn and he popped up an appropriately-sized truss on the computer, asked me if that’s what I wanted, we tweaked it a little, and he printed out the plans and elevations which I took to the city for permits. There was no charge for this guy’s design work.

Then, after permits were approved, I ordered the trusses, had them delivered, and the carpenter installed them. As you can imagine, they go up very quickly. Now this house was very very small so a crane was not needed, but the truss plant will help you with that decision or information.

If you are interested in going this route, instead of having a custom-framed roof, you would want to look at a style called attic trusses. Here’s an example when I googled “attic trusses” in images:
https://www.google.com/search?q=attic+trusses&biw=1440&bih=838&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiH1dSfqe_PAhUFxFQKHZN_AF8QsAQIGw

You can see that there is room to tweak the slope of roof, the width of the attic space and the shape of the inside space (whether you want a partially peaked ceiling or a flat ceiling).
-More space can be designed by adding more trusses, by thickening/strengthening the wood, and/or by strengthening the joint connectors.
-Strength over and above what the code requires can be designed in. In my case, I told the guy to design everything (which he does with a few clicks of the mouse) to extra wind/hurricane strength and super snow loads. I had researched the average highs of those two conditions in my town before I went to the truss plant meeting and knew what I wanted. I want to add that these increases in performance do not necessarily cost much more. Wind resistance is augmented by requiring more hurricane clips, like for every truss instead of every other truss, which is pretty cheap. (Of course there are other design methods for this as well). Designing for extra snow loads in my case was done by adding trusses, making them on 16" centers instead of every 24".

Hope this helps for that small part of your project.

[PeteyPie]

Well, I typed all of that and then looked up Morton barns. I see that they build pole barns. I have no idea how you would incorporate a truss roof onto a pole barn, or if it is a problem, but that is the first thing I would ask the truss plant. I mean, of course it can be done, but the question is, is it really expensive and is there a better way?

No, the first thing I would do is check with the county or city about zoning to see if you could do the addition/remodel. If they don’t allow an apartment, find out if they allow an office space or bedroom/sleeping loft with a bathroom. Sometimes the difference between allowed habitable spaces revolves around whether there are cooking facilities.

[Bluey]

I would guess that the foundation won’t support adding weight as is, but that too can be reinforced to do what you want.

How much that will cost, some times, it is better to tear all down and build new.

What I don’t like about barns built with wood, if the wood is not in good shape, it really is better to tear it all down and start new.

That is what we had to do with all barns here that were built with wood, eventually replacing them all with metal framing.

Wood in houses is protected, not so much in barns.

When we were going to build our barn, we did check with Morton and they insisted on framing with wood, so we never looked further into that, as we knew some of their barns here that were needing extensive repairs.

You could get some local engineering firm that draws foundations for local builders to come look at what you have and they can tell you more.

[PeteyPie]

You might want to call the Morton Barn company. Maybe they have plans already made for such a conversion.

[ElementFarm]

we are in the process of putting in an over-barn apartment for the in-laws.

We don’t have a Morton barn though, ours is cinderblock and wood. Most of the loft is high enough to convert to an apartment as is, but a large section is not, and so we looked into putting large dormers in. The architects weren’t optimistic that would work, so instead we have to have the whole roof raised. It will make the interior space larger/taller but is adding to the expense considerably.

Overall, with the roof project, and then all the interior work, our estimate is about $80K. We had three contractors come look and give quotes, and the two we liked were very similar in projected costs. So it’s slightly cheaper than just building a new house for the inlaws, but still a very pricey endeavor.

I’m not sure how things will work with a pole barn, but agree that asking Morton is a good idea. I’d also get site visits from several local contractors and see what options they can come up with creatively.
Another possibility, which didn’t work for us due to space constraints, would be to build out instead of up. You could have a small lounge/apartment space built behind or attached to the side of the barn, if the foundation isn’t strong enough for a second floor, or the cost to raise the roof is prohibitive.

[Pennywell_Bay]

Depending on your area, you also need to check zoning to see if it is permitted.

I bought my current farm because the township would not let the owners of the property put an apartment over the barn, as it would count as a second dwelling.

Check with the builder, but check with your zoning laws.

[Prime_Time_Rider]

You need to check with your local town or county zoning officials first to see if the zoning would allow a barn apartment.

[ryansgirl]

Check with your insurance company too - some consider an apartment attached to a barn as a huge fire risk and won’t cover you.

[csaper58]

Be sure that the foundation and structure will support a second story, and that building codes will allow it.

[merrygoround]

Start with your town and county building codes, first. Then You will need a set of plans, actually you’ll need those first. Then you find someone to build what you have planned.

[IPEsq]

Morton can build barns with apartments, so I would contact them about whether or not you could do a relatively easy conversion.

As others have said, you need to consider firewalls, zoning…

[imapepper]

I have been obsessing over this barndominum. If I can find the right land, I am building this.

http://www.barnpros.com/barn-plans-products.aspx?itemid=1556&pagetitle=Denali+Barn+Apartment