I am trying to get ideas as to what works and what doesn’t. Thanks
I have seen some that did that.
One fellow that is also a landscaper by trade left the front room, living room, go all the way to the top and made two stories out of the back part with the bedrooms and bathrooms.
I’ve seen an Amish-built pole barn that had 2-story living quarters with the upstairs sharing space with the loft.
It was intended for a MIL, so finishes were very nice.
LQ were not the entire building, horses still had stalls along with hay storage in that loft.
Another friend told me of a converted barn that houses large equipment - tractors, balers, etc - in 1/2 the space and rest is LQ for the owner.
Owner farms the acreage, equipment is his.
Its pretty common here to convert metal sheds to homes (esp if then building another house on site). Adequate insulation lining is one of they key issues i’ve seen. You need to line all the walls as well as the ceiling.
In VA you have to have a double layer of drywall between living quarters and the barn–code. I live above my barn.
I know a guy who lives in a warehouse–no horses though. Seems damp.
Go Google for the grain silos people have converted to houses!! Amazing!!
Lots of airplane hangars with apartments around here. Main problem is the condensation on the inside of the metal roof. You need to have a plan for that as they are built with the assumption they’ll be open to the air or at most gently insulated and not part of a house. It’s doable, you just need to do your homework.
