[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;7931711]
So, Saturday morning a very good friend lost her barn and everything in it to a fire, caused by the water tank heater. If her house was attached, they would’ve lost that too.
Probably not the best idea.[/QUOTE]
There is fire break materials you can build with between buildings…
Here are more floor plans from that place in Whitesboro, TX with the Horsemen’s Ranch development:
http://www.horsemansranch.com/floorplans.html
Those are samples, they will change or outright build whatever someone wants.
My house has a garage. There is a mudroom/ dog room between the garage and the kitchen. A door in the garage leads directly into the tack room. TECHNICALLY they are separate buildings, as there is a full exterior wall on the garage, completed before the barn was built. That made the insurance company happy. A short breezeway would probably make them even happier.
I would not have it any other way.
The house I grew up in was in NY, not New England, but there was door from the upstairs hallway directly into a huge (90’ x 30’) hay loft. Downstairs, you went from the library into the workshop into the garage (with stairs up to the hay loft) into the tack room.
More barn/house porn:
http://www.barnpros.com/barn-plans-products.aspx?itemid=1438&pagetitle=Barn+Homes
Once I get moved into the farm I’m building in New Hampshire (currently waiting for the Fairpoint strike to end so I can get the electricity installed)…
I’m going to connect the house with a enclosed tunnel to a separate mudroom shack, then connect that to the garage, then connect that to the barn. The overall length of the straight line complex will be about 200 ft. Thus, I can get up in the morning, and then leisurely stroll out to the barn in my PJ’s to check on the horsies. The tunnels will be metal frame, with corrugated steel sheet walls and clear sheets on top for lighting. There will be partition doors between the sections. The whole thing will resemble the International Space Station laying in a field when I’m done. Modules plugged together…
My son and DIL recently bought a barn converted to a house with a portion of the original barn still equipped for horses. They walk from their bedroom through a “vestibule” into the barn which currently houses 4 racehorses and 2 minis. There is room for hay storage and their chickens as well. It is an old structure but elements of the barn are incorporated into the living space such as massive beams and hardware that someone had the good sense to preserve. The previous owner put in new efficient windows, durable laminate flooring throughout (not as desirable as hardwood) and the square footage is huge which accomodates this 3 dog, 3 children family. While areas of the house and property are rustic, I think it is really cool and very unique. The jury is out until more time is spent on the property, especially when warm weather hits but so far they are delighted.
If you are concerned about resale, you can design so that the barn could easily be converted to shop/garage. The breezeway connection would lend itself well to this.
We seriously considered an apartment/garage design, as our short horses do not need high ceilings. We seldom stall them, so this area could also double as a music rehearsal and art studio. We found a great hillside plan, but our property is not really sloped enough for this, and a true house-over-garage/barn would not work well for aging in place.
My barn, kennel, and house are all separate, though close, and our climate in NC is relatively mild so it is not too bad.
But, I have a friend, who also has Irish Wolfounds and horses, who has her house, barn, and kennel all connected in a courtyard layout. There is a laundry room and garage between the barn and the house. It is fabulous, and I am always green with envy when I visit! I wouldso love to be all connected!
[QUOTE=cowboymom;7931163]
I want to do this with our next house, somehow. I have a friend that has a regular barn with the living quarters in one half and it’s a great house, they just divided it in the middle and there is a door in the utility room that goes to the barn. The utility room was the buffer and the door opened to the center aisle of the barn. I loved it there!
Screw the insurance companies, I refuse to let them tell me how to live. I get so tired of people fussing about what the insurance companies will let them do. Statefarm is not here to help me do the chores on mornings like this when it’s -30.[/QUOTE]
If they will not cover you, what are you going to do, have no insurance?
I just have to ask…I lived in 2 Apartments over barns…and no matter how clean the barns were kept nor how many doors and windows.open or ventilated My apartments always smelled like well a Barn…for me was fine but guests especially those with allergies suffered…
I am in Minnesota. I would worry about dust, rodents, moisture, and fire. I have seen a lot of apartments built into arenas here but they are usually abandoned after too long. I am guessing construction standards were not very high. At least they didn’t LOOK very high. I would love to do this but more as linked not constructed together. Ultimately, it is the hay storage part that raises the fire risk and if you are in a cold state and the hay barn is set off separately you have the bad cold and snow and wind days to deal with and you are not staying in your jammies happily. I have seen fire walls in barn construction and I would say that they will perhaps slow down a fire but not stop a fire. PatO
In the plans I had drawn up, the buildings form a “U”; a “L” shaped barn is attached to the house so there is an interior courtyard. All the stalls are along the outside of the “L”; the aisle faces into the courtyard.
The windows facing into the courtyard are large divided light windows, so when you are sitting in the (flagstone) courtyard, it feels like you are surrounded by a big house.
The connection between the house and barn gives you a graduated way to move from one to another. From the barn, you go from the working tack room, (shelves/cupboards and big sink for doing tack and mixing feed) to the formal tack room (clean saddles and bridles and hardwood floor) to the mud room for the house and then into the house.
The plans are wonderful and I cannot wait to build the house/barn. But right now I have a nice farm with the barn separated (by a flowing 11 strides, or a quiet 12 strides 
) from the house.
Someday…
The place I boarded at in RI had a house attached. From inside the house you walked into an 8 stall portion with laundry and lounge at the end. That was attached to the indoor arena. On the other side of the arena was a wash stall, grooming stall and 20 more stalls.
I have been in two.
One had the house/apartment connected to the indoor arena which was connected to the barn.
The other had the house with attached garage. A door from the garage lead into the barn aisle.
It would be nice on a freezing cold morning not to have to go outside first thing to do chores, hah. The second facility foaled out some horses, so I imagine that was extra cozy just to wander out of the house, through the garage, and into the heated portion of the barn.
MLS Number 4335623 (22 Dutton Road in Temple)
This is more accurately described as a barn with an attached house, but I have been fascinated with this one ever since seeing it listed (it’s been for sale for awhile; I’m not in the market, but if I win the lottery that I always forget to play…) . I traditionally like the old-fashioned New England farmhouse with barn “attached off the back,” and I love the idea of courtyard barns if I could figure out how to make them efficient, but still. There’s just something about this one. Obviously you’d hear it if any crises came up in the middle of the night (though this place has live video anyway).
The initial owners of this property built a 9 stall barn, tack room and house under one roof. It is an elongated C - the tack room and 6 stalls make the spine with a 12’+ aisle. 3 Stalls are at the top of the C and our small house is at the bottom. An open “wash rack” is between the house and the tack room. I like being so close to the horses, but don’t like the layout of the house. Will redo when we win the lottery
Will post pictures of the barn and “front door” of the house from one of the snow’s last winter once I figure out what is needed.
There are a ton of these out in my neck in the woods. Two main styles:
Barn and house attached via breeze way.
This is what we have. You transition from the house through a mud room/hallway and a door leads directly into the barn tackroom. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I do. It’s FABULOUS for rainy days, night checks, colic watch, etc. You can just walk out in your PJs and check what needs checking, without dealing with the elements. Also, no need to have a bathroom or sink in the barn, as the house bathroom is literally just yards away. The plus side of this plan is the house and barn can both be independently as large/small as you need, but the “footprint” is big, and you need to have a property that can accommodate that size. Also, having the house attached to the barn limits the 360 space around the barn if you’re trying to maximize easy-access paddocks and runs.
Barn on ground floor, house/apartment over it. I’ve seen several of these. You need to have a large enough barn to support a large-enough house (ie, probably not suitable for a 2-stall job - a 4 stall w/ tack and feed rooms is just enough square footage for a small 1-BR apartment). the “footprint” of the overall structure is smaller than the above setup, and the heat from the barn helps insulate the house portion. It does preclude the option of having a hay loft, so you’d need to figure out alternative hay storage. You also always have to climb stairs to/from your house.
I can’t speak to the insurance considerations, but even in a relatively mild climate, I love the convenience of having the horses right next door, and it’s SO nice when it’s dark and snowy and you have to go feed. You don’t have to slip around or get wet if you never leave the building…
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