Someone actually called me back! :lol:
What would you consider the minimum safe height for the end of an overhang coming off the barn that will be over runs off of stalls? Building guy says a 12’ overhang gives me an 8’ clearance at the end. Is that enough? The ground slopes away from the barn, so we’ll end up with a bit more height vs a straight line from the barn.
Also: ceiling in the overhang? Can’t say I’ve ever seen one done that way. Thoughts?
I’d want closer to 12’ than 8’, personally.
Ours ended up 9’10" in the quarantine barn, 11’ 9" in the main barn.
Either works fine for our horses.
I have seen some as low as 7’, the size of many stall doors and that is really so low a horse can chew on it or bang it’s head if it runs in under there playing around.
Then, the higher you go, the less protection you are getting under there when it blows and rains or snows.
It could depend on the roof pitch he is figuring, according to what your weather and building demands.
You can make most anything work, but a bit higher is better than too low.
Go as high as you can manage.
Barn wall is 12’, so we’re coming down from there. 8’ does seem short looking at the barn, although maybe not so bad with the slope.
From what I understand, only way to go higher is to make overhang less deep. Still has to have enough pitch to shed snow.
Builder guy is coming out to chat sometime soon, so we will see what he says…
8’ seems low to me. Mine is 10’ at the lowest, I think. We only did a 10’ wide overhang and that has worked fine for us; if we’d gone to 12’ wide, that probably would have brought the roof down too low, just like you are dealing with.
We did ours with an open ceiling, no trusses and not closed in, as that helps with airflow. When we added a new section on to the barn that is a stall and wash rack, those areas did use trusses and I did a closed ceiling of plywood. Oh, wow, that makes a big difference in air flow! It is okay here where we don’t often have extreme temps, but would hate it in a hot area.
I would not give up the 12’ overhang. I have 8’ overhangs and wish they were 12’. Maybe the barn could be a foot higher.
[QUOTE=AKB;7798159]
I would not give up the 12’ overhang. I have 8’ overhangs and wish they were 12’. Maybe the barn could be a foot higher.[/QUOTE]
:lol:
The barn is already built, so that will be tough.
(We just moved here–barn was put in by previous owners.)
What is your roof pitch?
Most houses here are 6/12, barns less steep, our is 2/12.
We have a problem with the front overhang on the gable, that is at 16’ and we want to keep at least 14’ clearance for trucks on an 18’ or 20’ overhang, so we will have to go with 1/12 pitch there and make the framing stout enough to hold that much weight in snow as will sit there.
Especially in very cold climates as you are, 8’ may not be too low and will keep more snow out and a bit more heath in, if it doesn’t fill with wrap-around snow under there.
With overhangs, you have so much better protection under there, but also that won’t be that protected, it will get rained and snowed in.
The further North you go, the less people can use overhangs because of that.
In blizzards here, there has, sadly, been livestock, including horses, lost when they were under an overhang, like a shed, without stalls to get in and that space ended up so full of snow they smothered.
If your overhang has stalls for horses to get out of the weather, they should be fine.
Depending on how much of a slope there is from the barn I might be comfortable with 8’. Without the slope I’m not sure if that is enough clearance. Then again I see pictures of people’s horses in old, converted dairy barns with very low ceilings and it seems to work for them. I always think my horses would continually bang their heads on the ceilings but that would be my luck, apparently not theirs?!
You are looking at a 4/12 pitch. you might get away with a 3/12 pitch for just the over hang and that would bring the over hang to 9’ high.
Here are some pictures:
And the back of the barn. Those two windows will be replaced with dutch doors.
I will talk to the builder guy about the 3/12 pitch, Eleanor. Thanks for the tip!
(Wow, I just ran across this pic in my files. Terrible shot of the horse, but excellent shot of the shed where we used to board. That was TOO LOW and Seven scalped herself on that back corner there. The horse is right about 16 hands. Back of the shed is 6’? Front is 7’ or 7’6"?)
The builder doesn’t has to match the pitch of the roof when adding to the side of that barn, that has a finished roof, either way would befine.
Standard doors as those are 7’, so he would come one foot above that at the front.
Do ask him if it would work to have less pitch to the roof of the shed and so more height in front, he may think is ok.
That is a beautiful barn.
I forgot to say, it looks like you have at least 14’ eaves, looking at the standard 7’ people door there.
I was wondering why the builder is talking only going 12’ on the overhang, not a big higher, which would give you more height in front?
Maybe because of the looks of the roof lines?
http://www.horsegroomingsupplies.com/horse-forums/our-horse-barn-new-overhang-148575.html
Here are pictures of two barns, off the internet, with overhangs.
The left one seems to be about 10’ in front.
The bright red one right has 8’ fronts and they seem to be using it like that on the horse side also:
Bluey beat me to it. The pitch on the overhang is commonly different than the main barn roof. I like her examples which wrap around.
Your photos show, as you indicated, a slope away from the barn. Are you going to have a step down outside of the stall? It seems like a 6" or 7" step down would be a good idea, and then a gentle slope down which would add a few more inches, bringing you closer to 9’ at the outside of your run in. I’ll bet you could get your builder to design it so you have a little more clearance. I would want at least 9’, myself. The sun shelters which I have at my current barn are a little higher than 9’ and they work really well. Even my tallest horse cannot hit her head on that unless she rears up.
Here are two more examples where the roof is continuous with a change in pitch over the run in:
https://i5.newhorse.com/dynamic/thumbs/2012/07/26/52fe725444af0.1.jpg
https://i3.newhorse.com/dynamic/thumbs/2014/05/02/536384b47c4d5.1.jpg
Here is a photo where the roof attaches to the side of the barn instead of continuing from the barn roof. I would think your builder would be doing this because it seems a lot simpler to just attach a ledger board to the side of the barn and go from there, rather than messing with the existing roof:
http://ferrellhollowfarm.typepad.com/.a/6a01156fa5b26f970c01156fba4dd5970c-800wi
http://www.barns.com/images/Metal_Barn_72.jpg
http://www.freewallsource.com/barn-wallpaper-7206.html
This is now a house but it illustrates the change in pitch of the roof connections to the side of the barn:
http://cdn.freshome.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/rustic-barn-conversion-outdoors.jpg
Sides are enclosed in this photo but it shows the look of different roof pitches and a roof-to-side-of-barn attachment:
http://www.sandcreekpostandbeam.com/content/Images/products/traditional_wood_barns/header.jpg
This barn looks nice. It looks like the overhang is only about 8’ deep, but the back half of the building looks closer to the size of your barn and shows an attractive connection between the main barn and the run in (again, just looking at the back portion with the taller roof and how the shed roof attaches to the side):
http://www.usabarn.com/images/Barn4.jpg
This is probably the closest to your barn, size-wise. This barn is similar to yours, although I think it is not as tall as yours (at the sides) and the roof pitch is a hair steeper. But you can see the run ins attached to the side of the barn with a shallower pitched roof. I’m guessing their run in is only about 8’ deep, but it gives a nice picture:
http://www.polebarns-colorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/stall-barn.jpg
OMG – just for fun and totally off topic, look at this metal barn which was turned into a house! Very cool!
http://prefabcosm.com/media/photos/2007/12/31/redbarn.jpg
The builder has already said that he will change the pitch for the overhang 
I measured the eves at 12’–definitely not 14’.
Love the big glass doors here!
http://prefabcosm.com/media/photos/2007/12/31/redbarn.jpg
Wow!!
Builder Guy will be out early next week. I will report back when he’s able to do a walk around and we can talk nitty gritty details live.
My two cents–I wouldn’t have a problem with 8’–particularly in MN. Also, your ground slopes away, so that is helpful with the height too.
I did the front of my run in approx. 8’ and I could have done anything up to 12’. Any higher and I felt wasn’t getting enough shelter/snow break.
Just my opinion.
FYI, I meant 8’ of head clearance at the very end–because it will block more weather/wind vs. a high clearance and because of your slope. I would want the actual overhang to be as long/deep as possible.
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