Building a barn in North Carolina

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angelridge

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Hi everyone,

As some of you know, we are moving to Shelby NC after the first of the year.

We are going up this weekend to map out a place to put the barn.

It will be 30X70.

I cannot decide if it should be wood, metal or concrete block.

I know concrete is the best way to go,, but we would have to have it all hired out and I know block will NOT be cheap! But there again,, a nice block barn would add value to the property.

Has anyone built a block or wood barn lately and can give me price comparisons to use?

And the roof will probably be galvalume,, should we unsulate the roof?

I know barns here in FL have the roof insulated to help with keep the heat out of the barn,, and it does work! But what about for keep the barn warm in winter in NC?

I have lived in FL all my life and this will be a huge climate/culture change for me.

I want to build it right the first time as I spend a HUGE amount of time in it!! LOL!
 
First thing that comes to mind is....needs to be bigger. Wider. Mine is 32x42. Wish my big doors were 10 ft instead of 8 ft. I'd do overhead doors and not sliders too. Think of being able to drive through if needed. How many stalls, definitely a feed room, hay room, bedding room as well. I lack storage. Mine is metal. Never again. I have a concrete pad, which I love, but the exterior is steel with pink foam isulation and rough cut amish lumber (hemlock) inside on all the walls floor to ceiling. Biggest complaint...HOT in summer....ceiling DRIPS winter condensation all over everything. Go with a nice block foundation, concrete flooring and the old fashioned wood barn. Best of luck.

Oh and electric at each stall, a plug and a lite in each stall. Have your water hydrant at one end of the barn IN the barn, a huge runin shed attached to the end of the barn exit with electric too, our fencer is in the runin and boxed with wood, there is a plug for 6 different things and a lite in one end.
 
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You know how bad wood rots and gets termites in Florida so Jerry did not want a stick built barn at all. He said this one was going to "stay put" and be maintence free for him as much as possible.

You should have your pad bulldozed up now so that it can have a few months to settle before you build on it. Mine was pushed up a year in advance and settled 8 inches. Make sure you have ditching all around it for easy water drainage.

If you do go with ruff sawn wood from the mills, you can get that now as well because ruff wood has to dry out for a period of time too or it will twist on you, if you have a place to put it under cover somehow.

We laid our own block, and USB board became my new best friend. That's what the builders use to build houses with. The concrete is the same price as using wood to date.

Stay clear of metal roofing if you can. Just as Debi said, it's horrible in the winter. My present stalls are under a stupid lousy tin roof and I tell you that in the winter, due to the condensation, the water beads up on the inside of the metal roof and then begins to drip like crazy. Sometimes when the snow is melting, it actually is "raining" in the stalls. Gets my horses soaking wet and the bedding. It's a disaster.

Our roof is a regular tar paper and shingle roof.

I also have a freeze proof water spicket thingy, but frost proof or not, it's inside the barn again such as Debi suggests. YIP YIP YIP. I'm finally getting hot water in there too so no more hauling hot water from the house.

Our barn has a full upstairs loft for storage and eventually a part of it will be a little guest room. I was very firm that I did not want to store hay in the loft for safety reasons, so I have another place for hay storage.

The outside of one side of the barn will have an overhang to park the horse trailer and a bin to store a load of shavings.

I think you should visit my website and click on Diary of the Barn and there are step by steps there that we have taken to get our's done with pricing so that should help give you some idea.
 
About metal roofing: We used a vapor barrier on the roof so we did not have to worry about the dripping of condensation. It was only about 17 cents a square foot.

Fran
 
I had wondered if I should go to 32, my stalls will be 10X10 and then a 10 or maybe now a 12 ft aisleway. Thanks!

I went to your sight Marty and checked out your barn diary,, Very nice barn,, but I will have to hire someone to lay the block and that will cost as much as materials,,, but my husband can do the woodwork. I got a guy who is supposed to call me tonight to give me an idea of what i am looking at,, I never knew about the condensation! Thanks for the tips on that and to use the vapor barrier.

We are going to have the pad made ASAP, and then start on the barn in a month or two.

And water INSIDE the barn,, is that to help keep it from freezing I guess?

And overhead doors?? Is that like a garage door that rolls up?

Angie
 
We are in Mt Pleasant which is 20 miles east of Charoltte. My husband built a wooden pole barn. We do have the slide doors and I like mine. face it north where the sun will not rise or set on the center asile but the wind will blow threw it in the summer. you can close it up in the winter. And leave room to add on. We used the Endoura Roofing from lowes. Its a little higher , has a lifetime warnety and keeps it warmer in winter and cooler in summer. And leave room to add on. Need the wide center asile to drive through to unload feed and stuff. The only thing I hate is we did not leave a larger access to the loft. I would have been easier to unload hay with a large front open window. And leave room to add on. Here are a couple shots of our barn I really love it. Its pretty simple but nice enougth to pull out the chairs and socialize .

This is the Center asile, we also added on a back asile. Its jsut wide enought to lead the horses through. We have four doors and each open to a different pasture. Makes it easy to bring them in and feed and turn back out.

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Here is a pic of the front side of the barn

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Oh and did I say leave room to add on. ??
 
DRAINAGE...DRAINAGE...AND MORE DRAINAGE.
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Make sure you build up the floor of the barn with very good drainage before building...because it is very hard to do AFTERWARDS.
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And, oh yes.....electric outlets at every stall. We just had to put those in this year so I can use electric buckets this winter.
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I have a wood barn with metal roof, dirt floors. I put footings and cinder block foundation first....three block high. While my barn is built on nice high land, the footings and block prevent seepage from rains and the issues with wood rot from bedding, urine, etc. on the wood. And, I used treated lumber. The roof panels are the expensive galvalume which does reflect much of the sun's heat in summer. About ever 2nd or 3rd panel is a translucent one from same company. It allows a great deal of natural light and sure makes for a more pleasant barn. I have not had issues with condensation. BUT, I allowed for a lot of air circulation.

I use mats on the front 2/3 of stalls, only bed back area. My 14X14 tack room has a concrete floor, toilet, sink, etc. I have separate storage for hay & keep only a few bales in barn.

Water is inside and I just run a heat tape, under the pipe "wrap around" insulation on the line from ground to spigot, no problems in 6 yrs. The lines go underground from barn to all fields, a distance of 1/4 mile back. I'm in VA, and colder than NC. We don't have the extremes of Northern states but, certainly colder than FL. You will think it is extreme the first winter, then adjust
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Cinder block would be wonderful but not in my budget. I'm happy with my wood one. And we don't have the termite problems as Florida is famous for....along with those darned fire ants!
 
We've had a wood barn with metal roof for the last 20 years. Termites have convinced me to go to a pole barn with metal siding, and I will do metal roof again (this time with better insulation) as we've never had a problem with condensation here. Yes to things already mentioned, like separate switches and plugs at each stall and a wide aisleway. My old barn has a 10' aisle....a tight squeeze with a truck and hay trailer. New one is 14', big enough for a party LOL. The barn is going to be 38' x 104', with stalls all the way down one side. The other side on one end is hay, feed, tack and wash rack and at the other end a small apartment where we will be living in rather tight quarters for the next 6-8 months while we build a house.
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Jan
 
Thanks to everyone for your input! Lots of GREAT ideas! I am going to copy and save these posts to my barn building folder.

Keep them coming!
 
Mary--can I move into one of your stalls? Please?
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Okay, once you move to NC and while you wait for your barn to be built, the first thing you need to do is come to a meeting and join the East Coast Miniature Horse Club.
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Really--great group of people and a wonderful support group for our little "habit". Welcome!

-Amy
 
I don't have any suggestions for your new barn - I'm saving this info to my "hopefully new barn in TN" folder. I wish you the very best of luck. Can't believe we're even considering a move - oh well, we'll see what happens. I'm ready - so tired of worrying about hurricanes, not to mention the heat (although one of the big question marks for us is the cold). Keep us posted on your progress - pictures would be nice.

Barbie
 

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