Building with barn-house-plans

barnhouse

Building with barn-house-plans is an exceptionally good idea if that is what you want. The house design is one of the most economical to build and to heat and cool. But it looks like a barn.

When you estimate how much money you will save by building a gambrel type home, you just might forget that the house looks like a barn.
The combined roof/second floor is what makes it easy and economical to build. It's what also makes it easy to heat and cool. The design is very strong to withstand heavy ice and snow loads.
The construction of gambrel homes needs a good foundation.
There are a few different ways to frame the walls, but I prefer to build them, then stand them up.

After the exterior walls are secured, you can make them stronger by sheathing them with plywood or OSB. Now, the part that makes the house look like a barn is the gambrell roof. These types of roofs are stronger with metal roofing. You can choose the type of siding to use by what's popular and efficient in your local area.

This is the floor plan of our home. We tried to utilize the space as best as we could. The upstairs walls can be a little tricky because of the slant.

The barn-house-plans use the same kind of foundation as any other homes. You have to design a strong foundation with footings that will accommodate the weight of two floors.
You will have to pour the footings and the foundation wall separately to let the footings cure. I would wait at least one week between the two. Besides, construction of the forms for the foundation can start just a few days after the footings are poured.Now, the foundation wall obviously goes on top of the footings. The building codes will determine its height. The codes will also determine the thickness requirements of the foundation wall. I went with an 8� thick foundation.

After you have the foundation finished, you will need to start with the rim joist and make a box to nail the floor joists to.

You will need to attach the floor joists so the floor is strong. You can find more information on floors and foundations on the other web pages on this site.

Now is also a good time to run water lines and even electrical wires under the floor along the joists. Remember, it�s much easier to do it at this point than to be crawling around dragging your tools along with you in the dark.
Now the floor joists are ready for the sub-floor. This is where you find out why it�s so important to have the foundation in square. You can use plywood or wafer-board (OSB) for the sub-floor. Many Carpenters like to use tongue-in-groove sheets for flooring because it has a better fit and the floor is less likely to squeak. The thickness of the plywood or wafer-board needs to be at least 5/8� thick. Start at any corner and lay the sheet down so it fits tightly into the corner. It will extend to the floor joists in even measurements if you use 16� centers or 24� centers. You can use 8d nails to fasten the sub-floor to the joists. Offset the plywood joints or straddle them for extra strength.

The floor of the barn-house-plans is the same as most other floors. As you can see in the fuzzy picture above, the floor needs a sill plate around the perimeter to attach the wall framing.

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