Help needed to design a new pole barn

[Hemi Joel]

Hi, I'm new here. I've lurked before, but this is my first log in.

I was hoping to tap into the collective genius of the Gaarage journal, because I need ideas for my potential building project. So here is the story. I currently have a pole barn where I work on my cars and store them. The problem is that besides being cramped for space, working on cars is so dirty, and raises so much dust, and accumulates so much clutter. So my nice cars that are "done" get dirty fast, and it's hard to get them in and out because there is always something in the way. Plus my camper and enclosed trailer either sit out and rot, or sometimes the camper is inside and hogs up even more space in the barn, making the situation even worse. THe snow caved in the roof of my trailer, so I sold it and ordered a new one. I want to keep it inside as well.
So my idea is to build another pole barn that would house about 10 cars, in a manner that at least 3 could easily get in and out without moving anything else, and the rest could get out with a little shuffling. Hopefully in a manner that displays them well when I have visitors, and room for my small collectible junk to be displayed. And somehow be able to store the camper and trailer in the same building, in an area partitioned off.

Where I am puzzled is how to make a bay with a 12' wide x 14' tall overhead door, at least 15' wide by 55' long, for the camper and trailer but yet have a showroom area that is not that tall, and have a buiding that looks good, and proportional from the outside. Maybe I am overthinking, but it seems if I have a box that holds 10 cars with a 16'ceiling, it will look too tall and boxy inside and outside too. Plus I want as few doors as possible for energy efficiency and for budget purposes try to keep it simple and under 4000 square feet.

Any ideas? THanks, Joel

 

[NUTTSGT]

Do the camper and trailer need to be completely out of the weather or just off their top ? Would putting an open air lean-to off one side do the job ?

 

[Ray916MN]

56x70 building won't look tall and boxy at all. Think about it this way, if you had an 8000 sq. ft. 2 story home with 4000 sq. ft. on each floor, it would look proportional.

Make a pull through 15' wide along the 56 length with a door on each end for the trailers. Makes it easy to park or pull out either trailer without having to move anything else. This leaves you 56x55 space for the cars. On the other 56' long wall put two 20' wide garage doors and an 8' wide door. 5 cars get direct access through the garage doors to the outside and 5 get parked in. Put a 20' wide mezzanine or second floor for an entertaining and display area in the center of the building located to provide a birds eye view of the cars you want to display. By locating the second floor or mezzanine in the center of the building you leave enough ceiling height and depth so you get 4 post lifts later to add parking for more cars, or you leave a work area and display area with enough ceiling height for drama and a 2 post to do service work on. If you want to isolate the work area from the display area, build a wall. Install 3 zone heat, so you can heat the work area, display area, or entertainment area or all three if you want, while always leaving the trailer parking area cold. Finally install "second floor" exterior windows for ventilation and to make the building look like it has a second floor so it doesn't look as boxy.

 

[Voi]

Here is a previous thread that went into camper storage a bit. I don't believe it expresses your specific concerns but might be worth a read anyways.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=287231

Otherwise, I'm trying to visualize if some sort of offset gable, like the type you see with clerestory windows, would accomplish what you want.

Something like this?

 

[Hemi Joel]

Do the camper and trailer need to be completely out of the weather or just off their top ? Would putting an open air lean-to off one side do the job ?

A lean too would be better than nothing,
but completely inside would be ideal.

 

[Hemi Joel]

56x70 building won't look tall and boxy at all. Think about it this way, if you had an 8000 sq. ft. 2 story home with 4000 sq. ft. on each floor, it would look proportional.

Make a pull through 15' wide along the 56 length with a door on each end for the trailers. Makes it easy to park or pull out either trailer without having to move anything else. This leaves you 56x55 space for the cars. On the other 56' long wall put two 20' wide garage doors and an 8' wide door. 5 cars get direct access through the garage doors to the outside and 5 get parked in. Put a 20' wide mezzanine or second floor for an entertaining and display area in the center of the building located to provide a birds eye view of the cars you want to display. By locating the second floor or mezzanine in the center of the building you leave enough ceiling height and depth so you get 4 post lifts later to add parking for more cars, or you leave a work area and display area with enough ceiling height for drama and a 2 post to do service work on. If you want to isolate the work area from the display area, build a wall. Install 3 zone heat, so you can heat the work area, display area, or entertainment area or all three if you want, while always leaving the trailer parking area cold. Finally install "second floor" exterior windows for ventilation and to make the building look like it has a second floor so it doesn't look as boxy.

Ray, we are almost neighbors. I'm about 20 miles away.You have some good ideas, thanks. I like the idea of a pull through! No service will ever happen in here, I have the other shop for that. This will be the clean place.

 

[Hemi Joel]

Here is a previous thread that went into camper storage a bit. I don't believe it expresses your specific concerns but might be worth a read anyways.

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=287231

Otherwise, I'm trying to visualize if some sort of offset gable, like the type you see with clerestory windows, would accomplish what you want.

Something like this?

Maybe if the eave is lower on one side than the other?

 

[Voi]

Maybe if the eave is lower on one side than the other?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Adjust roof pitch and sidewall heights to get what you want.

I don't know how such a roof is normally built much less if there is a way to do it without some center support. Nor what it would cost.

 

[Ray916MN]

Ray, we are almost neighbors. I'm about 20 miles away.You have some good ideas, thanks. I like the idea of a pull through! No service will ever happen in here, I have the other shop for that. This will be the clean place.

Howdy near neighbor!

If you haven't already gone to one of Cars and Coffee events http://www.mncandc.com/ down at the AutoMotorPlex in Chanhassen, you should try to go to one. Lotta good ideas down there (as well as some really nice cars).

If you're not going to do a work space, then it would probably be nicer to just make a mezzanine or second floor over one end of the display area. This will give you a much clearer and cleaner view of all of the cars and make it easier to have exterior windows in the entertainment area. Be really nice to have an exterior deck off the entertainment area too! You'll see all this stuff down at the AutoMotorPlex in Chanhassen.

 

[NUTTSGT]

A lean too would be better than nothing,
but completely inside would be ideal.

If it's a money situation, you could add the lean-to when it's built. Then in a year or two, concrete it and follow the same time frame and close it in.

 

[jonjon1]

I would go for something as small as physically possible, this is going to be the most cost effective, obviously, lol... Less taxes, less energy, less labor, less materials, LESS MONEY.. And you wont have a big huge building in your yard.

Heres what I would do, I drew this up quick for you, total sq ft would only be 1625 and you can store your camper and 8 cars. The roof possibilities are endless you could do basic pitched cape style, or you could start with 11ft walls and pitch up to a wall then another roof in the center.... you could put that 15x15 bump out in the front or the back of the building and you can put doors on both or one side...

roof like this with windows in the high wall for free light.

tons of possibilities for the roof, heres what i am thinking, you can see it in the back,

heres are some others of different roofs..

 

[Voi]

Was watching a cabin building show last night and they mentioned something called a salt box roof.

So I just googled "Salt box pole barn" and here are some images I found.

There are more images, not all of them with the overhead door on the gable, but they do better show two different sidewall heights. Tried to post a couple more but they got blank X's when I previewed the post.

Are you okay with the camper backed into the middle stall or do you want it tucked to one side?