Question about converting an old barn into a garage

[kossuth]

I was pondering if any of you have undertaken this task. Many of the older bank barns have drive in haylofts which have been reinforced to hold tractors and such over the years. Anybody ever take one of these old barns and turn the upper area into a garage/shop with lifts and use the former downstairs for something like a woodshop etc?

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, this is a typical bank barn.

 

[ard]

Prolly could, pretty easy to engineer a floor system. However in my experience the lower floor doesnt give you much headroom. Very lucky to get 8. There was a recent thread on pre-formed concrete floor panels- spancrete is one.

 

[zoomzoomjeff]

He's talking about the side hill doors. The "2nd" floor. I always remember them looking huge inside, like 12 feet of headroom or more before encountering any truss or crossbeams. But aplenty space between beams to fit a lift.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[matt_i]

I've lusted after one of these for my entire life...

But now realize there's some limitations.

- its incremental damage this far since it was new is important. Otherwise said, one with a good, maintained roof is going to be way ahead. The one pictured has a concrete foundation which is a huge plus in my mind. Many are built with cobblestone or no foundations, and the barn boards rotted away 2" up from the ground. Back to the roof, putting a new roof on one is going to be a large expense, and dangerous at that. Typically they are quite tall and very steep pitches on the lower planes of the gambrel. To add, also if the roof has been compromised there could be structural issues due to localized rotting of the frame.

- imo must fix all windows, especially the one a mile up there under the peak and exclude birds at all costs. Otherwise they are going to poop bomb the entire thing underneath, which is dirty and disgusting and will continue until the birds are excluded.

- they are largely unsealed. Its perfect as a dry unheated storage facility using "scrap" lumber culled from turning forests into fields. The slider doors don't seal, the barn boards aren't tight (typically can go inside and have beams of daylight all over). And so, I think one would have to build a building inside of a building, in some fraction of it, to stay comfortable. See also, mice like them due to easy egress. The heavy plank floors also add an element of unsealed construction over something like a concrete slab.

Relative to a lift, I think only a 4 poster would be appropriate without mods unless one could engineer steel beams or a large steel plate into the structure. A 2 poster has some tipover moment depending on how its loaded. The design relies on the footprint of the base plus the anchors into the concrete slab to resist this. In the barn it would typically be anchors into wood beams, which could be done but its not a gimme and would require perfect spacing with the beams. The steel plate (like heavy, 1" thick A36) could bridge between the lift and structure. There's also the issue of vertical support underneath as well. Adding multiple columns with footings directly below the lift area would be quite important as flex that you can feel is unsettling.

That all said, I still want one.