I'm not sure about the cost on the radiant flooring, but my plan was to have a water heater and a pump to circulate the heated water through the floor. I wouldn't think the electric costs would be that much because the water wouldn't lose that much heat before it is recycled back into the tank. I have carpet in the living areas and stained concrete in the Kitchen, den, bathrooms and laundry room. I get lots of complements on the look of the stained concrete, but I wouldn't want it throughout the house.
Any time, and whenever you want to come and take a look, just let me know. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk
Joining in late here and didn't read through the whole thread but I've got some firsthand knowledge on the bardominiums cole. My inlaws built one as their "guesthouse/bunkhouse" to live in while they built their retirement home. It's a 50x40. The half with living quarters has 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, laundry, kitchen, and living room, with an office space and walk in closet up stairs with the 2 spare bedrooms. The other half houses a feed truck, skid steer, sometimes the JD 4020, and other necessary ranch supplies. It's a pretty sweet setup when company comes to stay. My in laws are awesome folks and I have to admit they were smart when they planned this. They don't want any family crashing in on them so they built a 3,000 sq ft 1 bedroom retirement home haha and when folks come to stay they get put in the bunkhouse. My wife and I are hoping to get our barndomonium built in 2015. We've dug our wells and got electricity on site finally. Our plan is for a 50x40 on our house. We want an 18 ft beam so we can loft a jack and kill bed/bath setup and an office space. Then we've planned a 12x12 enclosed breezeway/mudroom leading to a 30x45 building which will serve as our garage and my shop on the lower. My beer room/man cave will be on the upper floor. If you'd like I can send you pictures of my inlaws place to give you some ideas
Yeah man, I'd love to see it. Is it a steel framed building or the pole barn style that Skywalker has? We are only in the planning stage, and we just started like a week ago, so there is plenty of time for suggestions
I have no experience building them, but we've had several metal buildings built at our cabin (Amish). Great option, quick to go up, and if done right, very low maintenance. This guy over on QDMA has another build for some ideas in case you want to check his thread out (final structure is on the first page, but he updates the interior over the course of the first few pages).
Location is 90% of the answer to your question. It all depends on the area. For example in the part of NY I live in is inundated with zoning restrictions and building codes that would most likely cut on the cost benefit ratio down significantly. Just the facade alone wouldn't get though most zoning boards around here as a residential structure. Then add to that the potential downside on resale. No matter how much the curb appeal you build into the structure your still limiting the amount of potential buyers because of how unconventional it is for the area. So it really becomes an issue of location, as most real-estate decisions are.......
Luckily, around here the zoning shouldn't be an issue. I know of 3 people that have done this, and one of them is less than 400 yards from where I am planning on building. Basically my dilemma now is whether to build a true steel building, or a pole barn style home. It would be easier to build a taller and wider building using the steel beams and trusses, but it is also harder to frame out and finish the interior. But I think it will make for a better shop area at the same time.
I have no input on any if this, but would be willing to come out and help....oh let's say October-Novemberish....
Those are everywhere here...favorite of the Amish to do. Just make sure the part that you decide to live in is well insulated and designed cuz they can cost more to heat if you sluff on that part. In one of the counties I work in a gentleman (not Amish) spent over 500K on one. Thing was ridiculous. From the road all you see is a metal style pole barn with 3 or 4 overhead garage doors and one normal entry door.... ....go around the back facing away from the road, and you have awesome large windows on the upper and lower story of the structure overlooking a pond...dug out (built in a hillside) patio with firepit/hot tub and stuff. Inside was ridiculous! Absolutely amazing! Anyone who doesn't visit the property would only see metal pole barn (kit building)....
My landlord has two pole style buildings that are both (I think) 70x120 with 12' eaves and they are trussed the full width with no poles between the exterior walls. I've seen some metal buildings with rust issues. So, point is that both the positives and negatives that people commonly assume between the two, aren't always true. They didn't even use poles but instead sandwiched 2x8's together which also hold the trusses on 10' centers at the top....I was and remain impressed with the method they used to build those sheds.
Most companies use the sandwhiched poles anymore. Cleary buildings use them too. We just had new shop built and that's what the used too. The one my buddie just built is 48x64 with 16' sidewalls. Its mainly goning to be s shop but he's goin to put in a office, bathroom, and room upstairs to use as bedroom/living room. Basically its goin to be set up to live in but not primary function. We did the concrete and then somebody else built the shell. When building it they put this stuff that looks like bubble wrap on sidewalls and roof then had another guy come in and blow in insulation on the walls and will come back and do the ceiling. He claims once all done it will hold 40-50 degrees with barely any heat. We've been working inside past couple weeks and with a decent sized gas heater similar to a salamander its stayed warm enough to work in a light jacket. Doing a lot of the inside stuff ourselves has cut down on his cost along with doin the concrete work.
That is pretty much what I am going for. I will do the concrete, put up the shell, frame and drywall the interior, and run the electrical through the building. I think that will save a ton of money. I will have help doing this stuff of course, but I won't be paying a crew to do it for me.
Yea its always better to do the stuff yourself if you can. It was for the same guy I work for and he ain't real big on building so somebody else did the shell and we did concrete before the tin went up. Having help is definitely a plus, we got buddies that will come in and do electric but everything else we did. Can try to get some pics but honesty its just a basic shop like anybody else's ha.
Ours are true steel framed and not pole barn style. Also, something to think about when u insulate, fiberglass is a pain!!!! We had ours spray foamed 6" thick. It's great. So Quiet, our heating and cooling bill is ridiculously cheap for the square footage. It's a bit more expensive, but it's something I wouldn't do without when building one of these
