Converting your barn to a home and code requirments

Q: I would like to live in a barn as my home. Do your plans indicate possible new house code requirements?

A: Thank you for your question. The short answer is no. The plans are designed to show you how your barn is built not to be an official set that you send to the building department. However that said there are many, many barns that have been built with these plans and the plans were sufficient to the local building department.

If you live in a rural farming community then chances are the plans will be just fine for the building department. Unless you live in New York or California, if that's the case then you may get lucky but assume that you will need an architect and possibly an engineer.

That is one thing that has dissapointed me greatly in this business. The amount of hoops you have to jump through in some areas just to build a barn is absolutely ridiculous. Some of us need to start taking back some of our property rights. But, I digress.

Converting that beautiful barn into a home.

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get. Everyone sees how awesome these post and beam barns are and they want to live in one.

First, yes it is possible to convert one into a home, and many of our customers have done it. They have all had various challenges to overcome, but all of them have told me that it was worthwhile to do. Perhaps some of them will comment on this page, and share some stories of their experiences.

The best advice I can give is to check with your local building department and see what you can do. It is often helpful to show them this website so they get an idea of what you are trying to do.

Thank You!
BarnGeek