barn conversion

peteskelly

Hi all. I want to convert part of a large hay barn on my family's farm. It has a curved roof and is approximately 3150 sq ft. It has a good-ish concrete base and the roof and surrounding walls are in good order. I'm not exactly sure of the height but I would describe it as one and a half stories high. It's not as tall as the rest of the barns on the farm. We thought about tearing it down and rebuilding a MODERN/STYLISH home in the same shape BUT we've decided against it because we're afraid it might cost too much and take up too much space. We want to keep as much of the shed as possible for agricultural use e.g for stables or machinery etc... We need to move home sooner rather than later as I'm taking over the farm. We're approaching this as a long-term temporary solution if you know what I mean. We want to keep our budget pretty low so we've decided to go for a more basic development. I would prefer to have a second story but I'm not sure about planning regulations if we were to extend upwards or rebuild part of the barn to achieve that. I would like to keep the basic agricultural frame, seal it up and insulate the life out of it. Wooden partition walls will be fine where applicable. We want at least three bedrooms and a decent main living space. What about if I want to build on a small lean-to at one end of the barn and then convert that as part of the project??. Do I need planning permission?. We have a nine year old bio-flo septic tank 40mtrs away that has one toilet for the yard attached to it. The mains sewage stops about 100mtrs up the road. We're not sure if we need an architect or not (although as I write this it's becoming pretty apparent to myself that we do 😄). A friend mentioned that there's some old law that says you're entitled to have accommodation near your horses if anyone knows anything about that? 😕. As I'm sure you can tell by now I don't have a clue about any of this. I'm not sure how to get the whole thing started. I would greatly appreciate any advice. Also, I have no plans to sell the farm. Basically, I'd like to stick a medium sized 3/4 bed house inside an existing barn... Thanks

Metric Tensor

You need a good professional and you most definitely need planning permission.

You also need to budget the same amount as you would for a new house of the same size because you'll just be building a full house inside the shed. To be honest having the shed in the way will probably make it more expensive than a standard house of the same size.

Calahonda52

Madness. Money will be wasted here faster that Mario D can print it:D

Reading between the lines you are taking over the farm and at the same time waiting for some person(s) to exit either the main residence on the farm or the planet itself, at which point you would move into the main house.

therefore why not build a proper granny flat type house, well built, single storey and do it right.
When the dust has settled you could use it as a residence for the young, attractive stable hands which you will need for those horses:D

peteskelly

Ok, thanks for all the advice. It was just a rush of blood to the head.

Calahonda52

http://www.aof.ie/projects/specific/roslea

might be a useful starting point

The book is by Trevor Hickey, Construction Technology

Water John

There are two houses like that near Macroom, overlooking The Gearagh.
Built on a steep rise and fit in well. I'd say planners would love them.
No pointed roof into the skyline. Sorry no pics.

Allen2020

Hi Peteskelly, so what happened? :-) I'm looking at converting what I think is an old barn/stable myself. Its 2 floors on a 1100ft2 footprint. I don't need to alter the outside but need to replace the roof, add windows/doors and kit it out as a house. Any info would be very handy.