Dpes anyone have there main barn attached to their house

Not really. A building built of cinder block/brick/steel sited a few steps from the barn for hay storage isn't that much of an imposition. The other necessary items could live in the barn.

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" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

I reckon that is because you have not lost everything to a fire that started in an attached barn and then swept into the house at night. I reckon that is because you have not felt the feeling of waking up to a room that was hot and dense with smoke, and getting your kids out just in time to see the whole thing go up (and it was about 80-100 years old at that time...perfect kindling). I reckon that's because you have not had your dairy livelihood taken away from you in one night, and lost some cows, and had to scramble to save the diary and to rig some way to milk them during reconstruction. You have not faced the financial setback that causes. All that happened to my in-laws in Connecticut, and they have been vigilent about fire prevention ever since. All it would take would be one time of going out into the night with only your bedclothes on and maybe a couple coats you grabbed, and trying in the rural darkness to make sure you count all your kids. I hope you never gain a fear of fire that way.

I have seen another man have his business swept away by an arson fire in the middle of the night. I worked for him, and I recall being called in there in that early morning and picking through the rubble with him. It is a stunning, stunning loss that changes lives. I'd advise anyone here to do what they can to prevent that.

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Jim Steele
Sweetpea Farms
"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing." -- Robert Gates

Would u give us a good discription of it??

Jim -

I lost EVERYTHING I owned to a tornado..brand new stables (10 stalls with all amenities) and my NEW home (built to current standards) in less than 5 minutes. Clothes, furniture, tack, business and records, everything except my clothes on my back and the vehicle I was driving. Civil defense spent 6 hours digging horses out of the rubble. It was pouring rain, I was at the emergency room with my daughters and my boarder, having them checked while my horses were being dug out. Thank you Civil Defense workers everywhere.

If I were to live in fear of another tornado, I would either move somewhere that they do not occur or build underground and live there and never come "up top". The tornado that took my house, took others too and was NOT predicted to occur. As a matter of fact, only mild showers were predicted that day.

I had 10 horses in my barn, my kids were there with a boarder getting ready for a show and I was on my way home from work when disaster struck.

I still live on the same property, have rebuilt my house and barn and my kids were not traumatized to the point that they left the state, matter of fact we now live within 2 miles of each other.

My house and barn are very safe, up to code, and I allow no smoking inside the barn or the house. All wiring in the barn and in the house is inside conduit, the floors are concrete with tile/hardwood overlay, and the walls are concrete block with concrete fiber Hardee Board overlay and stucco. Soon I hope to the roof will be metal but for now, it is what it is. Shingles over a knee wall roof that is stick built (not prefab).

Just because the house and barn are together is no reason to be say it is not a good idea. People have had this arrangement for centuries, and it has worked well. I am sure that just as many, if not more, homes have burned to the ground that didn't have attached barns over the years. You don't see people abandoning their homes because a fire "might" start in the garage that is attached to their home.

I didn't have a myriad of help at hand, I rebuilt this place 99 percent by myself and only hired the things I knew I could not do - like the electrical! to be done by professionals. I have passed every single inspection by the local building inspector as well as by my insurance agency.

My barn was given a 10 percent discount this year for "safety" factors..built in. Sprinkler system which also doubles as a misting system for my horses in the summer, dual fire extinguishers at either end of the barn and also in my home, smoke detectors in the barn and in the house and the lack of storage of hay/shavings in my barn.

There is no substantial work or lack of convenience in having the hay stored away from the barn. Every show barn or boarding barn that I know of that carries insurance to cover expensive stock usually only keeps enough hay in the main barn to feed for one day - less to burn up that way. Ins. companies are getting quite tough about that as well and some are dropping stables that do not comply with that requirement.

I keep one bale in the barn to feed for one morning or night. I don't use shavings, I use pelleted bedding.

Works for me and my insurance agent. Can't stop a tornado though..no matter how much one tries..I do have 150 mph rated anchor system, embedded in the walls to hold the roof (built to withstand those high winds). Nothing says it will work though - one can only try.

I would rebuild exactly like I am now if I had it to do over again. I feel I have done all that is possible to have the safest, best built harn that I can.

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Be yourself - no one can tell you that you're doing it wrong!

When I was a kid, we had neighbors who had a habit of buying a farm, insuriong the house and barn, then burning them. This went on for decades, He got my grandpas place and torched it, and one other that I know of, Before that, they were rough people as a extended family. The dad had a scales, and people would bring feed and stuff down to weigh, for whatever reason. One time a farmer saw Elmer putting his thumb on the scales. The farmer said, hey, I aint buyin your thumb Elmer. Imsurance police never caught them, and none of the neighbors would testify to anything they knew outa fear. My aunt and uncle planted a couple acres of strawberries, and Milt set his field afire, and the smoke killed the plants? I remember when Milts house burnt. A line ring went out, and when central told whose it was, we got in our car and went over. There was a BIG crowd there, and we had to park up from the driveway a hundred ft or so. The towns model A Ford firetruck came right after we got there, and dad had us get outa the way expecting it to be in a hurry to get in. Milt wouldnt let anybody in the barb wire gate, so Bob R knocked him down, and that was the end of that. Didnt matter, house was gone. We came back home after stopping off at Uncle Milts, and Berts to talk about it.

It used to be - but then it burned and took the kitchen el with it. All four of the other houses I've lived in also had it attached. In every case there is an intermediate shed, summer kitchen or the like between the house and the barn.

Our current house has no barn. As I said, it burned. That is a reason not to have the barn attached.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

It sounds like a good idea for cold parts of the country. May want to check property taxes before doing that. In Maryland anything attached to the house (ie garage) is considered part of the house and you pay higher tax than if the structure (garage) was detached.

It's basically a pole structure and a roof - no walls, no floor- just gravel for driving thru the center.

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Hut on the Hill Farm
http://www.hutonthehill.org

My haybarn and my horses shed is attached to my house.

it's still friggin cold outside but at least ya dont have to go walk out in the howling wind to get to 2 or 3 different places.
just open the back door and go in the haybarn, then walk around the corner into the shed.

my house is custom built to suit my inner slacker.

LOL

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Professional Tool. 1220 Woodmere Ave,Traverse City, MI. 49686. 231-941-8003. http://professionaltool.com/

It's a wonderfull system to have on cold days. To walk inside to the barn. Ahhhh!

But if the barn burns, everything goes. I've never seen it otherwise on house/barn units co-joined, and I've seen many of them burn or burned.

Equally, I've never seen a barn burn gently.

Our house and barn are attached and I am glad it was built that way 10 years ago. Yes, the hay is a major concern and fire but also flies. I am very careful about putting my hay in, must be dry when I put it in (my rules). My current lofts hold only about 60-75 bales, depending on how well they stack. Our winters are mild compared to the N.H. winters we are used to. I keep the majority of the hay at the hayshed at the bottom of the hill. My llamas come to the top when the mood strikes them but otherwise they get their hay at the hayshed below.
My husband and I designed our homestead and the home is a "true raised ranch." It has the characteristics of a split entry, with the front entry being on the upper floor not between floors. We have a bedroom, formal livingroom, bath, kitchen, diningroom on the upper floor. Then we have 2 childrens bedrooms, a bath, utility, and a big family room on the lower level. The lower level also has full size windows and a walk out door.
Looking at our home from the road you see a ranch house with a 2-car, 2 story "garage". Then off the back of the garage is a lean-to shed roof which houses my "barn". I can take a load of grain, in my truck back into the garage and unload it into the barn.
Hubby isn't to fond of flies so I have one of those automatic fly repellant sprayers at the back door of the lower level, which is under the 3-season porch.
Well, that's our homestead in a nutshell. Like I said our winters are mild and the critters are vary accomidating to not having all the hay up in the barn, only enough hay for emergencies and what few critters come to the top in bad weather.

The poster stated that his hay was stored several hundred feet away - not what I call a "few steps."

MY barn is several hundred feet away, I guess, but the hay is in it. So no more convenience than walking to get the hay. I'd guess the barn is probably about 450 feet away, or 150 yards and within sight of the house. I don't like it though, because we are north of it, so can't really see inside it without walking down.

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"Those who hammer their guns into plowshares will plow for those who do not."
Thomas Jefferson

Comfortablynumb has the right idea. Every house should be custom built in order to suit your lifestyle.

I'm looking at a design for my future retirement place where the barn (which will be sized only to fit a cow/calf combo and maybe a couple of goats) covers the north side. A one room cabin with a two-stall barn. Can't be beat. The animals are close where in my old age I'll find it easier to deal with them, and their body heat will help to keep my house insulated from the wind.

My barn really doesn't smell bad. It smells a little barn-ish sometimes, but if I keep it clean then it doesn't smell too bad in either winter or summer. Sometimes I go out there just to sit on an old stump I put in the common area and stare out over the pasture while I think. It's a very pleasant space, especially when the animals are in residence. I just soak up their contentment.

My daughter and I have been seriously considering doing this, I am so glad that we are not the only ones!

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If it needs a home, it ends up here!

Michelle, that happens so often at our house, that's how we originally came up with the idea of trying this! Like I said before, it's nice to know that we aren't the only ones! People think we are crazy for having our animals in the house for any reason, but mention that one of your goats likes to wath TV, and watch them Spaz out!!

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If it needs a home, it ends up here!

I understand that. My original comment was that by storing the hay outside the animal barn and making the wiring as safe as possible the risk of fire would be minimized.

He said that would negate the convenience factor. Hence my comment about the short distance between the two.

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" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

I don't think I'll be storing hay in an attached barn, but a short walk to an outbuilding is fine for me. I wouldn't want something attached to my house that had that much space to be storing hay anyway. Just a couple of stalls and maybe a small tack room. I'm not after the convenience of not having to walk too far. I'm after a windbreak and the body heat from the animals.

Jeez folks, it isn't that tough to walk a few hundred feet, throw a bale of hay in the wheelbarrow and bring to the barn.

It is not that hard for the huge reduction in insurance rates, peace of mind that if if the hay is a bit damp and goes up in flames, the harn won't go with it.

Leading causes of barn fires:

1. spontaneous combustion of damp/moldy hay
2. improper electrical wiring or wiring in ill repair
3. leaving appliances such as space heaters, etc. on
4. lightning strikes
5. storing combustible materials such as kerosene, gas, oils, etc. in barn
6. smoking cigarettes/cigars/pipes in the barn
7. improper maintenance of fans, blowers, motors, etc.
8. debris left in barn (papers, old straw/bedding, etc.)
9. human carelessness and storage of equipment (parking hot machinery on or near hay, bedding, combustibles).
10. human intent to burn - insurance related or revenge related fires.

here's a nice article regarding fire safety, prevention, etc. around the barn:

http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000801...43/d000843.pdf

Once a year I have my harn inspected for possible fire hazards - I have made improvements when an inspection reveals the need - such as installation of more smoke detectors, installing a "firewall" between house and barn, use of non combustible building materials whenever possible, removal of manure/bedding far away from building, keeping hay located away from main building in metal sheds with adequate ventilation, and installing fire extinguishers inside the house and inside the barn - both are checked by the local fire extinguisher company annually to make sure they are still viable.

Once a year I completely dust down the barn from top to bottom using a shop vac and have a friend who is electrically minded check exposed wiring to fans and huge circulator motor and fan for unsafe wiring. I replace the small box fans every other year regardless of whether they need it or not..dust gets in the motors and sometimes no amount of vacuuming will remove it. I installed a sprinkler system for the horses which is on a timer, next is to hook it up to a fire sensor.

There are things one can do to try to eliminate hazards. None of the stuff I do costs that much out of pocket, I probably have less than 1000. in the sprinkler system, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and fire wall. The other stuff is a matter of time investment. My hay shed did cost some bucks, around 3,000 but all work was done without a contractor - I used two teenage boys to help out. But having the shed has saved a lot of money in gas costs to fetch hay. It holds 600 bales which is plenty for me. I have an old shed next to it that will hold 100 bales (that is why I built the new shed).

I have a separate shed withventilation for all flammable stuff like gas, oils, and the like. If it burns, no harm done to any other building. Tractor, and other machinery is stored away from barn and away from hay sheds.

You can only do so much to try to eliminate hazards. I have known people who live in the most awful, rundown shacks and are walking hazards themselves - never have a problem. I guess the good Lord is looking out for them. I have also known state of the art homes go up in flames or be totally destroyed by tornados.

Build what makes you happy, I did - sounds like CN did as well.

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Be yourself - no one can tell you that you're doing it wrong!

I wouldn't mind setting up our next home with the barn attached. Rather than having it below the house however, I'd rather have it as an attached "wing" with a covered walkway (which could be the mud room) connecting them.

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