Ask A Barngeek

Cutting Timbers in Advance: What is the best size to cut?

Question: Aaron- Thank you for all the helpful info on your website. I just recently purchased a bandsaw mill and am going to start cutting timbers for later use. I am years away from thinking about a specific barn design but know I want to create these post and beam...

Is Cottonwood any Good?

Hey, folks! Barn Geek here, and in today's video, we're tackling the installation of these floor joists. You might remember seeing them in a previous video where we showcased these Cottonwood floor joists. It's been a couple of weeks since we installed them, and...

How do I talk to my building department about the legality of this?

How do I go about talking to my building department about the legality of this? Are you guys building these under agriculture? Can I contruct this into a house? Location Ogemaw county Michigan. Also what size beams should I saw up to let dry ahead of time or does size...

Old red barn paint safety

Hello, We recently bought a rustic house that is finished with beautiful barn siding on the walls. They have quite a bit of remnant red paint. They are from an old barn in Iowa, and I have no idea how old they are. In much of the area, the red color seems to have...

How To Build Barn on Old Barn Foundation

Hi everyone, We live on a property with an old barn foundation (previous owners tore down the barn...assuming for structural reasons). We want to re-build a barn here and are unsure how to proceed. Here are the big questions: 1) There is existing concrete slab, but it...

Increase Snow Load

Hello I plan on building a 40x50 horse barn in the mountains but I need a roof snow load of 97psf. How do I increase this from the current plans?

Piers

Good Morning! We have your 20x30 gambrel with 10ft shed plans. I’m trying to locate a calculation for size of piers. Can you please advise? Thanks and Happy Easter!

Insulating an OLD barn

We recently bought a historic ranch with beautiful 100 year old barns! They are structurally sound but very drafty, to the point snow drifts in. We're in Colorado near a mountain peak at 8500ft elevation, so we get blizzards and a lot of wind. We would like to...

I have a lot of oak trees. Is it cost effective to use this lumber, to build a barn?

Hi, I have several oak trees over a couple of acres that I need to take down. Some of them are too close to the house. Others are too close to the driveway. Some are 16-18" diameter at the base. Many are 12-14". I can drop them and split them for firewood, but we...

Timber Species, Bugs, and Insulation

In this video we discuss if different timber species options, Jack Pine and White Spruce, will work in a barn project. Structural data at the link below. https://www.wood-database.com/eastern-white-pine/ https://www.wood-database.com/jack-pine/...

Your Barn Stories

Trammell: 60×60 Gable Horse Barn in Arkansas

Jared Trammell Posted to the Barngeeks DIY Facebook Group 2/22/23 60’ x 60’. Oak frame, pine and oak girts and purlins, pine decking, oak board and batten sides, 12’ bent spacing. Horse barn plans with several mods. I asked a bunch of questions before starting. Many...

30×46 Gambrel built with local lumber

Michelle Johnson Posted to the Barngeeks DIY Facebook Group 2/22/23 We hired a contractor friend to build our Barn Geek 30 x 46 Gambrel barn…and are so happy with how it turned out! We used locally milled rough cut Douglas fir and sealed the exterior with a product...

Jay Bell 40×60 Gambrel Build

Jay Bell Posted to the Barngeeks DIY Facebook Group 2/27/23 My wife and I moved from New Hampshire to Texas in 2018 after retirement. In New Hampshire we owned an antique home built in 1840 that had a 40’ X 60’ bank barn attached to the house, which was my inspiration...

Barn Interview: John Casper

"Probably the most gratifying part of this whole project is every time someone new; friend, family, associates, what have you, come step through that door for the first time, people I've known my whole life or people I've just met just through work associations or...

 Ancient Jib Pole, A Game Changer for Your Barn Project

Simple Jib Pole saves Your Back and Your Wallet!  My sister and her husband are building an off grid Barn Home, AKA a Barndominium on a raw piece of land, this will be their forever home. Their plan is to do so with as little cost as possible, while maintaining a High...

Bellweather Historic Barn Frame dated 1864 – Wakeman, Ohio

Story by Randy Smith in Clare Mt. Gilead We just completed the barn raising on the Bellweather Historic Barn Frame dated 1864. This barn measures 40'x62' and is located in Wakeman Ohio.The crew from Ohio Valley Barn Salvage just completed resetting the frame on an 8"...

Colvin Quarter Circle A ranch, State Road 62 outside of Parrish, FL

Story by Michael Taylor in Gulfport, FL From the 10th chapter of Growing Up Floridian The barn Built during the first year we came to the Quarter Circle A Ranch in 1958, the barn dwarfed all the other structures on the ranch. The ranch's owners, the Colvin family,...

Barn Frame Conversion Project by *Ohio Valley Barn Salvage* Mt. Gilead, Ohio

Story by Randy Smith in Mt. Gilead, OH This 1850's 30'x50' all handhewn frame was saved by the crew at Ohio Valley Barn Salvage and has been reset on its new foundation. The barn conversion will be used as a showroom for an upcoming barn frame conversion company....

Rebirth of an Old Gambrel Barn

Story by BarnGeek in Michigan The owner of the place where this old barn used to live invited me out to see if we could resurrect her. She had disappeared long ago and all that remained was an old stone foundation. There were trees, vines. and bushes, growing around...

Thanks for the great design and detailed plans!!

Project in TN We did cheat and used a large crane to set our bents as you will see 🙂 Thanks for the great design and detailed plans!! You guys are very helpful. I learned its tricky to drill holes perfectly straight through the 6" posts with my drill onsite 🙂 I know...

Barn Wood Projects

Timber Frame Conservatory

Project by Ian Searcy in Vevay IN Timber Frame Conservatory I built out of hand hewn beams.

Cajun Bar

Project by Cody Coco in Bordelonville, LA Barn built in 1907.. = old!!!

Chicken Coop Projects

3×4 chicken coop with solar power

Built this coop from the free plan - reduced the size a bit. It can be moved around the yard - has wheels on a single axle in the centre. Light activated door is operated with solar power

Plush house for the girls

Project by Karen in Suffolk, england I found your plans and decided to use them for my new chicken house, as they seemed so simple. I changed the width and used old scrap wood for most of the build, mainly an old shed and some fencing I had sitting around. The only...

Chicken coop in Virginia

Project by Dan in Virginia  I followed these plans and the coop turned out great. I made a few modifications. I skipped the windows, and made the legs about another half foot taller so the chickens would have plenty of room underneath. went with the metal roof. Really...

Plans were Great! Love our Coup.

Project by Owain Elliott-Sowaal in Pacifica, CA, USA The Plans were great. I started it with my 3 year old daughter, trying to involve her. It was quite a fun project, but I pretty much did it alone. I did modify the plans a bit. I wanted the coop to be taller. I...

Tim’s Coop

Project by Tim in Tracy, CA I have 8 four week old chicks and needed a coop I could build on a weekend. I used the plans and made some minor adjustments. Thank you for having these plans on the net. It was perfect and exactly what I was looking for. Tim racy, CA

Cedar chicken cabin

Project by John Davis in Goodyear, Arizona, USA Built with cedar lap siding and rough sawn cedar trim. This will house our 6 buff orpingtons in a few more weeks. They will have a fairly large area to run free in and coop up at night. Thank you Barn Geek for the plans.

Chicken Chateau

Project by Trevor Roth in Rutland, ND My wife decided we need some chickens for our little farm so I told her I'd build her a coop. After looking at multiple designs I fell in love with the functionality of these coops so I put together one based on the main design...

Our First Coop

Project by Thomas Corn in Middletown, NY Five years ago we decided to raise chickens for eggs. So I had my wife find a picture of a coop she liked and I was to copy it. When I was finished the coop looked nothing like the picture, basically I took the idea of having...

Chicken Fortress part 2

Project by Tom Brawley in Exeter, R.I. U.S.A. I am sending some additional pictures of my progress with building the Chicken Fortress. I call it a Chicken Fortress because the majority if the wood is 2"x 8"s and 2"x 10"s that is what I had salvaged. It is one heavy...

Chicken Fortress

Project by Tom Brawley in Exeter, R.I. In the middle of building this coop as I type this. I have made several changes to this plan and I'm just using the basic design. I have a large stack of salvaged lumber I have been stock piling for years for projects like this...