Ask A Barngeek

Best exterior coating for a barn?

by Aaron Esch | June 18, 2024 | AskTheBarngeek | 0 Comments

Question asked in the BarnGeeks Facebook Group 4/21/24 Does anybody have any recommendations of the best exterior coating for a 40x60 gambrel? Unfortunately the wood is not rough cut so it won't absorb as well as all of the beams and the frame. I used iron oxide mixed...

Barn Kits Avalible in 2024

by Aaron Esch | May 31, 2024 | AskTheBarngeek, How To Build A Barn | 0 Comments

Full Barn Kits are Back! Have you thought to yourself, “I would sure love to build one of those BarnGeek Barns but I just wish I could get everything I need to build it in one all inclusive kit!” Well, today is your lucky day! We are proud to announce...

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

by barngeekthe | February 20, 2024 | AskTheBarngeek | 0 Comments

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?

by Aaron Esch | January 5, 2024 | AskTheBarngeek, Youtube tutorials | 0 Comments

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?

by Aaron Esch | December 5, 2023 | AskTheBarngeek | 0 Comments

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

by Lisa | June 30, 2021 | AskTheBarngeek | 1 Comment

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

by Hannah | May 3, 2021 | AskTheBarngeek | 1 Comment

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

by Nathan Smedley | April 17, 2021 | AskTheBarngeek | 1 Comment

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

by Pamela | April 5, 2021 | AskTheBarngeek | 1 Comment

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

by Adrianne | March 25, 2021 | AskTheBarngeek | 2 Comments

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...

Your Barn Stories

Rebuilding Tradition: A Family’s Journey with BarnGeek’s Gambrel Timber Frame Barn

by barngeekthe | June 17, 2024 | Testimonials, Your Barn Stories | 0 Comments

The old 40 x 60 barn my grandfather built in the forties collapsed in a snowstorm in 2015. I wanted to replace it with a similar style so I chose the 40 x 60 gambrel.

Fall 2019 to Now: The Story of Our 44×60 BarnGeek Barndominium!

by Aaron Esch | June 13, 2024 | Your Barn Stories, Testimonials | 0 Comments

We are thrilled to share an inspiring story from one of our Barn Plans Library members. This family embarked on a remarkable journey to transform our BarnGeek 40x50 plan into their dream home. Back in the fall of 2019, they decided to mix a couple of our plans,...

Trammell: 60×60 Gable Horse Barn in Arkansas

by Aaron Esch | December 23, 2023 | Your Barn Stories, Testimonials | 0 Comments

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

by Aaron Esch | December 15, 2023 | Testimonials, Your Barn Stories | 0 Comments

At BarnGeek, nothing brings us more joy than seeing our plans come to life in the hands of our talented and dedicated customers. Today, we are excited to share the inspiring story of a customer who turned our 30x46 Gambrel barn plan into a stunning, functional...

Jay Bell 40×60 Gambrel Build

by Aaron Esch | December 5, 2023 | Testimonials, Your Barn Stories | 0 Comments

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

by Aaron Esch | December 5, 2023 | Your Barn Stories, Testimonials | 0 Comments

"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

by Aaron Esch | November 9, 2023 | Your Barn Stories, Youtube tutorials | 0 Comments

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

by barngeekthe | October 4, 2017 | Your Barn Stories | 0 Comments

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

by barngeekthe | June 18, 2017 | Your Barn Stories | 0 Comments

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

by barngeekthe | June 13, 2017 | Your Barn Stories | 0 Comments

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....

Barn Wood Projects

Timber Frame Conservatory

by barngeekthe | November 15, 2016 | Barn Wood Projects | 1 Comment

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

Cajun Bar

by barngeekthe | February 9, 2014 | Barn Wood Projects | 0 Comments

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

Chicken Coop Projects

Free Chicken Coop Plans

by Aaron Esch | June 19, 2024 | Raising Chickens, Chicken Coop Projects, Homesteading | 0 Comments

You can build this hen house with these free chicken coop plans. It is easy to do. All you need is some rough cut lumber, a hammer, nails, and a circular saw. You can even build one with regular dimensional lumber from your local lumber yard. I built one like this for...

3×4 chicken coop with solar power

by Arno Schaaf | August 24, 2021 | Chicken Coop Projects, Raising Chickens | 0 Comments

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

by barngeekthe | February 4, 2020 | Chicken Coop Projects | 1 Comment

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

by barngeekthe | October 28, 2019 | Chicken Coop Projects | 1 Comment

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.

by barngeekthe | August 15, 2019 | Chicken Coop Projects | 1 Comment

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

by barngeekthe | August 3, 2018 | Chicken Coop Projects | 1 Comment

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

by barngeekthe | April 23, 2018 | Chicken Coop Projects | 0 Comments

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

by barngeekthe | August 18, 2017 | Chicken Coop Projects | 0 Comments

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

by barngeekthe | February 15, 2017 | Chicken Coop Projects | 5 Comments

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

by barngeekthe | August 31, 2015 | Chicken Coop Projects | 5 Comments

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...