I started building a barn almost two years ago. At the time I only had two horses, and needed to get them a good shelter instead of making them stand in the pasture 24/7. Not to mention I wanted to reduce the possibility of over-grazing my pastures.

I didn't intend for it to take this long. But you know how it is... life gets in the way of plans.

The basic design was for a two-stall barn large enough to store a winter's worth of hay as well as have a small area for storing saddles and tack, with a "lean-to" roof on one side where I could park my small two-horse trailer.

So the layout of the barn was about 24 x 32 feet, with a 12 x 16 foot lean-to. Rather than pay someone to build it or just put together a kit-based metal building, I was going to design it and build it from the ground up. It's been a learning experience and a LOT more work than I had planned for.

I designed it as a basic "pole barn" where the roof is supported by columns alone, and the walls are non-load-bearing. This required sinking 8 posts into the ground, about 42" deep, and pouring concrete around them. Since I live in the Texas Hill Country and it's solid limestone about 4" below the surface, I had to pay a guy to come out with a Bobcat and a rock auger to drill the holes. With that completed, I set my posts. I used treated 6x6 lumber for the main columns and treated 4x4 posts for the lean-to columns. This is when I had them in the holes but not yet plumbed or poured.




Next step was getting the basic "roof skeleton" put together. A friend of mine gave me a bunch of old used bar joists that had been laying around for years. They were a bit bent and had concrete on them (they were used for forming elevated concrete decks in commercial construction, which is what I do for a living; engineering such systems). But they were free and usable. I just had to cut off all the old carriage bolts and wood nailers. So another friend of mine spent the weekend with me welding them all up into roof trusses and flying them into place where we could weld them onto brackets that I bolted to the tops of the columns after I trimmed the columns to the proper height.

I should mention at this point that the building started off not being square. When the guy had augered the holes, he could not stop the bit from "walking" as it went into the rock. It was skipping all over the place. So some of my holes for my columns were off. I just had to make do with what I had and try to "fudge it" during construction. Here is my friend doing some of the last welds on the roof trusses. I ain't no welder, so all I could do was assist him that weekend.



Once the roof trusses were up, I needed to start a foundation around the perimeter of the barn which I could use to set my walls on. I considered just slapping up some edgeforms and pouring concrete. But I wanted more of a traditional Texas Hill Country look to it (and I wanted to save some money on materials). So I decided to do a rock wall around the perimeter. My barn site is on a slope, so this perimeter beam would be short at the front and tall at the back in order to provide a level surface for my walls to sit on.

This was partly why it took me two years to get to where I am today. I am not a stone mason by any stretch of the imagination. Nidrah and I spent a weekend gathering rocks from around my property (which was not too hard because there used to be an old stacked rock wall on the edge of my pasture from the ranch that used to be here). We then dug a shallow trench and started laying rock and troweling in the mortar.



I worked on it on and off for months. I got about a third of the way done with the rock perimeter beam, but I got frustrated with the slow progress. It was summer then, and it was hotter than hell working out there with rocks. My mortar wouldn't stay wet and I was just ready to give up. So I did, for a while. Finally I bit the bullet and just hired a local "friend of a friend" to finish the rock work for me. He did the other 2/3 of the job in about two weeks. And it looked a damn sight better than my work did. I have to hand it to him, he is an artist when it comes to stone masonry. He did a fine job.





So at this point, I had columns, a roof skeleton, and my perimeter beam done. And I was about a year and a half into this project.

It was time to make a push to get this thing done.

By the way, at this point my treated lumber columns had started to twist and warp from the exposure to the elements. I don't care what they say, treated lumber is worse than non-treated lumber in this respect. My roof skeleton was still good, but the columns were just all wacky looking. I also had several trailer loads of lumber and plywood sitting under tarps and sheet metal that had been laying there for a year and a half, which were not getting any better. A couple of bad storms had gotten them wet so they were starting to twist as well. Added to the fact that my building was out of square, this was going to be interesting.

I wanted to get my 2x6 wall framing up before doing any roof work, since the roof ties into the tops of the walls. So I framed up the side walls in 4 pieces, 16 feet long by about 12 feet tall. I framed them on sawhorses and stood them up on top of the rock wall, having to jack them up and over the anchor bolts in the top of the rock, then bolting them down. My wife helped me raise one or two walls and my neighbor helped me with another one. The last one I had to raise myself with rope and pulleys rigged to the roof trusses. That was fun. And it took several weeks to get all my walls cut, nailed together, stood up, and anchored.





Once the walls were framed up, I moved on to decking the roof. I had to install new nailers on top of the bar joists with carriage bolts first. Then install "runners" going downhill on my roof slopes at 16" on center. After that, I installed 3/8" plywood decking and a V-crimp sheet metal skin. I did that in one single weekend, lugging every single piece up by hand, climbing on scaffold for access. I used plywood under the sheet metal for reduced noise during rainstorms, out of courtesy for my horses who have to live in there.



The next step was to skin the walls. I decided to use plywood on the walls under the sheet metal as well. This actually took much longer than the roof and was more difficult, since I had to hold each single sheet of plywood in place to screw it down, instead of being able to stand on it. And all the sheet metal had to be trimmed to the correct length under the eaves of the roof.

So this is where I am as of today. I just finished skinning the walls. It's a structure now. WHEW!

I still have to finish out some of the edge trim/flashing, build some doors for the front, and install the pipe panels that will make up the horse stalls. Then I have to bed the stalls with sand, install a brick floor in the front where I'm going to store hay and tack, install waterers and feed tubs, and a lot of other stuff.

But it's a structure.

Here are the pictures as of this afternoon:

Yay! I was wondering when I was going to see this done. That rock work is a hell of a lot more difficult than one would think off the start! Lookin' good. Can't wait to see it with the tack room complete, barn doors and all.

Nice work Tobus!

Very nice! I've got 2 horses which are at school in Ohio with my oldest. When they come home again I may need to build on nearby land since the barn we've been using may close up. Hope I can do something that nice.

Very Nice Job !!

Here's my problem. I have two horses here at my place, in my pasture. And a third horse down the road that stays at my friend's place which is a boarding facility. We keep him there because he's more comfortable with the other 16 horses there. We've tried bringing him down here but he won't eat and just paces all day and all night. And my Paint gelding, Slim, beats up on him because he's jealously protective of my Paint mare.

But there's going to come a time real soon when we need to bring our third horse back here.

And I only have a two-stall barn.

I didn't think ahead very well on that deal.

So even before I'm finished with this barn, it's already too small for the horses I've got. I can't really squeeze three stalls in there; it just won't be enough room. I may end up having to create a "makeshift" stall under the lean-to roof. And cut some windows in that wall so the horses can see each other.

The lesson learned, I guess, is that you should always build a bigger barn than you think you need. The problem with that, though, is that horses are like guns. If you buy a 20-gun safe, you're eventually going to end up filling it up with 20 guns. If you build an 8-stall barn, you'll end up with 8 horses.

I don't know if I'll have my Paint mare much longer, though. She has a pretty bad hock injury that has caused permanent swelling and stiffness in that joint. It's gotten progressively worse over the last few months and she usually won't even stand on it. She stands on three legs and keeps that one up off the ground. I've tried everything I know to help her, but none of the vets or equine professionals around here can fix it. We're about to try one last medicinal treatment that might be promising, but if it can't help her leg heal properly, we may end up putting her down. I don't like to think of doing that, since having a horse put down is one of the hardest things I've ever done. But it will probably be best for her. And if/when that happens, it will solve my space problem.


It might have been done a lot sooner if you had come and helped me more.

Oh, I wanted to add:

I posted this because I think part of real "preparedness" is having versatile skills. And building a basic shelter or structure is a hell of a learning experience. I'm an engineer by trade, but there's a reason I went to college. I ain't real great at working with my hands. So this was a personal challenge for me. I admit I bit off more than I could chew. But it's a good feeling to see a building that I built with my own two hands, with very little help (although the help I received was greatly appreciated).

My friends tell me I was doing things the hard way in building this thing. They usually recommend better tools, gizmos and gadgets to make it easier and faster. That's cool. But there's a lot of satisfaction in making do with what you have. I did all this work with a minimal amount of tools. The only power tools I used were a drill, a jigsaw, a sawzall, and a circular saw. Much of the cutting I did with an old fashioned hand saw. The walls were all framed with a low-tech hammer and nails.

The finished product came out better than I expected. Considering my lumber was warped and my columns weren't square, I had to figure out how to fudge things to make it even out. And honestly, I can't tell the building isn't square. It's functional and looks decent. A real craftsman would probably look at it and shake his head, but I don't care. I'm just glad it actually came together. And I feel like I helped develop some skills which are useful for being able to live in a more self-dependent fashion.

Now for the first real Texas rain storm to test it's salt!

Not bad....for a Texan.

NICE WORK!!! I especially like the rear inviso-wall.

i think that's actually called a 'texas gate' .

frye

The rear of the barn faces south. This isn't meant to be a barn like they would build up north where it's totally closed in. This is Texas, after all. It just doesn't get that cold. I built it so the horses would be shielded from north winds in the winter but be able to open the front doors for good airflow during the hot summer months. Down here, if you build a totally closed in barn, you end up with an oven in the summer. Airflow is important.

The rear of the barn will have two 12x24 corrals side by side, encompassing a 24x24 area that's half under the roof and half outside. After I get the corrals in place, I may end up dropping a top wall from the roof down a couple of feet, just to minimize any rain that could blow in from the huge rear opening. It's about 16 feet from the ground to the peak at the rear of the barn. I may also end up putting some "wing walls" from the rear sides, just to give the horses a little shelter from blowing rain during summer months that may come from the south. But the majority of the weather we get here comes from the north, and they'll be protected from that already.

So all the talk about "Blue Northers" is just to keep people from moving there? And the ice in Dallas last week was just my wife's family having hallucinations? (Her sister went down on the ice and broke her wrist.....)

Your sister -in-law was very unlucky. The ice here lasted a few hours at best.

Galahad, Texas is a big State. Just because they have ice in Dallas doesn't mean there is ice all over the State.

In my area, it rarely ever gets below freezing. We probably average less than 10 days per year where the temperature goes below 32 degrees. And only once can I recall a day where the daytime temperature didn't get above freezing. Typically in any freeze we get, it will only last for a few hours at night and then warm up in the daytime.

Those "blue northers" usually don't make it this far south. They blow their wad up in the panhandle and North Texas. Actually, last year we did get some trace amounts of snow. And people were coming out of the woodwork to look at it because many had never seen snow in their entire lives. Unlike those poor guys up in the northern areas of the State. In fact, we have a lot of "winter Texans" who winter here in my area just because the weather is so nice.

So can you see the problem when you say "This is Texas, after all. "??? Texas gets COLD in the winter and HOT in the summer. And the saying "If you don't like the weather, wait 20 minutes." is also pretty true, at least in the Dallas area where huge temperature swings are not uncommon. I believe it was just last week when the temperature dropped 50 degrees in less than two hours.

I think that saying is true for every city in America. I swear, I hear that about everywhere. It's like one of those cliches everybody thinks they made up themselves.

True, but there are extremes and there are EXTREMES in weather changes. Fifty degrees in a couple of hours is beyond anything I've ever experienced. Going from seventy degrees to twenty degrees when a "blue norther" hits is just beyond anything I can even imagine. T-shirt to parka in little more than a blink of an eye.

Been meaning to say "Job well done Tobus!"

I reckon you chewed it just fine!
That is a fine looking barn. I really love the rock wall - When you gonna build a stone house now?


Heh, there is nothing quite like that feeling in the whole world, is there?


I always love looking at owner/built structures - It is always interesting how people with different skills, finances, and outlooks design and build structures to fulfill their needs.
Guess I'll post some photos of the barn I've been working on now!

I was out snapping some pictures of the ice/sleet/snow, and decided to get a picture of the barn with the horses in it.

These are the stall panels I will eventually use permanently, but I have them installed in a temporary setup right now. This was hastily done a few weeks ago, just to get the horses out of the weather. I have them set up as two 12x12 box stalls, separated by a couple of feet. They're both against one wall of the barn. Eventually they will be two 12x24 stalls, with a common middle panel, at the rear (open) end of the barn. Half under cover and half outside.