New Shop Ideas 50' x 65', 2-story barn

[1215]

This is a new to us property. It used to be a horse barn with a hay loft which was converted over to a dirt-floor farm shop, and then in the early 1990's a cement slab and beam footings were poured so that iron load-bearing beams could be added. 

Right now I'm trying to get the place cleaned out and insulated before it snows. The front is 50' wide and it is 65' deep/long. There are two 10' x 20' sliding barn doors on the front.  These are your traditional, non-insulated, very unsecure, barn doors. As you are facing the front of the barn there is a 36" x 80" door on the front right side and a door of the same size, on the back left side, next to the stairs to go upstairs. On the back right side of the barn there is a single overhead garage door that is 10' x 20'. The top (second) floor is one giant open space with support beams running lengthwise dividing the space into three long sections. Downstairs ceiling is about 20' tall and upstairs is about 20' at the roofline and 10-12' on the sides. 

Where can I get ideas to do a design for this space? I don't know what to put upstairs/downstairs and what to arrange where. Is this the type of thing I should be talking to a builder about?

Thanks. 

[DSW]

I'm not sure I understand your real question. As far as space, drawings like plans and good picts would give us an idea what you have to work with.  As far as space usage, a lot depends on what you have, what you need to do, and what you want to do...

 

With a space like that, I'd want a space inside to park the truck so I can work on it. In my 'shop" that space doubles as my general large project work area. If I need space to fab a large item, paint trim or railings, change the oil on a rainy day... I use that same space. I have an area with racks dedicated to stock storage. I have a closed off area that can be heated for other storage like paints etc, it's also lockable, so I use that to secure more expensive tools.  If I had a space the size you have, I'd be tempted to set up separate wood and metals shop areas, as well as a dedicated forge and machinery area. I'm sure if I started blocking out areas, more things would come to mind.

[Charles R. Stevens]

I think the hay mould would lend it's self to either wood working or a man cave, depending on how often you're in hawk with your better half. 

As its a horse barn, the center illes left clear for multiporpose and the old stall areas as dedicated work stations and storage

[Judson Yaggy]

Odd proportions for a "horse barn".  Especially the 20' ceiling hight so I'd guess that it's either not that old or highly modified.

Regardless that is probably 4 times the square footage of the average full time professional's blacksmith shop and twice the ceiling hight, so put your stuff anywhere you want as long as there is wide open floor space.  If a layout doesn't work for you, change it.  

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

A picture is worth a thousand posts........

 

[1215]

On 11/20/2015, 7:30:07, Judson Yaggy said:

Odd proportions for a "horse barn".  Especially the 20' ceiling hight so I'd guess that it's either not that old or highly modified.

Regardless that is probably 4 times the square footage of the average full time professional's blacksmith shop and twice the ceiling hight, so put your stuff anywhere you want as long as there is wide open floor space.  If a layout doesn't work for you, change it.  

Yes you are correct about the odd sizes. It was originally built in 1926 as an old horse stable. The building has had two major renovations/remodels/additions since then, one in 1965 and one in 1993 --and its about to undergo a third reno. 

The original building/structure was built in 1926 as what I think might have been a 30' wide by 50' deep post-and-beam horse stable with fieldstone footings/bases and I believe dirt floors with wood planks over gravel or sand in the stalls. It looks to have been an 8-stall, center isle, building with four stalls in the front, four stalls in the back and whatever you do for horse stables (tack & wash rooms maybe) on each side in the middle. I believe the original ground-floor ceilings were 10-12 feet tall with a gable style roof above. I believe that the original exterior walls (running the 50' length of the building) were 12'-15' high with a gabled barn roof on top of that. 

In 1965 the building was expanded and the size more than doubled. The original horse stables stayed in the same place and it was as if they built a new, giant 35' wide by 50' deep barn right next to the stable building, sharing a common wall. The best way I can describe it is with the photo attached (pulled from Google, not my barn). They kept the original stables (where the lean to is in the photo) and added a giant barn next to it, tore off the roof from the stables and just added a flat, almost level (barely a slope because it was 30' wide whereas the roof in the photo is 12' wide) roof over the horse stable portion of the barn. 

In 1993 the prior owner wanted to use the space to work on and restore his cars (a very big part of why we bought this property). Referencing the attached photo, he raised the roof about 10' at the thin blue line between the first and second floor. At the same time he slightly extended/raised the walls over the lean to (horse stable) section of the barn, proportionately re sloped the roof on that side and added four dormer windows in the second floor over the stables so it could be converted into a guest house/in-law/au-pair apartment. The horse stables were ripped out, cement footings were poured where the fieldstone footings were, metal beams were added to strengthen the building however the post and beam style was kept for the look and feel; and a cement slab floor (with radiant heat) was added on the first floor of the entire building. 

It looks a lot like the attached photo but taller and with with two sets of 2x2 dormer style windows above the lean-to and a steeper roof. 

Almost like the front of this barn but opposite, there is a single-bay garage door (like the standard size on a house) on the rear wall where the lean-to is, and an 8'x36" single door closer to the center of the back. There are two sets of stairs to get up to the second floor, the stairs in the front only go to the apartment upstairs and the stairs in the back lead up to the open second floor. Just as pictured in the attached photo, there are sliding doors on the front of the barn that open up pretty big. There is a 2-ton rated I-Beam that runs the length of the roof line and a set of trap /folding doors below a hoist in the second floor --so if you needed to move something heavy (an engine block) into the back of the second floor you could hoist it from outside or inside through the trap doors and slide it all the way to the rear of the second floor. 

I'm planning on breaking out the apartment into three sections, an office (I work from home), a CLEAN/nice/finished bathroom and small kitchenette combo and an IT/server closet/room. On the first floor I'd like to add a slop sink or farmer's sink somewhere out exposed to the shop and put in a urinal (already own one, pulled it from a church, ready to go) somewhere, could be similar (but cleaner) than the attached photo. 

I'd like to use the upstairs over the main part of the barn for a woodshop and for parts storage. There is a wall with a couple giant sliding doors between the main/bigger barn and the section that used to be the horse stables. There are also two doors between the two sides that have no doors but those plastic strips you often see between walk-in refrigerators and warm rooms, etc. I think I want to use that area for clean/finished/restored car & motorcycle storage. 

 

If I do what I think I want in terms of layout so far, that leaves a space of approximately 35' wide by 50' deep (with about 18' ceilings) for a general workshop area. I just don't know what to put where, or how to organize/compartmentalize things. I'd like a dedicated section for metal work --mostly for welding and car restoration. I'd also like a clean-er section that I can use/dedicate to engine building and finish work (interior work, engines, carburetors, etc.) I'd also like to consider an area for paint.

 

Currently it is gutted and looks like an old post and beam barn with no lights and very out of date electrical. The previous owner stored his cars in there but did no work on them. I don't think anyone has functionally lived or used the apartment since it was built in 1993. 

Hopefully this helps a little for some creative minds to suggest what to put where. I'll email myself the photos on my phone of the space and post them up for a better idea but the attached photo is very close/similar to the layout. 

Thanks.