building living quarters inside building

[Michael Lane]

SWMBO thinks I am crazy. I own a farm & told her I was going to put up a big metal building. Inside the building I was going to partion off 1/4 of the square footage & build a living quarters with all the amenities. From the outside it would still look like a big metal building. Looks mean nothing to me, I am not a 'keep up with the Jones ' person ( wife likes to put on the dog) I am a white shirt & bib overall person. Has anyone ever done this? I live in Tennessee & would use the rest of building as a garage. My thinking is we will have nice living quarters inside the building + I will have easy access to shop & it would be easy to modify for any future living needs as I was going to use 4 ft wide doors to make wheelchair accessibility down the line.

thanks in advance

Mike Lane

[greg6755]

A friend of one of my coworkers did just that.

I guess it worked out fine.

It got me to thinking I'd like to do the same thing.

Good luck with it.

[Steve Barker]

that's becoming somewhat popular around here in Kansas. I've seen several VERY NICE places inside a basic post frame metal building. Makes your interior wall options unlimited because none of them have to be load bearing.

[GeorgeD]

You need to be concerned about fire safety. The ?garage? floor must be lower than the ?living? floor. Also there must be a fire partition between the two.

That said, I know people who did this. They built and lived in the garage while they built their house.

Regards,

[aemeijers]

Chuckle- a man who thinks like I do- that has been my plans for retirement housing for several years. Have a commercial pole barn company throw up a steel-frame barn with a good slab and utility stubs, and build a secret hideout apartment in one end of it. Maybe have an extra overhead door I could put a sitting porch and some sliders behind, so it wouldn't be totally dark and dreary. That way I could still lock the place down when traveling, and from the road or the air, it wouldn't look worth robbing or investigating.

aem sends......

[r truth]

Yes, enjoy it. please , consider solar .

[aemeijers]

Chuckle. Wise man. That wouldn't be a consideration for me, since the days of my having any chance to convince a woman to live with me are long past. Cheap and easy to clean and maintain would be all I worried about. I mean, I wouldn't be a damn fool about it- I'd spot things on the lot, and set up the septic and utilities and such, so a 'real' house could easily be added- the barn apartment could be for guests, boomerang kids, etc. Or just hubby's secret clubhouse. That should cover resale consideration, although that would likely be the problem of my shirt-tail relatives, since if I built a place like that, it would be the Last Home.

aem sends....

aem sends...

[Stormin Mormon]

Right after world war two, I'm remembering hearing. A company was selling auto garages, at a rapid rate. Turns out people were living in them. Much cheaper than regular homes.

I think it's a terrific idea.

[Tater]

double check your building codes, our state has had people doing this without getting the proper permits to get away from paying proper fees is guess.

OTOH, a freind of mine is planning on doing this, sounds good. he currently lives in a run down trailer house.

[Michael Lane]

------------------------------------------- I have a lot of planning to do. Septic, electricty, water other. My biggest obstacle is my uncle, we both own 1/2 of the farm & he + SWMBO are not to happy with my idea. He won't buy me out or sell me his half but I am going to persvere.

thanks for all the replies

Michael Lane