quote:

Originally posted by hudr:
I live in one.
It is not a good example of one. It was built as a three to five year plan to get me and my new wife out of our apartment and onto my land.
Kids, and then a divorce have me still living in that three to five year plan 21 years later.
The floor plan started out simple.
A 60x40 metal building, 800 sq ft apr on one end, and a shed down one side. There are lots of things I would change if I had it to do all over again, or knowing then what I know now. Such is life.
I still like walking out of one of my side doors directly into my shop. My main issue is with the floor plan of the “house” part. It grew organically as we added kids, and it, well, just kinda sucks.
I have decided that at nearly 50 years old, I have spent my New House on the custody battle for my kids, so I’m kinda stuck here. But I may one day remodel the “apartment” to make it flow a little better.
Some things I would change:
1. Whole thing would be bigger. Like 60x80.
2. Sheds on BOTH sides of the building.
3. Overhangs of several feet all the way around.
4. Concrete porch under both sheds.
5 entrance/exit doors would be a bit different.
6. Rollup doors on east & West sides (currently only on South end)
7. Apartment would be on south end instead of north end.
8. Spray foam insulation, at least on roof.
9. Actually planning for outside outlets and water spigots.
10. Not letting the wife have complete control of bank accounts. (Wait, does that go on this list?)


All of the above is hindsight.
When we built, it was, like I said, a three to five year plan. Thank goodness we didn’t have a $250k home to fight over.
And apparently, it’s held up, even with all the corners that we cut.

I literally brought a general contractor out into the middle of a cow pasture, to the end of a 1/2 mile driveway I had built with farm equipment, and drove a t-post into the ground.
Then said “go 60’ that way, 40’ that way. Line it up off that fence, and put a shed down the East side.”
By the time they had the slab formed up, we had a floor plan drawn up on graph paper.
And here we are.
Three kids and one divorce later.
The original 800 sq ft has grown to almost 1350. With two bedrooms, another bath, and a laundry room added.
Temps have been in the single digits, and below zero, the last few days.
There is nearly a foot of snow outside.
And in this VERY unseasonal weather, for NE Texas, I am pretty comfy.
And I can pull my tractor or my truck into my shop to tinker if need be. And there is room to keep my ATV, both street bikes, and my dirt bike inside. Along with a host of other contact crap.
Again, I like the shop part, but I’d sure make some changes to the house part, given enough funds.

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
Seems like a good idea.

Check to see if the homeowners insurance would be higher due to fires.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
You can even get an airplane hangar with living quarters, but depending on things the noise level might be objectionable.