Apartments in pole barns

Anyone care to share pictures of their more basic apartments in
pole barns? Looking for ideas. Our township is pretty relaxed
with them and our insurance agent would cover. Going to be
redoing the main house here soon and need a place to live while
thats going on as its going to be quite extensive.

I think it pretty much comes down to what you want to put into it.

Two years after they were married, my parents' house burned down. For several months while a new house was being built, my great-grandmother, a bachelor great-uncle, and my parents lived in a detached two stall garage.

Also, when I was doing insurance inspections, I was called upon to inspect a Quonset hut that had been converted into a house. From the outside it looked like a typical 40 year old Quonset, but the interior would have matched any $300,000 house on the Assessor's rolls.

To each his own.

Ill be interested in seeing what others have done too. I think it would be a great idea to build a new building, and have part of it as workshop and part an apartment.

Morton Buildings, Inc. On their website go to Homes and Cabins and then select ''Shop-House''. Arcadia I, II, and III. From 1600 sq ft of living space to over 3500.

Quite common here for people to build shouses. A big shop (as in an implement shed), with living quarters built into part of it.
In some cases, this is all they ever intend to build. The shop doubles as thier house.
Others live in the shouse, while they build thier main house. After main house is built, the living quarters in the shop becomes thier guest house.
One couple was gonna build an expensive elaborate house. The shop implement shed was already done, and they had the opportunity to sell thier current house at the asking price. So they lived in thier R.V. that they parked in the implement shed while building thier house. Also used the implement shed for storage of thier household stuff. And these people were pretty up scale. I was just surprised they lowered thierself to live in thier camper for months.

But no, it's not common here to put apartments in a shed, and then rent them out. People just don't do that where I'm at. They could, but don't. Something about, people that live in the country, want no neighbors. Atleast not in thier shed in the backyard. People move to the country to get away from that, atleast around here.

I don't think that can be done in NY any more. It may pay to see what building codes are in your area before planning too much.

We lived in our dirt floored shop/barn for 8 months while our 'new' house was being set up.Got along quite well,was very comfortable. After the new house was finished,the 'barn' became the shop again.What an adventure.

Barndomenium. They have become pretty popular in Texas. A friend said that might be worrisome having tractors and such in the same building as your living quarters. I mentioned that he had an attached 3 car garage for his 2 cars and the 2 Spyders. Oh yeah, and his wood working shop with all the paints and stains.

I know a man who built a house inside his pole barn. He likes it so much he's adding a second story. There are no other houses in his property.

To make it airtight and bug proof, he used foam insulation. Living inside a pole barn is his dream come true.

Now the catch 22 in Vigo county.
I don't care how many acres you own, you can only have one house on your property without having the land subdivided.

Perhaps this is why I couldn't build a pole barn on an empty 3/4 acre lot. I had to connect the empty lot to the land my house is built on.

So I can't build an apartment or house inside my pole barn.

Better check with zoning in your county.
Before I can get any permit to build anything, I have to get approval form the Board of Health. Then get approval from Area Planning. You can't get a permit if you want to build in a floodplain. Then get a building permit from the building inspector.

A bathroom would require a septic system. Your septic would depend on the number of bedrooms.

Your electrical has to be inspected before the power company will connect your power.

Then check with insurance.

Better live in a travel trailer and use the temporary electrical for construction. I've heard of some people parking their travel trailer inside a pole barn
Then check with insurance.

Most people rent an apartment or a house to live in while remodeling their homes. If you already own an RV then living in that can be done especially if you are newlyweds and enjoy being very close. In the early 1960s my folks had us live in the upstairs of our farm house while the downstairs was remodeled. I would not recommend anyone do that, it is difficult for both the family and for the construction crews.

Crunch the numbers on the cost to build an apartment in a pole barn, and the possible returns on investment you will receive after you move back into the main house. The rent you might receive and the resale value might be very disappointing. Property taxes on rental property can be much higher than on a main residence with homestead exemptions. In MN the property taxes triple.

If you want to become a landlord, a better path might be to buy an existing apartment, condo, duplex or house and rent that out after you move out.

The part about no pole barn on a vacant lot is true here as well.

You half to build and get the certificate of occupancy for a house first.

Unless property is zoned agricultural.

I would like a barnominium also. But I suspect the resale value takes a big ding as not too many buyers would want it.

Indiana taxes rental properties at 2x the rate of a personal house and rentals have no mortgage exemptions, homestead exemptions making the actual taxes about 4x.

Now for another catch 22. I can only have one garage on my property. My pole barn is a second garage. It is taxes at commercial rates, 3x.
The taxes on my house are very close to the taxes on my new 30x40 pole barn.

If I include my basement, my house is more than 2x the square footage of my pole barn.
Keep in mind I get a homestead exemption, a mortgage exemption by just having a home equity line of credit which I don't have to use and for tax purposes my house was built in 1942.
In 1991-96 I doubled the size of the house. However back when I added on the age of my house goes back to 1942. That's a good tax advantage.

You got to love Indiana's property taxes.





BTW, I did 95% of remodeling this house. I have very little help. This is my first and last brick job.

Well I have some input on this at least from the state and town I live in. House kitty corner to me was sold maybe 4 years ago. This spring they were having a pole barn put up with living quarters in it. Town would have nothing to do with it. Told them in order to have living quarters in the barn it required its own well and septic system. The pole barn is up, but I dont know whats happening with the living area. I honestly have not talked to the owner, just someone who works for the town. My point is that different areas may have different rules for new living areas and different requirements for wells, septic, ect.

Didn't someone here park their RV in their pole barn end live out of it?

You mention township is ok but i suspect permits are issued by the County and they will have a code book. I would approach the project as a pole barn/shop which has an office with toilet and wash facility. Get that approved and run with it. If septic approval gets difficult opt for a holding tank. I have seen both of those approaches work.

Fast and easy way, is a camper with slide outs and park it inside the pole barn. Building inside you need water and sewer and electrical. The ceiling should be water proof because most pole barns will sweat some and drip on the apartment below. With a camper you can poke some holes in the siding if you have to.There are plenty of older campers for less than 10 grand (I started this thread 10 hrs ago)

Two new ones within sight of my place . Another a few years old 5 minutes drive away . Was going to build one here this year . Until we were re-assessed for tax by revenue Canada .

My daughter has Pole barn house in rural SW Kansas