One of the fun things about building a barndominium is taking an existing structure and turning it into your own vision. Converting a building that’s already constructed means you don’t usually have control over how the original barn was made, and depending on what you inherit, you may work with different materials or designs. So, is a barndominium a stick-built home?
Barndominiums are stick-built homes or pole-built homes, most of the time. The two styles are the most popular base constructions for barns, so most barndominiums will either be stick-built or pole barn structures.
This article will examine whether barndominiums are often stick-built homes, whether they can be other types of structures and the advantages of each.
Are Barndominiums Most Often Stick-Built Homes?
Barndominiums have been a popular trend over the past couple of decades. They are a great use of older buildings and can have a stylish, modern look when they are converted. A more popular construction method for barns is a stick-built home approach. But are barndominiums most often stick-built homes?
Barndominiums are frequently stick-built homes, but not necessarily most often. You will see barndominiums built out of stick-built homes, but like with some other essential factors, you need to make sure you know what you are doing when you try to convert an old barn designed as a stick-built home into a barndominium or build one from scratch.
Should My Barndominium Be a Stick-Built Home?
Because it’s one of the most popular ways to construct a building, you may ask yourself if you should take on the project of converting a stick-built barn into a barndominium. When deciding if your barndominium should be designed as a stick-built home, there are some critical things to consider.
Advantages of Converting Your Barndominium From a Stick-Built Home
When deciding how to construct your barndominium, it’s important to see all the upsides. So, let’s look at some advantages of converting your barndominium from a stick-built home!
- You have complete control over the design of the barn. If you are designing your barndominium from scratch, this is your time to get creative. When you use a stick-built method, you are personally cutting every piece to the specifications you want for your home. This specialized building gives you a total creative license for designing the barndominium.
- Your unique design makes your barndominium one of a kind. Because you are custom-fitting all the pieces to the design that you envision, it makes your home special! This originality means your barndominium could sell for a higher amount if you have a penchant for clever design.
- The concrete base is sturdy, so you already have the floor in your barndominium. Because stick-based construction uses concrete to hold up all the individual pieces of lumber, you already have a ground cover in your home. You’ll still want to soften it with wood or another surface to make it liveable, but it is one less step when converting a barn to a barndominium.
Disadvantages of Designing Your Barndominium From a Stick-Built Home
You also want to consider some downsides when determining if your barndominium should be made from stick-built home construction. Let’s look at some factors:
- You could make mistakes during new construction if you aren’t adept at building. Because you are doing everything yourself, you will want to be confident that you know what you’re doing. If you doubt that you know what you’re doing, you will either want to hire someone who does or choose another method for building your barndominium to avoid making crucial mistakes.
- It is expensive to build a new stick-built home. If you are constructing your barndominium from scratch, you will want to understand that using the stick-built construction method is costly. If it’s not in your budget, you may want to choose another method for new construction or seek out an existing barn to design your barndominium from. I’ve compared the costs of barndominiums and stick-built homes in a separate article.
Is It a Barndominium if It’s Not Stick-Built?
Understanding that many barns and barndominiums are stick-built construction, you may wonder if that’s the only way you can construct them. If you wonder if there’s another way, you may ask if it’s even a barndominium if it is not stick-built.
There are a lot of barndominiums that aren’t stick-built! In fact, pole barns are one of the most common construction types for barndominiums. They are an excellent choice for a few reasons, so let’s consider what makes pole barns another popular choice for barndominiums.
Barndominiums Built From Pole Barns
Barndominiums are more commonly built from pole barns than stick-built homes. The main reason that barndominiums are most often built from pole barns is that the existing barn structure is often built as a pole barn before it’s converted to a barndominium. There are a few reasons why the pole barn method is so popular. Let’s take a look:
Why Pole Barns Are More Common for Barndominiums
When the barndominium craze started a couple of decades ago, part of the appeal was many people liked the idea of taking in the existing building and converting it into a living space. As we’ve discussed, most barns are pole-built structures, so this is the main reason it’s popular as a choice for barndominiums. But what makes it so popular?
- They’re cheaper to construct.
- You run into fewer problems as a novice builder.
- Construction takes less time.
Because these factors make for a more effortless user experience, it is more common to see barndominiums built new or converted from pole barn designs.
Final Thoughts
So, while barndominiums can be stick-built homes, we now see that they don’t always need to be. The other most common design for barndominiums is pole barns. This is not only when you are converting an existing structure but may also be a wise choice when building a barndominium from scratch.
There are advantages to building your barndominium from a stick-built home design, but you need to ensure you have the budget and skills to do so for the best results.
