You can design your floor plan any way you want it, but I will describe how mine is. You need a flat concrete slab to cast the side panels on. My husband cast ours at the shop because we already had a slab there. Concrete bldgs of all kids are very popular here, so most companies pour their main slab and use that as their casting pad for the walls. The panels are cast w/picking eyes and welding plates. When you are ready to set the panels, a crane comes in, holds them in place while a welder welds the pieces together. I have brackets welded on the ends of the stall divider panels so my pipe corrals slip right in. Anyway, I have a large center space (big enough for about 15 ton of hay. It has a regular steel door at the back, a regular steel door at the front, and a 16 - 20' gated opening at the front (we back the hay trailer right in for unloading.) There are two 12 x 12 run in stalls on each side that open out into large corrals. We cast a 2' square hole in each inside stall wall through which we can feed. We closed in one of the stalls, divided it in half, and I used l/2 for my chickens and l/2 for my tack room. I have since acquired some rabbits, so have moved my tack out so I could put the rabbits indoors. It gets so hot here, I actually have a small swamper on my chickens and the rabbits so they keep cooler and the hens keep laying. We drilled holes through the walls for heat tapes for the auto waterers, but I decided I didn't like them and went back to troughs. So I had PVC lines run through the rafters that then gravity feed down to troughs in each stall. For our subdivision, outbuildings have to look like our homes. So we painted the barn white and roofed it w/tile just like the house. My friend used the metal sheeting to roof her barn. You use just regular trusses, so you can roof it w/whatever you want. When you design homes/bldgs. yourself you always end up w/a few things you would change. However, structurally I have been very pleased w/my barn. Except for the hay inside, and the roof, there is nothing to burn. And as I mentioned earlier, even in the heat of the day, the concrete stays a little cooler. If my description is clear as mud, or if you would like any more info, or if you would like some pics, let me know.
Lonnie
From: Sbolinge@xxxxxxx Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 09:39:48 -0400 Subject: Re: [RC] barn To: lonnieruesch@xxxxxxxxxxx
lonnie...could you tell me more about the concrete tilt up..I have never heard about it. thanks..sandy
