sonofthesoil

I have the opportunity to buy an old barn - solid stone walls and some flooring, but many of the timbers are rotted - am thinking of selling the good timber and starting over from scratch - has anyone here attempted a barn renovation? Need all the advice I can get (probably budget, etc...)

FirTrader

What do you intend to do in said barn?

Ordinarily, you can't just take a barn and go live in it. Barns are built as "structures of low human occupancy" and get treated differently in the building code. So you can't just move in, so to speak, you have to make sure that a bunch of things check out, particularly electrical.

If you can do a lot of things your self, and have somewhere to live, converting a barn to a living space is a terrific project.

If you just want to upgrade the barn, then the first thing you need to ask is why... why this barn? Why not just build a new one from the ground up?

Budget? Twice what you're thinking. It always is.

Bill

It is rare when remodeling is cheaper than building new... So if there is a compelling reason that the existing structure speakes to you just be sure it is not cost savings.

The rule of thumb I have used is that remodeling will cost from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 times new construction. There are many reasons for this.