# 60x40 shop w/living quarters



## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

We are about to close on our dream property of 30 acres and we have a buyer for our current house. Our plan is to build a metal shop, 60 x 40 and include small living quarters in to live in while our new home is built. (Don't even have the plans yet). I am thinking about carving out roughly 16x60 for living from the shop area. We will make the height to be able to have a loft area in the living quarters to include two basics rooms up there. In the 16x60 ground floor we want to have a living, kitchen/dining combo area and a bedroom and bath. So total this space will have 3 bedrooms, one bath and kitchen. I've noticed that there is single wide trailer homes that are 16 x 60 so this plan sounds reasonable to me. My other way of thinking says this can also serve as a mother-in-law place (minus the upstairs...that would be used for climate storage area) in the future. We haven't met with the metal contractor yet but I am wondering if you guys know of anyone who has done this and pros and cons to this type setup. I don't want to waste money on rent somewhere and we have to have three bedrooms. I'm thinking we. Will be living there a max of two years. Also if there is anything you can think of that I have to take in consideration for this project, by all means tell me. I want to have all this thought out as much as possible before we meet with the metal contractor. If it helps, I live in SW Louisiana...aka hot and humid area. Thanks for any help/advice!


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Why not just plan on making it the permanent residence,,


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2014)

My Father is building such an item. I will be up there later in the week & can share his project.


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## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

Well for many reasons actually but mainly we have a very large family and are trying to downsize. My current home is 4600 sq ft and we want to end up with something around 3000 or a little under. One of my sons is autistic but he is somewhat higher functioning. We envision him actually living in the shop's living quarters once he gets about 19-20. That way he gets a little independence but we can still be available, etc. I know many people live in a lot less sq footage but considering what we want to do in the new house and how we live, I'm confident the 16 x 60 would not work for us as a family. 


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## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

TraciInTexas said:


> My Father is building such an item. I will be up there later in the week & can share his project.



Awesome...I would love to see it! Thanks


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Total of 3 bedrooms ? (one down, 2 up)....awful lot of space upstairs for just 2 bedrooms. Also, you'll have to allow space for stairs.

And the shop will have to have about 17-18' ceiling to allow you to build a 2 story living quarters along the side wall (60')....is that something you need in the shop area ?

Buddy of mine did something similar, we built him a 30x50x 12' inside ceiling, that was 'supposed' to just have about 12' of the back in small apartment for him/wife until they built the "big" house. She decided she wanted another 16' of the shop for living room, so he ended up with way too little shop, and a living room with 12' ceiling (ridiculous) in too small a floor space....felt like you were down a well hole in that room. The bedroom, they put over the back 12' of kitchen/bath, and the ceiling height was also ridiculous....you could only stand upright in the center due to the roof slope. What a mess. Then, temporary turned into about 10 years before they finally built the "big"house....and he never did get his shop back....it turned into a brother apartment.

What they SHOULD have done was add about 12-16' onto the BACK of the 35' width (you'd have 40'), and run a shed roof off the back wall, giving it a normal 8' ceiling height. You could do that, only add 20' onto the back. That would give you enough room for 3 small bdrms, and make a dandy apartment later (combine 2 bedrooms into one nice master). Lower your shop ceiling to 12'-13' (still pretty high), and you'd save enough to pull off the add-on.


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## Muleman (Nov 8, 2013)

That sounds like an awfully big shop, what are your other intentions for the shop. i ask, because if you plan to use it for any kind of fabrication work etc. You will also need to think about the smoke fumes from welding cutting etc entering the living space. The dust dirt from work in the air entering the living space. My main concern with any kind of shop space with industrial type fabrication tools would be the fire hazard. I am not 100% against the idea, just trying to get a handle on what the intended purpose is going to be for the shop portion. That would change my perspective on the whole project, depending on the end use.


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## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

Thanks for your thoughts so far! As far as the two bedrooms "upstairs" I should have said they will only be above 1/2 the portion of the living quarters. He wants to be able to hang his elk and deer on the tall walls...sort of like a man cave area for him until my son is old enough or able enough to use it as his own place. As for the shop area, I'm not real clear on everything that will happen in there (hubby's domain and all  but I know he wants to keep the tractor and his utv and trailer stored in there. He does have woodworking/carpentry stuff he wants to go in there and just all the general maintenance stuff for our gardening, home tools,etc. he also has a huge amount of stuff for hunting. Hope that helps clarify things a little. 


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

I agree with TnAndy that you will have to build your side walls 18'. Mine are 16' and by the time you take 1' away for the roof purlins, and then add about 10" of framing requirements for the inside building to get the second story, you are looking at having useable loft height down the center 1/3 of the building only.

I would suggest going 24x38 (minus wall girts) for the living quarters instead of 16x58. Splitting 24 in half gives you almost 12' (minus wall thicknesses) for the width of a bedroom. That is OK. Otherwise, with 16' you are looking at a long hallway to enter the three rooms.

Also, you have to look at a metal building as being sectioned off by bays. My 40x60x16 is a clear span with 4 bays. That means that there are 6 total wall support columns and the two center end columns.

Your shop doors will be installed into a bay section. A 40x60 is either built as 4 20x30 bays or 6 20x20 bays. Either way, building on the end minimizes the intrusion into the shop area and ultimately, the building we end up being more shop than living quarters if you intend your final use to be guest quarters.


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## chuckhole (Mar 2, 2006)

Melnic said:


> We are about to close on our dream property of 30 acres and we have a buyer for our current house. Our plan is to build a metal shop, 60 x 40 and include small living quarters in to live in while our new home is built. (Don't even have the plans yet). I am thinking about carving out roughly 16x60 for living from the shop area. We will make the height to be able to have a loft area in the living quarters to include two basics rooms up there. In the 16x60 ground floor we want to have a living, kitchen/dining combo area and a bedroom and bath. So total this space will have 3 bedrooms, one bath and kitchen. I've noticed that there is single wide trailer homes that are 16 x 60 so this plan sounds reasonable to me. My other way of thinking says this can also serve as a mother-in-law place (minus the upstairs...that would be used for climate storage area) in the future. We haven't met with the metal contractor yet but I am wondering if you guys know of anyone who has done this and pros and cons to this type setup. I don't want to waste money on rent somewhere and we have to have three bedrooms. I'm thinking we. Will be living there a max of two years. Also if there is anything you can think of that I have to take in consideration for this project, by all means tell me. I want to have all this thought out as much as possible before we meet with the metal contractor. If it helps, I live in SW Louisiana...aka hot and humid area. Thanks for any help/advice!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Homesteading Today


Congrats by the way. Awesome. After 11 years, I am still excited over my 42 acres in E Texas. I have had a few good experiences with Mueller Buildings and they are next door to you in Texas. The shop is near complete and the barnominium is next. They have experience with that too.


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## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

chuckhole said:


> Congrats by the way. Awesome. After 11 years, I am still excited over my 42 acres in E Texas. I have had a few good experiences with Mueller Buildings and they are next door to you in Texas. The shop is near complete and the barnominium is next. They have experience with that too.



Thanks for the detailed explanation. I will definitely check out Mueller. There is a builder not far from here either called Mallett's but our plan was to get bids from at least three different contractors so thanks for the suggestion! Your plan makes sense and I'm sure the contractors will have thoughts and experience with these types of projects as well. Nice to hear you're still enamored with your property. We've been trying to make this move for quite a while but the right property never presented itself...until now 


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2014)

I found some of the older pictures, from when we went up earlier this year. He was just beginning to assemble the human compartment portion. 

Roof is one slope for rain reclamation for storage. 

Walls are custom built, and will be sheathed in metal like the barn portion. This will end up the guest house, when they have the house-house completed, but for now it will give them somewhere to live while he is building.

It will have electricity, but he also has it where with one switch it will move over to a small generator to run essentials only. Or with the gene on the tractor PTO can run the whole panel. He also is setting up a wind source.

It's one system of sewage for the guest house, but we have been discussing the house-house using grey water and black water lines so he can recycle a large portion of it.

I hope this helps!


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## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

TraciInTexas said:


> I found some of the older pictures, from when we went up earlier this year. He was just beginning to assemble the human compartment portion.
> 
> Roof is one slope for rain reclamation for storage.
> 
> ...



Thanks so much for the pics. Very helpful to see "in person" . Like the ideas about rainwater! 


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2014)

Progress pictures...

















And this...








Goes here...
















It will have "regular power" that will change with one switch to a small gene to run the fridge and fans on the stove and/or a window-shaker unit. 








He will also set up where the tractor's PTO can run the whole house as needed.


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## Melnic (Nov 29, 2013)

If you don't mind me asking, what size generator have you figured to run ?


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## Guest (Dec 16, 2014)

Melnic said:


> If you don't mind me asking, what size generator have you figured to run ?



He has two. One is a regular generator, I can find the size of it. The second is an armature thing that is run from the tractor's PTO. He is an electrical engineer, I am not. He told me, but I don't remember the numbers...

What I found intriguing is that he is putting a receiver plug on the outside of the house, near the panel to plug the generators into. One little plug near the emergency panel, and one bigger near the whole-she-bang panel. With a switch between them to isolate the emergency panel.


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