A barn is one the classic farm buildings and barn farm building design was chosen with multiple considerations in mind. Simplicity, appearance, practicality, and flexibility were among the prime considerations. When finished this farm building can be used as shelter for many farm animals including horses, cows, sheep, goats, and rabbits among others. And you'll generally have plenty of space left over for equipment in your farm building too.

The Bennett barn features a wide overhang for outside wood storage, door shaped as ellipses, and best of all according to some are the low-cost materials used in constructing this farm building. Bob Bennett built a pole barn to provide housing for his rabbits, tractor, and other equipment when his garage became crowded. Bob used the existing house design to match the roof angle, eave details, and door design of his barn to those of his existing house and garage.

He reduced the cost of materials by bulk-buying with his neighbor who was also building a barn. For further savings they contracted to have the foundation down work by the same crew on the same day. You may not be fortunate enough to have a neighbor who is building a barn and is willing to follow this bulk buy program to achieve significant cost savings but it's worth a try.

The majority of the used in construction of the Bennett barn is rough-sewn, green spruce and hemlock. It was stacked properly with stickers to separate each layer. For this reason, it was reasonably well air-dried before construction of the farm building began. Bob built his Bennett barn for an unbelievably low price of $3.30 per square foot by using discounted, native lumber in discounted bulk buy purchases. Of course that price excludes labor.

Some pole barn designs use only on 2x10 girt at the bottom but Bennett decided to use two. He reasoned that if one of the girts rotted it could simply be removed and the other one would do the job. If he went with the standard design calling for only one girt and it rotted it would be a complicated job to remove and replace the girt which would involve removing and replacing the siding.

The Bennett barn measures a full 24x24 feet and has a gravel floor. The framing is done with 6x6 corner posts and 4x6 wall posts spaced 8 feet on center. In addition, the posts are pressure treated and anchored to concrete footings set below the frost line. The posts are tied together with a pair of 2 x 10 pressure-treated girts at the bottom, one of which is imbedded. And 2 x 4 girts spaced at 2-foot intervals are above. The Bennett barn is a handsome and sturdy all-purpose farm building that would make a nice addition to almost any home.