I'm lined-up to buy a little piece of land here in the next 2 months. The wife and I can't get out of the cookie-cutter neighborhood fast enough (extreme time crunch required it when moving to this city). We are going to build a 40'x80' metal building (Mueller style, but not Mueller). 18' eve height, 1:12 roof, weld-up. 40'x30ish will be living. I searched the Outdoor and Home Improvement Boards and didn't find this question (but I did find some other cool things to think about)

My question is about framing the walls for the living space where it coincides with the metal building wall. I've come across multiple different option, each with their own pros and cons. I'll list the options below, I'm hoping that someone on here has built a barn house and knows which method was used and if they are seeing any negative effects from that method.

1. Frame your exterior living walls totally SEPERATE from the metal building. In this method the windows are the only part where the living walls and the metal building walls touch. You basically build a house inside the metal building. The though here is that it allows the metal building to sway and flex without hurting sheetrock. You also can achieve a nice dead air space to better insulate the living space.

2. Frame your exterior living walls WITH the metal building walls. In this method you frame your exterior living walls in between the horizontal purlins of the metal building wall. Basically frame up a bunch of 4'-5' tall walls and place them in between the horizontal purlins (and attach them to the purlins). This seems to be the most common way but it means any flexing the metal building does, the sheetrock will do too.

3. Finally, the most "out there" option. Frame your exterior living walls AS the metal building walls. In this method there are NO horizontal purlins on the metal building in the living area. Instead, you frame up 2x6 walls and place them in between the columns of the metal building (and attach them to the columns). Then sheet the outside of the wall with plywood, then add the metal sheets on top of the plywood. I haven't seen this method used but it is interesting.

Anybody on here done any of these methods and have feedback on the results?

I'll cross-post to home improvement also.


TL;DNR - How did you frame your barn house walls where they coincide with the metal building? Feedback on your method?

My parent's shop/apartment is framed with option 1. We have had no issues with sheetrock cracking. Only issue is we didn't build a big enough building.

Built mine 6 years ago using option 1. 25' eves with 9/12 pitch roof. No sheetrock problems so far.

My rec is go with option 1. Didn't fully appreciate how much the skin moves in hot Texas sun and strong winds. Also 9/12 is too steep - 1/12 is not enough. Finally use spray foam insulation. I used 6" in the walls and 8" on top. The envelope is sealed from air movement and sure helps with suppressing sound.

3/12 min

Yall saying 1:12 is not enough due to aesthetics? Or for function in relation to snow shedding, wind, rain?

Location is Central Texas, Bell County

Watchlisting as I'll be trying to figure out the same thing for a cabin on our property.

3/12 is the generally accepted minimum for most residential roof applications. Less than that will likely void any manufacturer or workmanship guarantee. What is your reasoning behind choosing 1:12?

I was thinking 1:12 mostly for material cost reasons. But also, with the 18' eve height, we have enough headroom for the loft areas already. So the steeper the roof the more area we must heat/cool and its area we don't necessarily need.

My boss has 2 separate barn houses that both have 1:12 and they have had no issues, so I figured there should be no performance issues.

Also watch listing. I too am in Bell County and will be buying property this summer with an idea for similar building plans.

We used option 1, no problems so far (coming up on 3 years). We insulated the metal building and the framed walls. It's very efficient. 6:12 pitch.

we bought option 1 style at one point, and my dad built option 1. works well and makes the most sense to me.

Difference between 1:12 and 3:12 is about 80 sqft, 2.5% increase. Looks like the volume difference is 2,000 ft3 or 9% increase.

I think that would be worth it to me, but if you can get full length panels with no breaks I would feel a little better about 1:12

Built one in a 60'x60' with my dad. We used option 1. On the "outside" of your walls we used 1/4" to hold in the sheetrock.

I appreciate all the reply's.

I think I'm going to ask for the cost difference between 1:12 and 3:12, see where it sits after that.

I really want to go with spray foam but someone brought up the fact that you cant use the standard metal building insulation on only half of the build (the shop area) because then the metal panels would have a "hump" in them where the insulation transition happens. So now I've got to decide which way to go on that.

I really wanted to avoid framing option # 1 above because of the wasted space and additional material cost. But option 1 is starting to show more advantages with the little detail issues. Option #3 is starting to look interesting also.

jejdag - When you start finding people and coming up with ideas for your project pull this thread back up and we can get in contact with each other. I can let you know who I ended up using and the methods we went with to maybe help you out with your decisions a little bit.

I second the advice to budget for the quality materials in the structure and design. Flooring, furnishings, etc must have a quality foundation and structure or what's the point? It may not seem sexy at first, but think long term (or at the very least-resale). You have many years of utility bills and living ahead of you so you'll want it to be as painless as possible so you can focus on living the good life out in the country...

Halifax and oogway - I agree with you both on not cutting corners on the main structures. When it comes down to the nut cutting, I know how to build everything the way I want and feel comfortable with it. I've got a few months to get everything in line so I'm just looking for other ideas to see if there is a more efficient way to do things, without giving up much/any "performance".

locogringo said:

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Yall saying 1:12 is not enough due to aesthetics? Or for function in relation to snow shedding, wind, rain?

Location is Central Texas, Bell County

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Aesthetics mostly. Not an engineer but married to a designer.

There are standing seam-esque panels that can be installed almost flat. MBCI's ultra-dek for one (I'm sure there are competitor's versions as well) can be installed at 1/4-12 pitch. I'm sure there are expensive ways of doing that if the look is important. I would not do it based on any idea of expected cost savings, I can tell you that.