The Perfect Red and White Wooden Barn

When we think about a farm
Farms have animals and animals are what we think of first more then likely when someone asks us what is the first thing that comes to our minds. We understand that there are agricultural farms that do not have animals and there are mixed use farms that do several different types of farming production.

We are not here today to discuss farming but we are here to discuss the “Perfect Barn”.

Driving across America
When you set out across the agricultural areas of our county you get the opportunity to see plenty of barns in all shapes and sizes, we feel that what truly lies in wait on our excursions throughout the farmlands of America is what is stored or what is going on inside these barns on farms.

Farms across America
Nearly all farms have a piece of equipment on the farm that stands out like a big red sour thumb. Farms have a barn and when it comes to barns all barns are clearly not created equally.

Some barns are really old some are natural wood some are painted and some even lean but regardless a barn is a crucial piece of equipment for all farms.

Major farm operators generally located a grain silo nearest the barn so all farm feeding activities were located in a single location for ease of use.

Times are changing
Today independent farms those owned by little operators and family ran farms are giving way to some major farm operators and with these massive farm operators the traditional barns are replaced with giant steel construction out buildings that look more like a manufacturing or warehouse building then a barn.

What are barns used for?
Like a house has a garage a farm has a barn is the quick answer. Barns are used to store tools, feed, tractors sometimes animals have a section inside of these tall wooden structures.

In our story about the perfect barn we did not need a cellar, however it was not uncommon for the barn to be the location for the cellar for the ranch to store items that needed to be kept cool as well as a shelter to protect humans during those very common tornados depending on the barns location.

We did not require a cellar because the farmhouse was built with this cellar included.

Enough about barn culture and thoughts
We are going to build a barn and not just any barn, we are out to build the “Perfect Barn”. We have thought it out from the size of the doors to the addition of a computer connected to the Internet even a little office or two with windows. We know how tall by how wide by how long our barn will be. We have even realized the amount of space at the entrance and around the overall barn even material types we are going to be using. In fact we have selected the colors as well.

Physical location and placement of the Perfect Barn.
The barn sits in one of the four corners of the 40 acre farmland with the main large entrance facing away from the two nearby property lines. The barn sits 40 feet at either of the two sides that are closest to the property lines.

About or 40 acres of farmland
The 40 acre farmland property is flat and even, naturally.

One private barn bill of materials overview
A two story “A” frame roofed barn consisting of one main ground level floor and one loft style floor
There is a 10” reinforced concrete slab
There is one underground vehicle service bay trench
There is a concrete drive and 6 external parking slots
There is a crane and hoisting system that runs the length of the internal barn structure
There are two offices facing the farmland
There is one roof deck facing the farmland side and the property
One roof hatch
Color is red with white trim
The barn has 2 large entrance and 2 large exit doors 4 pedestrian doors
There are 3 windows
One half of the “A” frame roof is covered with grey fire retardant roof shingles.
One half of the “A” frame roof is covered in solar power generation panels. 
There is one wind vane featuring a roster that also performs as a farmland wide internet access point

Let’s talk materials used in building our barn
We feel that the perfect barn for a 40 acre range property is 30 feet wide, 60 feet long and 30 feet tall making ours similar to a real barn and only as tall as to have a second level for storage and or other materials used in our lives as well as to be sure that the first level is tall enough to cover current and future equipment height requirements.

We will be pouring reinforced concrete for the full foundation because we are not farmers, we do not grow anything but as we mentioned in the beginning of this article these out buildings are like house garages we just wanted ours to look and feel like a real traditional American Wooden Barn.

We have planned in the underground service bay, out front facing property line parking area and incoming driveway all in concrete.

Perfect Barn Office Spaces
We designed in 2 separate offices to allow the organization of barn activities as well as property management for the 40 acre site. These are both equal in size each has a sliding white wood framed window, yet a single door through a small hallway allows both offices access to the outside areas away from the barn. This same hallway between the offices allows access as well into the barn areas main floor of operations.

These 2 offices both face the remaining of the 40 acre farm site.

The Rooftop Deck
Atop our perfect barn is a 15 foot wide by 20 feet long observation deck. To access this viewing area there is a flush mounted roof access hatch that is electronically operated and is accessed from inside the barn from a staircase leading up to the hatch opening.

The roof deck sits at the crest or center point of our “A” framed roof so that the view from this deck provides views across the 40 acre farm property as well as a view looking out away form the farmland. There is a railing to keep the occupants inside of the deck area as well as to keep them safe at all times.

Electric doors for the large Entrance and Exiting door sets
Our main entrance doors are larger then the two doors on the exiting side of the length of our barn only by a few feet. The main entrance has two doors each 13 feet wide each for a total opening of 26 feet wide, enough to accommodate what we store currently and what we predict for the future.

The total height of the main doors when opened are 15 feet tall each separated into 8 feet and 5 feet tall sections with electronic releases, so the whole door height does not need to be executed unless that 15 foot height is needed.

The two exiting doors are 3 feet narrower; each coming in at 10 feet wide each and a total open maximum of 20 feet.

Neither the entrance doors nor the exit doors needed a street door usually a cutout door built into one of the larger doors at both ends of the barn because there is a pedestrian access door on the side of the barn facing towards the farmland. 

The last door for the barn provides access to the properties remaining land where the barn sits only 40 feet away from the property line, allowing the last side of our structures four external walls access to the outside of the barn.

About the perfect barns roof
In our bill of materials we pointed out that only half of the roof would need roof tiles but technically only half of that will require roof tiles because we have covered half of the roof top with a deck that rises directly from the second loft story of our structure. The half of our barns roof is covered completely in solar power generating panels on the side of our “A” framed roof that faces away from the 40 acre farmland property.

Meet the barns Weather Vane
This is a tradition in barn construction in fact the vane actually serves two purposes in the traditional barn construction our serves a third purpose.
The first purpose is to show the wind direction.
The second purpose we owe to Benjamin Franklin in 1752 for inventing the lightening rod, as this weather vane that is a rooster made of copper and comes complete with a rotating north. South, East and West spinning weather directional finder. The final part is the roll of copper cable and lightening rod that we placed in the ground and will run the copper wire from the base of the vane to the rod in the ground.
The third purpose is our addition of a 90 degree antenna built into the actual weather vane that provides complete coverage of the 40 acre farm property offering wireless access from all outdoor locations on the property.

The Perfect Barn lives on
Thank you for reading our rendition of what makes a perfect traditional barn a perfect fit for any farmland in America.