Hire Our Experts for Barn Construction
Call Cambridge Woodworks for:
- Free Estimates
- Competitive Pricing
- Custom Craftsmanship
- Family-Owned and Local
- Fair & Reliable
A barn is imperative because it’s like a home for your farm animals. Contact the professionals at Star Crest Builders to design and customize one that suits your needs. Just call (484) 796-3387 today or use our convenient contact form!
Types of Barns We Build
- Horse barns
- Pole barns
- Animal shelters
- Wood barns
- Metal barns
Barn construction might seem simple at first, but the process can quickly become complex and challenging. Unlike a normal home, barns are fit for animals. While this makes it easy in some ways, it becomes harder in others. For instance, barns need to have individual areas for animals to stay in while being breathable. Some of them are even open barns, meaning that shutters and small shielding’s need to be considered to prevent your animals from getting scared or hurt by the elements. That’s why you should call the professionals to complete your barn construction.
Types of Barns
Barn buildings come in many shapes and sizes depending on your individual needs. Every farmer has their own unique needs, hence why it is required for multiple types of barns to exist.
Here is a list of most types of barns you will see today and what makes them unique:
Bank Barns are barns which have been built into the side of a hill. They are commonly built on property where hills are the only terrain available. Unlike many barns, they typically have two entrances and exits, one on the bottom part of the barn and one on the top of the barn. This lets you access everything that the barn has to offer and prevents you from having to move animals, material, or tools up and down the hill. However, because of the excavation and materials needed to support them, they are often more expensive than most barns, but they can be built on just about any terrain.
Pole Barns are built without the use of a foundational slab. Instead, they have long poles that stabilize the roof of the building to the ground for support. These barns are perfect for uneven terrain or for temporary fixtures. They are also much more affordable than those barns that require a concrete slab.
Post and Beam Barns are made using heavy timber jointly fastened to metal plates or carved joints. They are significantly more expensive than most other barns because of the difficulty in building with heavy timber and the time required to fasten everything together. However, they have the advantage in that they can be made with far more openness inside of them. Since the structural integrity comes from the four walls of the barn, there’s no need for support beams making it far more open than any other barn.
Gable Barns are one of the most popular barn designs. They are simple yet robust making them affordable and functional which is perfect for a farm. They are built with steep, often metal roofs and treated wood, making them very sturdy and weather resistant. If you are looking for a good all-round barn that will last you years, gable barns are a good option.
Gambrel Barns are similar to the gable barn design. The main difference is the double roof slope which falls off short, giving it more storage room compared to the gable barns. They often have lofts in them, which the gable barns don’t, making them best suited for farmers who need more storage space.
Monitor Barns have a raised roof design that looks similar to how a simple Christmas tree would look like. The center portion of the barn is slightly rising in multiple increments, which gives the barn some unique options, such as more loft space and the ability to implement windows. If you are looking at raising animals and need ventilation and for your barn, this is one of the go-to options that lets you customize without having to compromise.
Round Barns, like the name would suggest, look similar to silos in their design. They are round and often have many windows with multiple stories within. This is rarely seen today, and is more of a historic landmark in history.
How to Choose What Type of Barn is Right
As mentioned, every farmer needs their own barn for their farm. Whether you are raising livestock or using it as a storehouse will determine a lot about the kind of barn that you need to get. There are a few things that you’ll want to look at to determine what kind of barn you should have built:
- Does it need to house livestock
- Estimated space required
- What’s being stored
- Terrain
- Budget
Figuring out these four crucial points will give you a pretty good idea of what kind of barn you’ll need in the future. If you are living in an area that has a hilly terrain, you might consider looking at a bank barn or a gable barn, depending on what you need and the terrain available. There’s a lot more excavation and building required for a bank barn, as it requires more support on the walls where the hill is. It’s often significantly more expensive because of this, but there might not be another option.
If you are planning on rearing livestock in your barn, many of the previously mentioned barns aren’t intended for running significant amounts of animals through. Round barns, gambrel barns, and bank barns are three barns that are typically used for storage space and maximizing effective space, rather than housing. Post and beam or monitor barns, however, are very well suited for use in holding livestock as they can be modified to fit your intended purpose. Post and beam barns can be made completely open, perfect for larger animals. Monitor barns are typically larger than most and have loft space with ventilation and natural light.
There’s a lot that goes into picking the right barn for you. You can’t simply copy your neighbor and hope that it works out. These buildings are intended to support the already difficult to manage farm-life that farmers live, and they need to be tailored to you. Make sure you do your research and know exactly the type of barn you need and its furnishing before you have one built. If you’re not sure, you can contact us with any question you might have about the process and what barn might fit your needs.