Another crazy term to add to your vocabulary when talking with your clients. The term barndominium—sometimes referred to as “barndo”— coined in 1989 by developer Karl Nilsen.
The original barndominium was a steel frame building used a residence and an equestrian facility. Today, barndominium typically refers to large, open-concept buildings that have both living quarters and a garage or workshop. And in some cases, make it possible and comfortable to live with your horses, depending on local codes, of course.
Characteristics of a barndominium:
- Large strong framing and free-span truss design, which allows the interior of a single-story barndominium to have few, or even zero, load-bearing walls.
- Lends itself well to an extreme open concept design (open floor plan).
- They have steel exterior walls and roof, often called a shell.
- Steel frame barndominiums have steel trusses and columns
- Post frame barndominiums are built using wood trusses and columns. The whole exterior structure is put together before any of the interior work starts.
