Barn Plans Barn Showcase

      This month we're featuring the beautiful new 36'x 60' two story Gambrel Barn Home built by Bobby and Ginny Passmore in Barnesville, (really!) GA. Bobby's an Airway Facility Systems Specialist for the government and his wife, Ginny, is a full time mom and self proclaimed "Domestic Goddess." With 8 kids, including Ashley, currently on tour with the Continental Singers ( http://www.continentalsingers.org ) they still found time to build their own dream "Barn Home". We'll let Bobby run you through their project....

     For starters, Ginny and I, both 47 years old, will have been married 8 years this December. She has 5 children and I have 3 from previous marriages. We had 5 still at home when we started building late in 2001.

     We wanted to get 'out of the city' and started looking for land. We found 13 acres in (appropriately enough) Barnesville, GA that we fell in love with. It's 600' off the road, all wooded and has a creek bottom running 900' deep, through our property.

     After looking at modular homes, we decided to build our own. I built a house before and I knew I could get a lot more for the same money....then we came across your plans!! The 'barn' idea just seemed to fit what we wanted in a home.

     Well, letšs get to the pictures....

	First shot is the drive entrance up to where the house will be laid out.
	I wanted a solid foundation with plenty of crawl space for duct work and plumbing. Notice we cleaned out all the rubble because I have crawled under many houses....OUCH!!
	I installed a drop sill consisting of 3 boards thick 2x12x60' for added strength the old fashioned way.
	Snow in central Georgia!?!? Ginny didn't realize just how big 2100 sq/ft was. Still she agreed to go help me shovel all the snow off the floor.
	We laid out the truss jig just as the plans called for. Using precut pieces that my Dad, and friend Asbury cut out, my Son and I managed to get 5 of these massive things built per day. Laying, gluing, nailing with a gas powered framing gun, flipping and repeating.
	We built a block and tackle lift to hoist one end up high, then lay it back down the opposite way.
	James was pulling the lift rope off to the side while Dad and I walked it over on it's top. A crane was out of the question and I didn't want someone else building MY trusses!
	We started decking the roof with 5/8" plywood but it couldn't take the moisture. Layers began buckling up so we switched to 5/8" OSB for the rest of the roof.
	AHHH!! Therešs nothing like break time after a long, hot day of work....I call this shot 'Southern Comfort'!
	I went with the white metal to reflect the heat....
	I contracted out the installation of the metal roof and it took 3 guys and a lift 6 days to finish the job.
	The County said I had to install 2 septic tanks for the size of the house. One is to be for gray water (kitchen, laundry, etc.).
	We wanted country and old fashioned, so we put is a new insulated claw foot slipper tub. We put in pedestal sinks so we wouldn't have cabinets full of clutter.
	We found this neat wallpaper that looks like wood flaking paint. Everyone wants to touch it when they see it. These jelly jar lanterns were for outside lighting....they're on dimmer switches that give the room a special effect. This also allows us to have only the living room or the dining room lit if we so desire.
	My Dad and I custom built all the cabinets to 'Ginny's specifications'. We really liked the apron front sinks from the magazines so we splurged a little here. She wanted 2 dishwashers and 2 ovens since we have such a big family and lots of company. She did not want any under-the-counter cabinets to dig through. We have a walk-in pantry for canned goods and we thought the fruit baskets looked great under the counter.
	We left the ceiling open like some of the restaurants in old buildings. The floor is painted 4x8 OSB Advantech tongue and groove flooring painted with Glidden porch paint....tough and easy to clean up!
	The pantry has a screen door and, since I took this picture, Ginny has installed a lace curtain on the back that looks real nice. I installed an old phone (non-working) with a cordless phone inside for kitchen access and a great look!
	Peaches is our miniature donkey we bought to keep Mercedes, my daughter's horse, company.
	The handicap ramp is not quite finished but it's on my to-do list. The front porch is 5x13 where we sit to watch the hummingbirds chase each other away from the feeders.
	I've recently added the cedar split rail fence to the country look and to fence off the beginning to my new butterfly garden.
	The back porch is coming along, but is not yet screened. I've been using it as a work area to finish up other jobs.
	A couple of things to point out (about the upstairs floor plan) are the girl's bath room....toilet on one end and shower on the other end. This way more than one girl at a time can make use of it. Also, all storage is heated and cooled. The main common area is sheet rocked to the underside of the truss. The stairs are 4' wide, not 3' wide like most houses.
	Downstairs, the main hallway coming from the handicap ramp is 5' wide and the hall bath is handicap accessible. I also made the master bedroom and bath accessible, just in case. You never know what the future holds and I wouldn't want a contractor coming in later and having to tear out my walls.
	Bobby & Ginny and kids.
	Bobby & Ginny and kids.

I contracted out the foundation, sheet rock and the metal roof...otherwise we did everything ourselves! I installed two 200 amp breaker panels.... more is better! To reduce water surges when we take showers I ran two one inch main trunk lines to make all my taps going to each fixture....and it works great! A gas furnace upstairs and a heat pump downstairs. If we lose power for several days I can still heat with the use of a small generator to power the fan. I installed one electric and one gas water heater for the same reason. I had a heat gain/loss study professionally done based on the materials I used. With the white roof, R-30 insulation, 6˛ walls and thermo-pane windows, it was recommended for our 3700 sq/ft home to install a 1.5 ton AC unit upstairs and a 2.5 ton downstairs. I was amazed at how well the structure could be insulated! I went with a 2 ton upstairs and a 3 ton downstairs, which was a ton more than they recommended and still 2 ton less than I was prepared to install! I put drop ceilings in all the bedrooms to have future access for wiring changes, etc. I glued and screwed all the flooring to eliminate squeaks. We trimmed out the house with 1x4 boards, like the plans said, instead of molding, and that was a big savingsš.

We did everything including all materials and labor, 900š deep well, two septic tanks, and the cost of a 500 gal propane tank AND filling it with gas for $110K....thatšs less than $30 per sq/ft finished! These figures may seem unreal but this is all we spent.

Without the help of God, my Dad, my son James, my wife Ginnyšs prayers and support (....and, of course, your plans and help, Dano) I couldnšt have built this wonder home of ours....and, for what I built it for, the value is double!!

Thanks,

Bobby & Ginny Passmore
Barnesville, GA
bville77@yahoo.com