Building Shop for Temporary Living?

**handmerounds** · 09-13-2005, 03:57 PM

Just curious if any of you have lived in a shop/barn temporarily?? We are buying 30 acres this fall and moving back to our hometown(well a few miles out in the country). The place is wooded and has electric and a well. Our plan is to build a shop to live in temporary until we finish our house. It will be my husband and I, and our two toddlers. Have any of you homesteaders done this before??

**Darlene** · 09-13-2005, 03:59 PM

Not I, but it sounds so exciting, what an adventure. Keep us updated ok? Good luck!

**mom22grls** · 09-13-2005, 04:09 PM

I haven't, but 2 of my family members have.

One family had a tornado last year & they built the shpo first....it was the quickest. Had electricity & plumbing....just no drywall.

They built makeshift walls for bedrooms....one of the kids is a teenage girl.

The other family moved 2 states away from here & stayed in some friend's barn/shop. No electricity or plumbing. This family has their own house now, but they've chosen to live off of the grid & no running water. They've been doing this for going on 3 years now. Their house is the size of our garage, and they have 2 small lofts for bedrooms. Very cozy. It's one of my favorite places to visit.

I'd do it in a heartbeat! Something to look back on in years to come as a fond memory & what an adventure! Too bad your kids aren't going to be old enough to remember it as well as you & your hubby.

**Mom23boys** · 09-13-2005, 05:50 PM

No, I haven't. Alot of families around here are doing just that. They are buying the land, building the shop or barn and then while living it that, they build a house. Some even turn the shop into their permanent housing and don't ever build anything else. It seems to work for them.

I would do it too if I had the chance to buy some land that was reasonable.

**handmerounds** · 09-13-2005, 08:41 PM

We are planning on keeping it simple: kitchen & living area open, bathroom w/ space for washer & dryer, and then have some sort of temporary wall etc to seperate the bedroom. We figured with the kids being little we could just put up one wall to seperate sleeping area from rest of the areas. Even thought of having a loft for storage. Mainly we just need to get the outside shell up so we can have shelter.

**sunshine** · 09-14-2005, 08:40 PM

One of my coworkers lived in an abandoned chicken coop, while they built their house. It worked for them.

**silkmomj** · 09-14-2005, 11:29 PM

Hi.....It is not uncommon for folks around here to build a "garage" first, and use that for their cabin, (on the lake), until they can afford to build a house. It makes alot of sense, and saves money.

**jlxian** · 09-15-2005, 02:17 PM

Originally posted by sunshine
One of my coworkers lived in an abandoned chicken coop, while they built their house. It worked for them.

This struck a memory --- a descendent of the people who built our 100+ yr old farmhouse told us that the house burned (many decades ago --- 1930s maybe?), or most of it burned, and while they were rebuilding the family lived in the LOFT of the chicken house. I bet they were glad to get the house finished.

Personally we have not done this, but my husband purposely fitted out his garage/shop to serve this purpose if necessary.

**cozyquilter** · 09-15-2005, 02:31 PM

My aunt and uncle built a "bunk house" to live in while building their house in the mid 70's. I wasn't very big at all and they had 5 kids...from mid teens to kindergarten. It did have a small loft area for sleeping, but it wasn't any bigger than a average sized tent. My cousins have fond memories of that summer and the bunk house.

**handmerounds** · 09-15-2005, 11:22 PM

I'm sure it is going to be an adventure!! I am just hoping we can get things started in the next few weeks. We would like to be in it by Christmas. I will start my 8 weeks of student teaching in January, so I'd like to be settled at least enough to concentrate on my teaching. We should have lots of help from family getting it built. I will keep you all posted and take some pictures of our progress. I like the idea of a bunk house! That sounds more exciting than a shop!