A small barn is a very useful structure to have on your property. Like a shed, it can provide storage separate from your house, keeping your garage, attic, and extra bedrooms uncluttered. But don’t forget, your barn can be so much more than a shed! Many people use barns as an outdoor shelter for cats, dogs, and other small pets or livestock like chickens or goats. This gives your pets a place to safeguard themselves from predators and inclement weather.

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Barns Have So Many Uses

You can stash your pet’s food, beds, and toys in their barn, allowing them access at all times. A barn can also become a workshop for woodworking, metalworking, and other kinds of crafting. A barn is an ideal workspace for particularly messy work as it will be easy to clean up and contained to an area outside of your own living space. So, not having to clean up your work area if you are entertaining guests!

Outdoor Entertainment Space

Speaking of entertaining guests, a creative idea for your barn, that is, if you don’t have pets and don’t need extra storage or a workshop, is to use it as an outdoor entertainment space! A barn that is equipped with double doors or sliding doors and can be opened up completely is perfect for a covered entertaining area.

Your barn just has to be large enough for a small seating area and a bar for serving food and drinks. An entertainment barn is a perfect addition to your summer party in your backyard! No matter which purpose your barn serves, it should be low-maintenance and visually attractive enough to deserve a place in your backyard.

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Pre-Fab or Build Your Own?

Buying a completely pre-fabricated barn will be the most expensive option, while you can build your own barn in your backyard for much less money. Building your own will also give you maximum flexibility in your barn design, and allow you to tailor it to your own particular barn needs. Keep Shed Windows and More in mind for finding all of your barn windows,  shed windows, and hardware.

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Choosing Your Barn Location

Regardless of whether you build your own barn or buy a pre-fabricated barn, you must choose an ideal location in your yard for it to go. While it is okay for some yard structures to be placed on uneven land, you will want your barn to be on a flat part of your property. This will ensure proper drainage for your barn as well as an ideal location for storage or workspace. You might decide to not put flooring down in your barn, depending on its purpose, in which case having an already flat floor surface is mandatory! .

Especially if you are using your barn to shelter pets or small livestock, you will want to protect them from drafty winds. To accommodate this, situate your barn at a 45 degree angle to oncoming winds. Really knowing the microclimate of your backyard is important to this project, so it will pay off to do a little research before choosing your barn location.

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Barn Windows and Roofing

Planning your windows appropriately will result in good ventilation for your barn, and hopefully some style! Your windows will also contribute plenty of natural light, decreasing your need for electricity in your barn. If possible, placing windows on the East and West sides of your structure is ideal.

If the placement of your barn is such that not much natural light can come in from the windows, put in skylights as well! If your barn will have metal roofing, putting in skylights can be as simple as placing fiberglass panels instead of metal ones. One thing to consider about metal roofing is that it is loud when it rains. If you are intending your barn space as a workspace, or any space in which people will be spending much time in, you might opt for a shingled roof instead.

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Barn Doors

A barn door is an obvious choice for this shed, however it doesn’t provide much utility. For your barn door you will want a durable and lasting material, such as the fiberglass doors. But now: swinging or sliding? Sliding barn doors save a lot of space, but don’t offer the same amount of weatherproofing that swinging doors can.

Sliding doors come in a lot more styles than sliding doors, too. If you are using your barn to shelter pets, a sliding door can also be left open more easily for your pets to move in and out of the space. This will also allow for extra ventilation in the case of hot summers. If you are concerned about missing out on the style that a class barn door offers but want the convenience and utility of a sliding wood door, jazz it up with  our beautiful stylized hinges and mounting hardware!

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Barn Flooring

If you will be using your barn for storage and/or for small animals, like cats or dogs, flooring won’t be much of an issue. If you placed your barn on decent, flat ground, then it might be best and cheapest to not cover the floor of your barn and leave the natural earthen floor. If, however, you are using it as a workspace, you will want to cover the floor for your own comfort.

If you need your barn floor to stay very clean and be easy to maintain, concrete is a good option. This is the best option if you are using your barn to storage expensive or sensitive items that you wouldn’t want sitting on a dirt floor. Concrete isn’t the most comfortable flooring, however.

Rubber floor mats are ideal for a workspace, as they can be kept clean and are comfortable for standing on. If you are using your barn as a combination storage and workspace, rubber flooring will work well for both. Neither plain concrete nor rubber mats will work very well for entertaining guests, however. You can cover concrete flooring with a stylish linoleum or vinyl flooring, or if you are looking for a very fancy entertaining barn, you can finish the floor in a nice hardwood.

Choose Shed Windows and More for all your barn accessories and hardware needs. Be sure to check out our barn windows that we stock in the perfect sizes for a backyard barn. Be sure to share with us your favorite photos of your DIY barn so we can post to your barn photos to Facebook, you may send them to info@shedwindowsandmore.com.

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