sixteenandseven t1_j6ykf8h wrote
Most of the expense of a house is not in it's structure, sheathing, or roof. It's in the finish, fixtures, utilities, etc. Barns are just structures with sheathing and a roof. It's actually gonna be more expensive to retrofit a barn to accommodate all the other stuff than to just build something that was meant to have insulation, finished spaces, utilities, etc.
It just doesn't save any money.
Norse-Gael-Heathen t1_j6ytdyx wrote
Bingo. If the barn is in a rural area (likely), there is no town water or sewage, so that means septics and wells for multiple apartments, and that gets expensive fast.
8valvegrowl t1_j6yu19v wrote
Yep. Retrofitting a barn to be housing is just a crazy expensive idea; it would be a very unique situation to have it be worthwhile as affordable housing.
dbqpdqbp t1_j76i6df wrote
What about from a permitting/code perspective? If the barn is already part of the footprint then it might be easier to fix it up then go through whatever environmental permit process related to impermeable surfaces etc. etc.
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