4 Uses for American Barns

We're starting to see more and more American barns popping up in Australia, and for good reason. An American-style barn is a versatile building used by people for a lot of things besides storing farm equipment. Contrary to its cowboy image, the American barn is a handy addition to your property whether you live in the country or a suburb. Here are four uses for an American barn that may make your life a little easier—and improve your property value:

  

1.  Garages – For better or for worse, many homes in Australia are built without an attached garage. Unfortunately, that leaves your car exposed to the elements, including dust, rain and the damaging UV radiation from the sun. A carport is a common solution, but it offers only partial protection and no storage space. American barns are inexpensive, easy to assemble, and provide a perfect garage space with ample room for your vehicle and anything else you want to keep out of the elements, like your lawn mower.

2.  More storage than you'll ever need – Everybody has stuff they need to store—and most of us don't have enough space for it. Even worse, we tend to accumulate more things that need storage over time. Whether you need to store important family heirlooms, seasonal tools and equipment, holiday decorations, or just plain old junk you haven't had a chance to sort through, an America barn is the ideal way to do it. Offering total protection from the elements, American Barns also have more total storage area than other buildings of the same size: large equipment can be parked on the floor, shelves can be added along either side, and the rafters offer the perfect solution for large objects you rarely use.

3.  Stables – If you keep horses, you know the value of a good stable. The best stables have good ventilation and plenty of space so horses aren't nipping at each other. American barns excel in both departments, with a high ceiling and surprising amount of room.

4.  An entertainment room – The side rooms on American barns, or the entire structure, can easily become an extension of your living space. Options for American barns today include things like windows, skylights, and sliding screen doors, and they can even be retro-fitted with options like carpeting, electricity, and HVAC systems.

Of course, American barns aren't the only style of structure that can be put to good use by homeowners, but they are one of the more versatile. Have you considered an American Barn for your needs?

The Many Advantages of the American Barn

When the Americans settled their own version of the Outback, they came up with a few innovations that are still worthwhile today. American pioneers took the traditional styles of European barns and added their own twist, making them bigger and better. The result is an iconic design for a barn, stable, garage or storage shed which combines maximum interior space and structural stability with an attractive silhouette.

Considering an American barn for your land? There are several advantages:

• Maximum space – The essential footprint of an American barn is to take a standard European barn and buttress it with two lower side-sheds. The result is a single structure that is both tall and wide, yet incredibly stable as the side structures take up some of the weight of the high central roof. That means you have nearly triple the floor space of a regular barn of similar height, while also gaining tremendous versatility in terms of how you can use the interior. It can be one big space or three (or more) divided spaces, each for a different purpose.

• Fully enclosed – One major advantage of American barns is how much fully enclosed interior space they give you. Unlike a carport, the American barn design protects your equipment from the wind, rain and dust in all directions. Since it is fully enclosed, many people use at least part of the barn as a recreation space or workshop. It can be as comfortable as your own house, and even have sliding glass and screen doors installed.

• Multifunctional – Because of the dividable space, people put their American barns to all kinds of different uses. We have seen sections of them used as stables, garages, equipment storage units, work spaces, game rooms, boat sheds, caravan storage areas, or general large storage spaces.

• Options for verandah – Although standard American barns come with both side-sheds fully enclosed, you can easily have one built open-sided to use as an open carport or as a verandah for your family.

• Extra tall ceiling space – Perhaps one of the biggest selling points of American barns is how tall the main space is. With all that ceiling height, you can not only park large vehicles, but also hang things overhead for more storage options.

• Mezzanine available – In case you don't want to hang things up, an American barn can also be built with a mezzanine level in the main space, essentially converting it to a two-story barn with a garage below and workspace or storage space above.

Are you considering an American barn? What do you like about it?

Why Your Catering Business Should Consider Building a Barn for Weddings

The rustic look is the very latest thing on the wedding scene. Many people, from city-dwelling hipsters to rural residents, are opting for bales of hay, distressed wood, hanging lanterns, and barns over the more traditional banquet hall settings and décor. 

If you run a catering business, chances are good that you already work a lot of weddings, but perhaps you want to expand into hosting them, as well. And while you can, of course, set up tents, there is a distinct advantage to having a standing location for these events. 

Here are some of the ways that building a barn will help your wedding business:

They're Less Effort than Tents

Tents are a lot of work. While it may make sense to offer them for offsite events, having a standing structure for your own location is a smart idea. Not only does it save the time and effort it takes to erect and dismantle the tents, but it also saves you payroll hours. 

They're Less Susceptible to Weather

Nobody wants rain on their wedding day, but unfortunately not everyone can luck out. Tents, while they may be secure from actual rain, are not exactly the best in wet weather, as they are often placed in open spaces where people may have to tramp through grass and mud. If your bridesmaids had to dye their shoes, this will be a problem. In addition, tents can be very drafty if there's a wind blowing outside. 

A permanent barn structure will be weather proof and, since it's not going anywhere, you can construct a walk way leading to it that will keep everyone from getting wet or tripping in the field. You can even invest in removable walk way covers to ensure that the bride's perfectly coiffed up do doesn't frizz. 

Cut Costs for Clients

Once you get into the event hosting business, you'll want to offer your clients a reason (aside from the aesthetic appeal of your barn) to choose your site for their big day. One of the best things that you can provide is a package deal for choosing to use your location and catering together. The one-stop shop is a popular thing, especially when it comes to the often complicated and stressful business of wedding planning. As long as the rates that you offer are reasonable -- and generally cheaper than opting to get the catering and venue separately -- you'll attract a lot of business. 

Capitalise on the Trend

As stated before, barns are in as wedding venues and do not seem to be going anywhere. Check out the different styles and colours of Aussie and American barns available and see which one would appeal the most to your clientele. With some hard work and determination, you could see your business blossom from a small catering operation to the go-to spot for events in the area.

Even Musical Geniuses Need a Place to Practice

Creating music is something that enriches lives. Those who play or sing find solace and release in their instruments and the people who hear them will often be transported by what they experience; however, that doesn't mean that the house is a good place to practise most of the time. 

Whether you are playing host to your aspiring band's efforts at professional success, trying to give your son a place to play his new drum set without the migraines, or even setting up a small recording studio, the house is often just an impractical option. Not only is there usually not enough room, but the noise can be troublesome, even if the quality of the music is good. One of the best ways to get around the problem is to build a structure to accommodate your needs. After all, the term "garage band" exists for a reason. 

Why is building an extra structure a good idea, you ask? Isn't that just a waste of time and money? Well, that depends on how dedicated you are to the music you produce and how useful the building will be to you otherwise. In terms of cost, though, it doesn't have to be. Here are some of the advantages to having a place for your musical endeavours: 
 

Space

That extra bedroom or basement area will probably become crowded with instruments and equipment if you practise there, making it effectively useless for anything else. And the more equipment that you have the more inconvenient and potentially dangerous the undertaking may become (think about all those wires!). Having a space set aside allows you to ensure optimal safety and as much room as you need to fit people, instruments, and even recording and mixing equipment. 

Insulation

One of the best things about our structures is that they are customisable in terms of more than just colour, size and shape; we also offer insulation. Aside from the fact that this will make the building more comfortable in the winter, it also serves the additional function of blocking sound. That will come in handy when your son decides to take up the drums -- you can avoid having the neighbours call the police with noise complaints.

Economy

Building a space for musical projects doesn't have to cost you your entire savings. Everything from our garages to our American barns is priced reasonably, especially when compared with the wood and brick alternatives. In addition, when or if you ever stop using the space for band/practise/recording, you can always convert it into useful storage space, a workshop, etc. so that the investment won't go to waste.

Why Customisable American Barns are Right for You

Our American barns are one of our bestselling structures because they are some of the most versatile options on the market today. The American line comes in a variety of pre-designed styles and sizes that work well if you are not sure what you want. On the other hand, if you know exactly what you need, a barn can be custom built to meet those specifications.

These structures feature a wide multi-level roof with a centre that stands slightly above the rest of the building, leaving room for storage space above the standard height of the remainder of the barn.

The customisation options are endless:

• Customers can choose whether to put windows in the loft areas and any other part of the building or not to have any.
• American barns can be further customised with roofed decks on the ground floor and covered balconies on the second story.
• The buildings can be accessed via regular-sized house doors, barn doors or roll up garage doors, which can be located on the front and rear of the structure, on the sides and in the centre or all of the above.
• The high point of the roof can be offset with straight walls or slope gently down at an opposing angle.

Our company is accredited by the Australian Steel Institute for its compliance with the country's billing codes, a factor that should speak volumes about the integrity of our products. Fair Dinkum Sheds' American barns are safe, fully customisable, and come in enough styles, sizes, and colours to suit every need. Also, all of our structures are conveniently designed to allow for additions to be built onto them at a later date.

Call us today and see which barn is right for your needs!

Why Get an American Barn?

What can American barns be used for? You would be surprised to find that these barns have many different applications including: garages for your car, a workplace for your company, stables for your horses, backyard storage sheds, farm sheds for your farm equipment or a hobby space. Essentially, if you need any type of room to protect your valuables, an American barn is the way to go.

The increased roof height of American barns makes them extremely practical for boat and caravan storage, or for people with hobbies or work that require extra roof clearance. By adding a mezzanine floor you could also provide additional elevated storage space or even an office above the working area.

Fair Dinkum Sheds can customise your American barn to suit your needs and taste. We can change the dimensions, add more bays, skylights, remote doors and even ventilation.  Personalisation can include your choice and number of windows, roller doors, sliding doors or hinged doors.

The structure can also be extended to include a garaport to provide more shade or covered area to the front of the structure – great for entertaining space or to provide more protected space for car cover. Or we can add a lean-to which is essentially a carport off the side.

Another alternative is to leave some barn sides open, providing easy access for whatever you choose to store in your American barn. By creating open bays, farmers can have one side of the shed completely open in order to cover crops such as hay more easily. They are also very convenient for storing or covering tractors and other expensive equipment at night. Open bays are ideal for this purpose because they provide a means for the tractor to be driven in and out of the barn without having to open and close doors.

American barns are a popular choice for both residential and rural buyers. Their flexibility, stylish looks and storage potential provide benefits for a broad range of purposes. Our new monopitch or skillion roof designs can modernise the look of the American barn to suit your modern home or property. A stunning angled roof better matches modern looking homes. We can also mix and match horizontal and vertical cladding and component colours to create a barn with more pizzazz!

Fair Dinkum Sheds has supplied over 150,000 sheds, barns or garages through our network of over 150 distributors located in regional and metro locations throughout Australia. Our distributors’ expertise and training will help customise your American barn to suit your needs, whilst working to your budget. And because we are ShedSafe™ accredited, you are assured that your Fair Dinkum shed, barn or garage is engineered to meet the Building Code of Australia. All sheds are designed to suit your site and our advanced design software automatically engineers most buildings within minutes - so you can be assured you aren’t paying for more or less than you need.

Whether you need an American barn as a garage, stable, storage shed, hobby shed, machinery shed or farm shed, we can create an almost limitless range of designs to suit your needs.