A barn is one of the essential structures in any home or farm. And for the right reasons.
You can use barns to store animal feeds like hay supplies and house the animals themselves.
Locating a barn near your house can be a real challenge.
So, How Close Should Your Barn Be to Your House?
Experts recommend a distance of 23 meters/ 75 feet between your house and the barn. Many things are put into consideration when setting a barn near a home. This distance is subject to regulation by local municipal laws in many countries.
Are There Specific Barn Sitting Regulations?
Yes. Development codes regulate the zoning of barns.
Regulations may vary. Each municipality has its parameters for the barn setting.
You should be able to obtain this information from your local building office before the execution of the building project kicks off.
Some of these regulations include the distance from residential homes and neighbors, and access, to name a few. The following section covers these and other factors in deep detail.
Six Factors That Determine the Location of a Barn Near a House
1. The Barn Use
What you intend to use the barn for is an excellent place to start. It is a primary consideration before anything else comes to mind. Consider how you will use your barn.
You can use barns for a plethora of purposes, including:
- Storing farming implements
- Keeping animal feeds like hay
- Parking farm machinery like tractors
- Housing animals like cows and horses
If your barn is going to store farm implements and animal feeds exclusively, you can set it closer to your home. In such cases, nobody will have to worry about foul smells coming from the barn.
It would be no problem to sit it up closer to the house.
However, if your barn will house animals like pigs, cows, and chickens, you should be wary of smell and flies.
In such cases, You need to locate your barn further away from the house.
And it should not be too far away. Remember your animals needs a close watch at night as well.
Animals demand a lot of attention. If you sit in your animal barn far away from the house, it will be hectic for you to get there. Worse during bad weather conditions.
2. Prevailing Winds
Prevailing winds are winds that blow over an area in a specific direction for a long time.
We are talking about the predominant wind direction.
And by this, we do not mean winds will never blow in another direction.
Many factors affect the direction of prevailing winds, including the area’s geography and atmospheric pressure. When setting up a barn, you need to put the prevailing winds into consideration.
Sit a barn in the direction where foul odors, pests, and flies are blown away by the wind.
When set well, this idea can allow you to set up your barn close to the house without facing significant challenges.
Also, ensure that you do not set up your barn in the direction in line with your housed doors.
You must ensure that the barn’s doors do not face the direction from which the entry is coming. And for many reasons.
One, you want to avoid the wind tunnel effect on your house. Second, you want to ensure that the barn’s temperatures are appropriately regulated.
3. Climate
Temperature, to be specific, is the chief climatic aspect that you should take note of when setting up a barn.
If you live in cold places, you can set up your barn anywhere near your home without considering the climate.
It is a good idea to set up your barn near the house in areas with colossal snowfall.
It allows for easy shoveling of snow around the entire compound.
It is not the case in the tropics, where temperatures sometimes surge past 50 degrees.
You will have to set it up some distance away from the house in these zones.
Temperatures also make smell diffuse faster, giving it more reason to locate the ban away from home.
4. Landscape
Do not overlook the area’s landscape when figuring out where to build a barn near your house.
No one wants to set a barn over a hill where you have to sweat to get there. Having the ban and your home on the same level would be prudent.
Other homes have spectacular views.
Do not build your ban where it will likely obstruct such excellent views. You need to take care of everything, including the house’s aesthetics.
Another issue about landscape is drainage.
You want to set up your barn on level ground with proper drainage.
Drainage becomes even more important when setting up a barn that will house animals.
Additionally, the drainage should lead away from the house. Do not direct the drainage towards the house.
5. Accessibility
If you set up your barn too close to the home, there is every chance you will compromise with accessibility.
You need space to allow trucks, trailers, and cars into the barn.
Oversized vehicles may damage your home landscaping and gardens. They also make immense noise which can be unpleasant and disturbing.
6. Size of The Barn
The size of the barn equally dictates the distance you should set from the house.
It is especially true if you do not want the barn to become a vast structure and make your home look minute.
Some people love it when the house is the only thing rising from the home, and the other designs are on a lower level.
You need to set up a smaller barn if this is the case. Just be sure that the barn meets all your needs.
Final Words
As noted in this article, there is no precise distance between your house and the barn.
Each person must weigh all factors involved before reaching an informed decision.
Do not forget to check your area’s municipal regulations and other legal requirements for setting up barns near homesteads.