Accidental barn ownership & what to do with it
Accidental barn ownership & what to do with it
Author
Discussion

Codswallop

Original Poster:

5,256 posts

210 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
Hello PHers,

I have inadvertently ended up with ownership of a barn (I was buying an adjacent leisure business and the barn was on the land).

The barn is 20.6m by 23.1m. Timber frame looks solid enough. Construction is uninsulated steel and a fiber cement roof which could all do with replacing.

It has electric but no water.

Inside it has a concrete floor, but it's stepped as it follows a hill.

Location is in countryside next to farmland, about 15 minutes outside of Penzance, Cornwall.

Any barn owners here with experience of recladding costs or ideas for uses?

Anyone with experience of a self storage business or simply renting out a converted barn space?

[url]

|https://thumbsnap.com/59cNGEdZ[/url]

LimaDelta

7,420 posts

234 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
Put cars in it.
Forget about them for 30 years.
££££

Or insect protein farm? Facility for simps hiding motorbikes from their OHs? Crossfit gym? Soft play? Literally anything.

MustangGT

13,401 posts

296 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
Could cost a lot to convert for 'human use'. Are you sure it is fibre cement and not asbestos?

Try local farmers and see if they need extra covered storage to rent.

Dr Interceptor

8,163 posts

212 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
That'd make one hell of a cannabis farm.

PurpleTurtle

8,255 posts

160 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
15yrs ago my ex-girlfriend's parents owned a boatyard in southern Cornwall, on the Roseland peninsula.

Lots or local farmers were making cash renting out barn space as covered winter storage for boats that are out of the water from September to Easter. Cheaper than a mooring and protects the boat from the vagaries of winter.

I got the impression from chatting to a couple of farmers that custom was an equal split between those people who wanted to use their boats and those who had more money than sense, so paid for storage but never used the thing from one year to the next but just liked to be able to talk about "my boat down in Cornwall". Money for old rope, so to speak.

Not sure if you need any kind of planning permission as a storage facility though, I know caravan storage places do.

ETA: sorry, had a closed look at your internal pics, the stepped floor and multiple uprights could be a limiting factor for manoeuvrability there, so may not be viable for that purpose.



Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 28th March 11:32

gareth h

4,008 posts

246 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
I’d be checking permitted development to convert it into a house

LuckyThirteen

831 posts

35 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
The roof would absolutely want sorting if for self storage. I suspect the inward investment would be very high to prep for this use.

Frankly I'd just advertise it for rent and see what bites you get. If nothing happens then consider other uses.

Rufus Stone

10,473 posts

72 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
Awesome. You could create one of those barns you see on Shed & Buried.

biggrin

Fore Left

1,577 posts

198 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
Turn it into a soulless, featureless home and post it on the Real Estate nightmares thread

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86095143#/?...

krisdelta

4,637 posts

217 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
Fore Left said:
Turn it into a soulless, featureless home and post it on the Real Estate nightmares thread

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86095143#/?...
Quality thread linking there. But please don't do this to your barn, or any others for that matter.

Lots of great ideas of variable legal risk above though smile

pidsy

8,451 posts

173 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
quotequote all
Definitely get confirmation of the roof being non asbestos.

What’s access like? Track, type one, etc?

flatcrest500

15 posts

29 months

Tuesday 28th March 2023
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buy some ordinary cars, cover them with dust and sell them on as "classic barn finds"

z4RRSchris

12,009 posts

195 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
convert it into a house. easy money

Simpo Two

89,338 posts

281 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
flatcrest500 said:
buy some ordinary cars, cover them with dust and sell them on as "classic barn finds"
hehe

We'll see them soon on Bangers and Cash smile

LF5335

7,443 posts

59 months

Wednesday 29th March 2023
quotequote all
Definitely a restaurant, possibly a shop selling local produce (from China). Big car park will be needed.

You could call it Squiddly Dot and make. TV show around it wink

beanoir78

352 posts

117 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
The dream!!

Fill it with cars, car paraphernalia, a bar, a workshop, a lift, some old leather chairs.

Build cars, polish cars, fix cars, look at your cars…

This is PH

fourstardan

5,661 posts

160 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
krisdelta said:
Quality thread linking there. But please don't do this to your barn, or any others for that matter.

Lots of great ideas of variable legal risk above though smile
Imagine the noise that house has going through it when it's raining cats and dogs.

loskie

6,337 posts

136 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
a barn of that age will not be asbestos

jules_s

4,814 posts

249 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
loskie said:
a barn of that age will not be asbestos
Famous last words

Anything last century has an asbestos risk worth investigating and you would be well advised to have it surveyed before demolishing it.

loskie

6,337 posts

136 months

Saturday 1st April 2023
quotequote all
or get on with it and avoid bureaucracy.