Not sure whether to put this here or in "Upgrades". Bill, feel free to move it.
Tere and I live in an apartment inside of a 40'x60' metal building. The cell phone doesn't work inside the apartment, probably due to the metal siding and roofing. Going outside in 15 degree weather is no longer any fun. We also would like to have a mobile set up for the Barth so we can use our cell phone while traveling even if the signal is marginal.
I've talked to Wilson and they're talking $500/$600. That's not in the budget. Any suggestions?
Jim

quote:

Originally posted by Jim and Tere:
Not sure whether to put this here or in "Upgrades". Bill, feel free to move it.
Tere and I live in an apartment inside of a 40'x60' metal building. The cell phone doesn't work inside the apartment, probably due to the metal siding and roofing. Going outside in 15 degree weather is no longer any fun. We also would like to have a mobile set up for the Barth so we can use our cell phone while traveling even if the signal is marginal.
I've talked to Wilson and they're talking $500/$600. That's not in the budget. Any suggestions?
Jim

Some of it will depend on your area. I use a Wilson Trucker 301101 on our Barth. It works pretty well. Have you considered mounting something like that for line-of-sight orientation to the cell tower you use? They come with 12 ft of cable, but you could add more as long as the lengths are good for VSWR and TDR parameters. Or just buy precut lengths from Wilson.

Hi Jim, how are you and Terry doing? Jim Anne and I have a wilson truckers antenna and a 80211 amp onour barth and it works great. but in the building, it would have to be on the outside. I had the same probelem with mine at the office in a metal building. Here is the url for them, they have the best prices on the antennas and amps. You all have a nice thanksgiving. Ray and Anne
Prime celluar

quote:

Tere and I live in an apartment inside of a 40'x60' metal building.

Hey Jim,

Can you expand on this a little?......When I pull-the-pin in a year or two (market permitting ,
we're thinking about doing just that - build an attractive pole/metal building on an acre or so and attach/include a small residence within it.

We plan to roam about 2-3 weeks a month in a yet-to-be-acquired-DP, but still want a place close to the kids/grandkids to call home...While there, coach can be guest quarters for family & visitors.

Experience any zoning issues? (or maybe it's a don't-ask, don't-tell situation?

Be interested in your set-up, what you like, what you'd do differently, etc. Seems like inside coach storage, a nice apartment area, toys all under one roof, low upkeep & maintenance building all make it a win/win budget-wise. Besides, I'm too old now to care about keeping up with the Jones architechurally!

"Attach/include a small residence in it."

In a sense we did both. In 1990 we bought 5 acres with an existing 28x50' pole barn that had a 28x30' garage/shop on one end, & rudimentary living quarters on the other. We subdivided, sold off two lots, & kept the other two. At the time we were spending summers here, winters in CA.

The living quarters, originally a bachelor pad, were a little too rudimentary for us, so the next year, we built a 26x34.5' addition with living/dining/kitchen/den, & then refinished the existing living area into 2 bedrooms & a second bath.

We enjoyed the place for 10 years until ill health & reluctance to keep maintaining 3 acres of lawn & shrubs sent us into a manufactured home in town.

I designed the house to fit the site & the view, did all the finish work, skinned the whole thing with vinyl siding, & still miss everything terribly, except the yard work.

Zoning was no problem for us, only compliance with local structural & energy codes. You'll have to deal with your local authorities on that.

I would advise that if you build living quarters into the pole barn, you add insulation there. We lived in Clarksburg for ten years, so I know about your hot, humid summers & cold winters. The thin fiberglass wrap that is standard for pole barns won't cut it for living areas there.

If you'd like I'll send you a photo.

Our building is a 40'x60' pole building built by Morton. Very nice quality, but a little on the pricey side. One end has a 22'x40', one bedroom, one bath apartment that I laid out for my daughter and son-in-law who originally built the building. There are a few things I would have done differently than they did. Morton put 1/2" board insulation on the roof. That might be OK for the shop area if you don't want to control the climate, but I would have put at least 6" of board insulation in it. Also, attic fans for exhausting the heat in the summer would be good. They did add 6" of batt insulation in the side walls, but didn't put exterior sheathing or a vapor barrier before finishing the inside walls with sheet rock. As far as the apartment area is concerned, the walls and ceiling(cathedral style) are 2x6's with 6" of batt insulation, but again, they didn't put sheathing between the 2x6's and the metal siding and didn't put a vapor barrier between the 2x6's and the interior sheet rock. all of this means that the structure is not as energy efficient as it could have been if they had just spent a little more money in the first place. The apartment is 800 sq ft and has one bedroom and one bath. We use between 1000 and 1400 kwh of electricity per month depending on the weather. If I had built it, it would have been half that much. But we love the whole idea. You've got a nice place for the Barth and the rest of your toys and tools. The Barth is hooked up to electricity, tv, water and sewer, and phone, and is our second bedroom for overnight guests. Sometimes, we put friends in the apartment because we like the Barth so much. As far as zoning is concerned, we are not in the city limits or in a subdivision, both of which usually prohibit metal shop buildings.
In our case, the whole set up was originally for our daughter and her husband but when they had triplets 2 years ago, we moved here to help with the pregnancy and are now helping with the kids. Our son-in-law flies corporate jets and is away half the time.
We wish we had done this years ago. Living in the country is great and we didn't have to drop a bunch of money into a house that we didn't need. One additional thought, use a light color for the roof. Helps with summer a/c.

P.S. My wife is the yard person now. Her back is a whole lot better than mine. By the time her's wears out, we'll get one of the triplets to do it. She has a big zero turning mower and does the whole thing, about 2 acres, is 30 minutes or so. We keep the shrubbery to a minimum. If I had know we would be the occupants, I would have laid the thing out differently but that's just personal preference. Lee, let me know if I can be of any help.

Donna and I have looked at homes that feature a large port for a RV. Do a Google search on RV Port homes. Several hits for communities in Texas and Florida that feature port homes. We are considering inquiring about buying plans and building in Georgia. I especially like some of the plans from the Texas Community.

Nick

quote:

Originally posted by Nick Cagle:
Donna and I have looked at homes that feature a large port for a RV.

Nick

Here are some of our favorites.

http://www.unclehowards.com/RVGaragesp.aspx

We wanted enough space for the Barth plus two cars. The 40'x38' area works well for that and there's plenty of room to work on the vehicles and for tools,etc. I even have a small 10'x10' area walled off and heated for an office. The 22'x40' living area includes a large bath, large laundry area, separate bedroom and large walk-in closet, and open kitchen,dining, living area. We've had 8 for dinner without a problem. We even have an attic for storage. On top of that, we have a nice outdoor porch that is 12'x40' and is covered. I could duplicate the whole thing for less than $60,000 complete, not including land.