Barndominium Floor Plans in Louisiana

Barndominium floor plans decide almost everything that follows: the building footprint, the number and size of doors, the roof line, the mechanical layout and the budget. We work from stock layouts or your sketch and adapt them for your family, your land and Louisiana conditions.

Common footprints

Steel buildings come in standard widths and bay spacings, so plans tend to land on sizes like 30x40 (1,200 square feet), 40x60 (2,400), 50x50 (2,500), 40x80 (3,200) or 60x60 (3,600). Staying on a standard grid keeps the frame simple and the cost down.

Plans that suit the climate

Louisiana summers stay hot and wet, with dew points in the upper 70s. Deep porches on the west and south walls cut heat gain. A central hall for ducts, or a mechanical closet near the middle of the house, keeps duct runs short. Windows on two sides of main rooms help cross-ventilation in spring and fall.

Plans for flood ground

If the land is in a flood zone, the plan may move up a level: living space above base flood elevation, with the lower level used only as the parish floodplain administrator allows. That changes stairs, porches and utility runs, so we decide it early.

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Mudrooms and wet rooms

Rural Louisiana living brings in mud, fishing gear and wet boots. A mudroom between the shop or carport and the kitchen, with a utility sink, earns its space in a barndo plan.

Plans for permitting

A permit set needs dimensioned floor plans, elevations, a foundation plan and the structural design for the steel building, plus energy and mechanical information. We assemble what your parish or city asks for.

Placing the plan on the land

A floor plan is only half the design; where it sits is the other half. The septic area needs room and the right soil, the driveway needs access from the road, and the house should sit on the highest practical ground. On wooded lots, keeping big shade trees to the west of the porch helps in summer, as long as they are far enough away from the roof in a storm.

Bedrooms and windows

In a barndominium with tall walls and a loft, bedroom window size, placement and sill height are planned early, since steel girts and wall bracing limit where openings can go.

Plans that answer parish paperwork

Permit offices ask for more than a floor plan. Tangipahoa Parish, for example, requires an address from the 911 office, a flood determination and plan review, and Environmental Health sewer approval before it issues a home permit, and where two flood zones touch one structure the parish applies the more hazardous zone. Where the plan sits on the lot can change which zone governs, so the site plan and floor plan are drawn together. In Ascension Parish, attached garages over 500 square feet must meet the same base flood elevation plus 2 feet as the house, which can decide whether a big garage is attached or detached.

Plans for North Louisiana storms

Tornadoes are a design issue in the north as well as the south; a low-end EF3 tornado struck Monroe on April 12, 2020. A reinforced interior room, such as a bath or closet near the center of the plan, is easy to include during layout and hard to add later.

Planning for later

Clear-span steel lets you leave room to grow. Many plans include a future bedroom or bath in shop space, with plumbing roughed in under the slab so it can be finished later without breaking concrete.