In November 2011 we featured the great looking (and very well built) 28x40 Garage/Shop of Larry & Denise Hodson in Aurora, OH. This truly is a "Barn for all Seasons" as you'll see. Larry works at home and complained about having his office in an extra bedroom in the house. So when it came time to build he added a 12' enclosed Shed Roof running the length of the barn for a really cool new office! Larry sent us a whole slew of good photos of the project and even included a personal narrative, so let's get to it!

We broke ground on February of 2008 after years of planning. The office/barn is built on my 3+ acre property approximately 300 feet from my house. The old shed in the back just wasn't big enough any more.

We put a separate foundation on the 12 x 40' office section and walled and insulated it off from the main barn structure.

The plans that I purchased from Barn Plans were for a 28' x 40 Gambrel, full upstairs with a lean to attachment of 12' x 24'. Since the winters in Northern Ohio are pretty harsh we decided to frame the barn with 2 x 6's to allow for additional insulation.

I didn't want any supporting poles in the 28 x 40 barn section, preferring to have it totally open.

That necessitated using engineered floor trusses to span the 28' section.

My best friend Frank of 40 years is a custom home builder who lent his expertise and trades to me for the build. He like most other builders at the time was experiencing a lull in new housing starts, as such his Amish finish carpenters were slow so we were able to have them frame, side and roof the entire structure.

When the Amish looked at the plans for the roof trusses they tried to persuade me to use gussets instead of the roof trusses per the Barn Plans plan. I reluctantly concede to let them use single pieces of plywood to tie together the top and bottom of each truss to save time.

Since the engineered floor trusses were put up on 16' centers we decided that for minimal cost we could build a few more roof trusses in order to match them up with the floor trusses.

The building inspectors and other trades remarked constantly that they'd never seen a building much less a barn framed with such detail.

With all the overkill I basically have an above ground bomb shelter. I've told my children that in case of a tornado run to the barn.

Originally we planned to use T1-11 siding but were able source tongue and groove siding as the price of lumber had fallen considerably.

I used T1-11 to side the inside of the barn and stained and finished more tongue and groove to finish off the walls and ceiling of the office.

We topped it off with a green metal roof....

....with contrasting red paint and white trim.

We built the Cupola with the same metal roof....

...and set it up on top of the barn.

I decided to use radiant floor electric boiler heating with 3 zones. One for the office and two in the main section of the barn even though it is not sectioned off. That way in the future I can section it in two and vary the temperature.

The picture of the electric boiler, valves and pumps illustrates how compact the whole setup is, hanging on a 4' x 8' wall section. I'm able to set the office at 60 F and the main barn at 45F and keep the electric bill reasonable.

Doors and vinyl windows are installed.

This truly is a barn for all seasons....Autumn when the trees turn.

Winter with it's snowy blanket.

And Summer in a park-like setting.