In February 2011 we visited the brand new 24x48 combination Garage/Shop/Horse Barn built by contractor Greg Wamhoff and his crew for Poly and Bruce Cline. The Cline's own a beautiful little farm just outside of Tomball, TX. Poly not only sent us these really cool photos of their project....she did a great "blow-by-blow" narrative of the whole event! So, without further fondue we'll let Poly tell her story of the building of their barn!

Dano, your designs were the inspiration for the building. They had just the look we were after. The building will be multi-use with a 12x24 shop for my husband, Bruce; a 24x24 garage bay for his tractor and the trailer; and 2 12x12 stalls for my horses. Our property, though beautiful is all ups and downs with no level places to build. Consequently we had to place just over 4' of fill in order to level the site to the southeast corner of the barn. I was amazed at the amount of fill needed as this was one of the most level spots on the property. We began work on October 18: putting in the stakes and shooting the grade. Then came the dirt -- 40 loads. Next the forms for the slab were set and on October 21 the slab was poured. The left of the photo shows the porch area that will run along the south side of the barn. The 2 sunken areas are the stalls. They were dug out, French drains put in and then filled with mortar sand. Later, we'll install "Stall Skins" over the sand footing. (The buildings in the background are on the adjoining property and will give you an idea how much the land drops off to the northwest -- both are 2 story buildings.)

After allowing the slab to cure over the weekend, framing began on October 25. Here you see the stalls on the right (east) side of the barn and the office on the left side with the garage bay in the center.

Here, the stairway goes in to the 2nd floor.

We found a truss company that promised to build the trusses according to the plans so we just let them build them. The trusses arrived on the 26th and went up on the 27th. You can see the framing for the south facing porch to the left on the photo.

On the 28th the 2 dormers were framed in along with the roof supports for the porch.

On the 29th, 2 weeks into the project the cupola and other framing was completed. We decided the cupola was a bit too high so it will be lowered somewhat on Monday.

The east gable end.

Week 2....The framing is done and the wrap is going on. The contractor Greg Wamhoff.

Greg and his little boy, Brenner.

Week 3....the roof goes on. Some of the "Hardie" siding is on.

Interior shots: The stairs. The big beam holding up the loft floor runs through the middle of the garage area.

The loft. Everyone who visits is fascinated by the truss design that allows so much head room in the loft instead of having to work around criss-crossed braces and uprights.

Week 5....Windows and doors, siding finished, etc. We decided to make the cupola functional. The door on the left opens into the shop. The garage bay will have an overhead door. The door on the right opens into the bay. The small window is for ventilation in the front stall. There is one in the back stall as well.

The West end of the barn showing the 3 shop windows, the loft window and temperature activated exhaust outlet.

The shop was insulated, sheet-rocked with mold resistant product and lightly textured. The windows are Jeld-Wen double paned vinyl clad.

Inside wiring and plumbing were run. We have no really cold weather so the plumbing was run in from outside in flexible plastic lines. You can see the huge beam that was run the length of the bay to support the floor overhead.

Stall access doors open from the garage bay into the stalls. All electrical and water in the stall area is run in galvanized pipe for safety. The stall doors are galvanized Dutch doors from Triton Barns in Fort Worth.

The East side of the barn showing the stall and loft doors. The small window opens into a stall.

Contractor, Greg Wamhoff puts the "man chicken" [my little grandson, Byron's name for a rooster] weathervane on the cupola.

The west facing gable end. The 3 windows are in Bruce's shop.

The east facing gable with 2 stalls and loft above.

The proud "man chicken" stands tall!

The south facing front of the barn. Bruce's shop is on the left, then the tractor parking bay, then the stalls on the right.

The antique pulley for the loft.

The not yet partitioned stalls with permeable "stall skin" flooring. Dutch doors open to the outside and into the interior bay. The little door on the left wall houses the water spigot for the horse's water.

Bruce's shop with work benches, peg board, sink and "mini-split" heat/air conditioning. The flooring is Costco garage flooring.

Bruce's shop with work benches, peg board, sink and "mini-split" heat/air conditioning. The flooring is Costco garage flooring.

Bruce's tractor just loves its new home.

The stalls have enclosed water faucets so that the horses can't "accidentally" turn on the water. The stall partitions are 2" x 6" tongue and groove pine boards that just drop into place and can easily be removed or changed out.

The "man chicken" water faucet.

The new paddock fence.

We fenced off a paddock around the barn so that the horses couldn't loiter on the porch. They are led into and out of the stalls. Since it is not unusual for us to get 5 or more inches of rain in a few hours -- known around here as "gully washers" for a reason -- erosion control is very important. The barn is guttered front and back with all the downspouts connecting to underground pipes that run toward the creek. The underground pipes serve as drains for the stalls as well. American Holly trees flank each side of the photo. The overhead doors are insulated carriage style doors that match the ones on our house. We put down a layer of weed barrier cloth under the crushed granite drive surface.