Train room advice needed

Ben,

I think you're going to have answer some questions about the two spaces:

1. How much space is available in each?
2. How much structural work has to be done to each to make it usable?  Barns are notorious for sucking money inorder to achieve human comfort standards.
3. How much HVAC work has to be done to each to make it usable?
4. How much time will be involved for the above scenarios?
5. How much money will be involved for the above scenarios?

Once you know the answers (maybe make a comparison chart), you can make a decision.  My guess is you already know which option you want or favor.  What does the data say?

George

First, congratulations on your new house. Your question is somewhat open ended and needs some clarification. Where do you live and would the barn require both heat and A/C? Do you have funds available to rehab the barn attic project. Ideally, the larger the space, the better. The barn sounds like a great opportunity for a layout.

I would suggest you get a qualified contractor to look at what it will take to finish the barn attic location, re; structural changes, finish the room with insulation, and climate control. I think you would then be in a better position to make a good decision based upon your resources.

Ben

Several years ago I finished a 9x19 attic over my garage. For comfortable operation and train maintenance you need to insulate with proper roof/eave venting and have access to heat and AC which also helps control humidity. Of course 120VAC wiring is necessary for overhead lighting and your layout railpower. Drywall cladding will suffice.

What are the dimensions of your attic including height of rafters at the knee wall [if any] and at the ridge?

i have a metal steel structured barn and stout $$ estimates of installing a proper train environment even with family doing most of the work stopped me.

Both are a lot of work. Have you considered the great outdoors?

http://www.familygardentrains....nfield/canfield2.htm

I redid my attic to finish the walls and make it insulated.  I love that, anytime, the layout is just a stair climb away - particularly in bad weather.  It was a job to do but not too bad and but not nearly what refinishing a barn would be - I did one of those with an uncle years ago and frankly it would probably be better (cheaper, faster) just to leave the bar undisturbed and buy a pre-fab metal building/garage - shop around and they cost peanuts and use that than try to reinforce/plug gaps between boards and then insulate and wire an old barn for a layout.  

I will try to work on getting some exact dimensions.  We are not using it yet as the house is very old and is in the midst of updates to the structure, modern HVAC, electric, etc.  It is in western MI so it would need to be both heated and cooled. 

If I used the attic space in the house then it wouldn't be too hard to connect it to the HVAC, and there is modern electric already in the space.  But, my contractor is adamant that he thinks the attic should stay as is as part of the insulation system for the house. 

That leaves the fairly large space over the 140 year old barn.  It has been rehabbed so the siding is in good shape and a new metal roof was put on, but it is still a barn, cold, hot, humid, etc.  I haven't asked him about the possibility of doing this as I am pretty sure he would look at me like I was crazy. He mentioned in the past that if we wanted to have any living space over the garage we would have to knock it down and start from scratch.  But a train room wouldn't require plumbing, etc.  My thought is to go to him with the minimum requirements necessary to make it work.

Is this list accurate?

1. Structurally sound stairs and flooring

2. A door at the bottom or top to contain the HVAC

3. Some kind of through the wall heat/AC unit to control that room?

4. Insulation

5. Modern electric... (right now there is knob and tube only in the barn).

6. Lighting

I don't need it to look nice... it is a barn anyhow, so it just needs to be functional.  The trains would provide the aesthetics.

What am I missing?

Thanks for all your feedback!

Ben

I have a 30x70, 90 year old barn in sound condition was going to use the upstairs for a train room but decided to build a 2 level building for my shop downstairs and trains upstairs. It's insulated with heat/AC best decision I made. Our club has a member who built his layout upstairs in his barn no heat or ac but it works for him. The only prep he did was paint the walls I was impressed with what he did and his layout.

   The bottom line is do what fits your budget and desire. Good luck and have fun pursuing this great hobby.

The Barn!

The usable space in the barn would be about 18' by 30'.  That probably sounds kinda small, but my last layout was 4' by 10' so it sounds massive to me! 

Anyhow, I will see what I can make happen and will report back over the coming weeks/months if I make any progress.

Thanks all for helping me to think through it.

Ben