They Call Hoop Building "Home, Sweet Home"

They Call Hoop Building "Home, Sweet Home" BUILDINGS Houses 23-5-27 Low-cost hoop buildings are used for a lot of different purposes, but have you ever considered making one your home? Phil Stipp of Springville, Ind., says it's not such a bad idea. He and his wife and 17-year-old son moved into a 40 by 50-ft. Cover All building last February. "It's very cost efficient. For the cost per square foot of covered space, you can't find anything comparable," says Stipp. "I spent about $5,000 for the basic Cover All shelter and another $10,000 to convert it into living space." When the photos were taken he still had both ends of the building open as well as one side. He plans to close off the ends with wooden studs covered by styrofoam. He used special 13-in. thick styrofoam blocks with hollow cores that are filled with concrete to form the walls along one side of the building. The living area includes two 10 by 13-ft. bedrooms (one at each end), a 13 by 20-ft. open living room-kitchen, and a 10 by 13-ft. combination bathroom and utility room. Two doors face the inside of the structure and there's a window at each end. The rooms are divided by 2 by 4 studs covered with drywall. The floor is 4-in. thick.concrete. "When the photos were taken I still had both ends of the building open as well as one side. I plan to close off the ends with wooden studs covered by styrofoam and the side with barn lumber," says Stipp. "I got the idea after we bought a 55-acre farm with no house. We didn't have the money to build a house at the time so we decided to construct a living space inside the barn. We were planning to put up a Cover All anyway. At first we planned to stay here until we could pay off the farm and build a house. Now we may make it our permanent home. We keep our car, pickup and tractor inside the building as well as some portable corrals for our horses where the mares have their foals. I plan to replace the portable corrals with several permanent wooden stalls and a tack room. "I used the styrofoam blocks filled with concrete because they're energy efficient and are easy to construct. I was able to put up all the walls in only one day. They're so energy efficient I can heat the place up just by running hot bath water." Stipp installed electric and phone lines and put in a septic tank outside the structure. He uses a couple of ceramic heaters to heat the living area and a small window air conditioner at each end to cool it. Water is heated by a 50-gal. electric hot water heater. He made the ceiling by laying 2 by 10 rafters across and putting plywood on top of them. Since the building has no gutters he installed an underground tile line along the outside walls of the living area to keep water out. "I plan to build a hay loft over the living quarters and drive-through area so that I can store about 1,000 small square bales up there, which will offer even more insulation," notes Stipp. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Phil Stipp, Rt. 1, Box 1258, Springville, Ind. 47462 (ph 812 279-4091).

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