What’s a shouse, you ask? “Shouse” is short for shop house, and this particular residential building application also goes by the name of shop home, or shome for short. But no matter what you call it, a shouse is essentially a variation of the popular barndominium concept. It offers a unique combination of finished living space and functional garage or workshop space that’s steadily growing in popularity. The barndo craze has been sweeping the nation for years, but more and more folks are also starting to appreciate the value of combining homes and shop buildings together.
Interested in exploring the possibilities of shop house living? Then keep reading!
Some specific benefits of choosing a shouse
What makes a metal home/workshop combination better than a comparable stick build? When it comes to modern construction, light-gauge steel beats wood as a structural material in practically every category you can think of:
The unparalleled strength of steel
Galvanized steel isn’t just stronger than wood. It also happens to be more weather-resistant, fire-resistant, and lightning-resistant. It’s essentially pest-proof, too. Thanks to these structural advantages, a metal shouse can also be cheaper to insure.
Flexible design and customizability
With properly engineered steel framing, there’s no need for any internal poles, support columns, or weight-bearing walls. The result is a clear-span interior you can design, plan, and customize any way you like. There are plenty of ways you can personalize the exterior aesthetics of metal buildings, too.
Construction takes much less time
Stick-built homes generally require many months to construct, and the whole process can get really drawn out. But metal barndominium and metal shome framing go much faster and smoother. Every individual steel building component comes to your site pre-measured, pre-welded, and pre-cut. That means fewer opportunities for foul-ups, with practically no construction site waste produced. In fact, if you like to work with your hands, you can even choose to put up your own custom metal building kit yourself.
Improved energy efficiency
This one tends to surprise a lot of people. Many folks assume that since metal is a natural conductor, it must be harder to keep a metal home warm (or cool). Not true! Because steel tube framing is more dense and compact than wood, it actually allows for more available cavity space you can fill with insulation. The fact of the matter is a well-insulated metal home can be up to 40% more energy efficient than a comparable stick build. The result? Lower heating & air costs for you!
The price is right
We’ve pointed to a few of the ways that having a metal home can save you money, but let’s also talk about the price of steel buildings. Did you know it’s generally less expensive to build with light-gauge steel? It’s true; a steel tube-framed home is typically around 30% cheaper to build than a comparable wood-framed home. And the larger your shouse design, the more you can save per square foot by choosing steel!
But, can you really live in a metal shome?
You sure can. Metal Barn Central has provided barndominiums, shopdominiums, and combination metal homes for folks across the country. We can help you come up with a perfect metal building design to meet your needs, too. Take this 30’ x 90’ Barndominium/Garage Combo we installed for a local customer in NC, for example.
It includes these features and specs:
- 30’ x 60’ x 8’ vertical roof barndominium with 1800 square feet of living space
- Attached 30’ x 30’ x 10’ vertical roof garage with 900 square feet of protected space
- Fully enclosed structure with vertical metal paneling on all sides and ends
- 4’ on-center framing
- 3/12 roof pitch
- Frame-outs for custom garage doors, walk-in doors, and windows
- Engineered and certified to meet Risk II Cat standards
Like to have one of these 30’ x 90’ barndominium/garage combination buildings installed for yourself? The attached garage space offers plenty of space for use as a personal workshop, or whatever else you may have in mind. We can make it happen for you. Want to alter the building design, or choose some other customization options? We can help you with that, too.
Metal Barn Central has your shouse needs covered!
Metal Barn Central is the premier American provider of custom steel tube-framed buildings, including barns, barndominiums, shopdominiums, shouses, and other popular building applications. We’re happy to deliver and install in 46 US states at no extra charge with your building purchase, and nobody beats our engineering capabilities, options for customizations, or the personalized customer service we provide.
Don’t have the full building purchase price in hand up front? No worries, we offer the best metal building financing solutions to meet your budget, too. We can even provide you with a full metal building home mortgage solution that covers the land purchase, building shell, and all related finishing costs for your shouse!
Reach out to us online, or connect even faster by simply giving us a call at +1 (980) 321-9898 today. Come experience the Metal Barn Central difference for yourself. We’d be honored to help turn your shouse or shome dream into a reality for you!
