Barndominium Builders in Lubbock, TX

Barndominium builders working around Lubbock are building on the high, flat tableland of the Llano Estacado. Lubbock is the county seat of Lubbock County and is considered the center of the Llano Estacado portion of the South Plains. The city sits at about 3,202 feet. The Llano Estacado as a whole covers about 32,000 square miles of northwest Texas and eastern New Mexico, rising from about 3,000 feet in the southeast to over 5,000 feet in the northwest, with a 300-foot Caprock Escarpment on its east side. Early explorers called it treeless, and much of it still is. That openness is exactly why barndominiums make sense here, and also why the design is different from the rest of Texas.

Wind is the everyday load

Lubbock averages about 12.4 mph of wind, which makes it the 10th windiest city in the United States. The Llano Estacado has frequent turbulent winds that, with loose topsoil, produce dust storms. On a barndominium that shows up in a few places:

• Frame-to-slab anchorage and bracing sized for wind on open ground with no tree cover
• Shop doors rated for wind, and placed away from the prevailing wind where the site allows
• Tight trim, sealed seams and good filtration on the HVAC to keep dust out
• Windbreak planting or a porch layout that gives the entry some shelter

Hail and tornadoes

Lubbock sits on the southwestern edge of Tornado Alley, and spring brings a risk of tornadoes and very large hail. The May 11, 1970 tornado killed 26 people in the city. Heavier-gauge roof panels and impact-rated skylights and windows are worth discussing here. Many owners also add a storm shelter or safe room.

Real winter

Unlike Central and East Texas, Lubbock gets snow: about 7 inches a year on average. The record low is minus 17 degrees F, set on February 8, 1933, and the record high is 114 degrees on June 27, 1994. That range means insulation and HVAC sizing matter in both directions, and the roof needs to be designed for snow load as well as wind. The climate is classified as cool semi-arid, with about 18.33 inches of precipitation a year.

Caliche under the cotton

The Acuff soil series has its type location in Lubbock County. The USDA describes it as a very deep, well-drained loam formed in wind-deposited sediments, on nearly level plains and playa slopes, with secondary carbonates starting 20 to 30 inches down and a calcic horizon starting 30 to 60 inches down. Across the Llano Estacado, caliche layers cap the Ogallala Formation. In practice, a backhoe can hit hard, white caliche when digging footings, plumbing runs or a septic system, so we plan trenching and excavation with that in mind.

Acuff land is mainly cropland for cotton, sorghum and winter wheat, and the Lubbock area is described as the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. Many barndo tracts here are carved out of old farm fields.

Watch the playas

Playa lakes are shallow basins that fill seasonally after storms. Many Lubbock city parks contain them, and they act as stormwater reservoirs. On a rural tract, a dry playa can look like ideal flat building ground, but it is the low spot where water collects. We keep the house, the shop and the septic field out of the playa and its slopes, and grade so runoff goes around the building.

Water and septic

The Ogallala Aquifer is the main freshwater source for the region, and heavy pumping has taken out more water than nature replaces. On rural land, ask early about well depth and water supply. Off city sewer, the home needs an on-site sewage facility permitted through the county's authorized agent listed in TCEQ's OSSF program.

Permits

Inside Lubbock, Wolfforth, Shallowater, Idalou or another city, local permits apply, and a city's code also controls its extraterritorial jurisdiction. In unincorporated areas of covered counties, Section 233.153 of the Texas Local Government Code sets a version of the International Residential Code for new homes, with no county pre-approval required and no county zoning authority. Lubbock County grew from 278,831 people in 2010 to 310,639 in 2020.

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