Barndominium Builders in Santa Fe, TX

Barndominium builders who take on Santa Fe projects have to plan for two things inland builders rarely think about: hurricane-strength wind design and very low ground. Santa Fe is a Galveston County city about 35 miles south of downtown Houston and 20 miles northwest of Galveston. Its listed elevation is 30 feet, and Wikipedia describes the low coastal plain under it as averaging 19 to 27 feet. The city covers about 17 square miles and had 12,735 residents in 2020, up from 12,222 in 2010.

The 147 MPH Wind Standard

The City of Santa Fe's residential development application states that most structures built or modified in the city must be built to the 147 mph standards of the Texas Building Code for Windstorm Resistant Construction. The state windstorm Certificate of Compliance (form WPI-8) has to reach the city's Building Department within 60 days of final inspection, or the permanent certificate of occupancy can be canceled.

For a barndominium, wind design touches every part of the shell:

• Frame and purlin design rated for the required wind speed
• Anchor bolts and slab connections that resist uplift
• Rated overhead and roll-up doors (large shop doors are often the weak point)
• Windows and entry doors that meet the windstorm requirements
• Roof panel fastening patterns, especially at edges and corners

We plan the building package and the inspections around the windstorm certificate from day one, because it is much harder to fix after the fact.

Flood Elevation and Surveys

Santa Fe's application also covers flood rules. Any development in a special flood hazard area requires a development permit, including fill, barns and driveways. Structures there need elevation certificates, and the lowest floor must be documented by a registered engineer or surveyor as at least 12 inches above the Base Flood Elevation. Separately, a stamped form survey showing slab elevation has to be submitted before the slab inspection. Galveston County Drainage District No. 1 may also require extra drainage or detention, and the application tells builders to contact the district.

That makes the pad the most important piece of a Santa Fe barndominium. We set its height from the survey and flood data, compact the fill in lifts, and plan where the displaced runoff goes.

Flash Flooding Is Built Into the Landscape

Wikipedia notes Santa Fe is prone to flash flooding and has many drainage ditches, culverts, diversion canals and reservoirs. The area averages about 56.5 inches of rain a year and around 72 days above 90 F. Grading a lot so water reaches those ditches quickly, and keeping the shop door threshold above the yard, matters more here than almost anywhere else in the Houston area.

Septic in Galveston County

Parts of Galveston County do not have public sewer, and on those lots the Galveston County Health District controls septic. Its page says a valid permit and an approved plan are needed before an OSSF is built, each permit needs an application and a completed site evaluation form, and building permits are not issued until the OSSF plan is approved. Where soil conditions rule out a standard system, an alternative system and an affidavit to the public are required, and some alternative systems need an ongoing maintenance contract filed with the Health District.

Clay Ground Under a Big Slab

The Lake Charles clay is extensive in southeast Texas between the Colorado and Trinity rivers. USDA describes it as 45 to 60 percent clay with very slow permeability, cracking when dry and showing gilgai mounds where it has not been disturbed. On ground like that, a foundation design based on a real soil report is essential for a long, heavy barndominium slab.

Railroad roots

Santa Fe takes its name from the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway built through western Galveston County in 1877. Residents of Alta Loma and parts of Arcadia voted to incorporate in 1978, and the city later took in all of Arcadia and parts of Algoa.

Call (832) 850-5283 or

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to plan a wind-rated barndominium in Santa Fe.