Barndominium Builders in Arkadelphia, AR

Barndominium builders planning a home near Arkadelphia should know two things about the place: the clay under it and the storm history over it. Arkadelphia is the seat of Clark County, in the northeastern part of the county on the west bank of the Ouachita River. It sits at about 246 feet in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains along the I-30 corridor between Little Rock and Texarkana. The city was incorporated on January 6, 1857, and is home to Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University, whose campuses face each other across US 67.

The population was 10,380 in 2020, down from 10,714 in 2010, and Clark County counted 21,446 people that year, down from 22,995. A slower-growing county can mean more rural land on the market and less competition for it, which is part of the appeal for people who want acreage and a shop house.

March 1, 1997

On March 1, 1997, an F4 tornado tore through Arkadelphia as part of a statewide outbreak. Sixty downtown blocks were heavily damaged, about 250 houses, 90 mobile homes and 45 businesses were damaged or destroyed, five people died in the city and a sixth died in a vehicle on I-30 southwest of town.

That history is worth carrying into a new home design. A barndominium frame is engineered for wind, and steel columns anchored to a properly designed slab are a strong starting point, but a storm shelter is a separate decision. The practical options:

• Interior safe room poured and framed with the slab, often doubling as a closet or pantry.
• Reinforced concrete room within the shop side of the building.
• Detached storm cellar placed close to the main door.

Each is far simpler to build during construction than to add afterward, and each gets its own line on our estimate.

Clay Along the Fall Line

The Arkansas Geological Survey says the clays of the Porters Creek Clay are highly expansive. Its outcrop runs as a narrow, continuous band along the Fall Line from just south of Hope to near Arkadelphia. These clays shrink and swell with moisture, and the Survey warns that uneven movement can crack concrete foundations. A big barndo slab is exactly the kind of foundation that needs to be designed with that in mind: soil testing first, then reinforcement, edge thickness and drainage chosen to suit.

DeGray Lake and River Country

DeGray Lake was built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Caddo River and completed in the 1970s. It has about 208 miles of shoreline and 13,800 acres of water, and it supports much of the area's recreation. The Ouachita River runs through the county as well. For any lot near water, Arkansas septic rules require 100 feet from a lake or stream's high-water mark, 300 feet when the water is within a quarter mile of a public water intake, and 100 feet from any domestic water supply.

Testing the Seasonal Water Table

On low or flat ground, the seasonal water table often decides whether a septic site passes. Arkansas rules let soil evaluators read it from the soil's color patterns, called redoximorphic features. When that is uncertain, the rules allow monitoring with observation wells instead, but only during the wet season from December 1 to May 15, for at least eight weeks with 16 recorded readings. If your Clark County land is borderline, that timing can add months to a schedule, so it is worth starting early. Only a Soil Qualified Designated Representative may size a system from seasonal water table data.

Weather Numbers

Arkadelphia averages 54.84 inches of precipitation a year, with May the wettest month at 6.60 inches, and only about 1.4 inches of snow. Records range from 113 degrees F to minus 6. Summers with highs averaging over 93 degrees in July and August make insulation and HVAC sizing as important as the frame.

Around Clark County

Beyond Arkadelphia, Clark County includes Gurdon, Amity, Caddo Valley, Okolona, Alpine, Whelen Springs and Curtis. The county had 9,977 housing units in 2020, about 63.5 percent of occupied homes owner-occupied.

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