3 Things to Know About Living in a Converted Factory, According to Someone Who Does
Apartment Therapy’s Lifestyle Director, Taryn Williford, says she bought her home by accident. She and her husband stumbled upon a condo inside a former Atlanta pickle factory in 2016 while casually browsing listings. Charmed by its one-of-a-kind features, the couple decided to take a tour. One look at its original concrete floors, exposed brick walls, and open ceilings, and they knew. They’ve been happily living loft life ever since.
That’s not to say inhabiting an open, airy space doesn’t come with unique challenges and conundrums. Things like repairs and everyday maintenance require a little extra thought—but it makes the fun stuff, like entertaining, all the more rewarding.
“It’s fun to have people over because there aren’t spaces like this all over Atlanta,” Williford says. “People are always kind of struck by it.”
Ahead, she shares three things to know about living in a converted factory.
You can’t turn to your pals for home advice or referrals.
Williford’s roof recently sprung a leak. It’s not the end of the world, of course, but it’s also not the kind of thing she can text a friend for advice about.
“Your instinct is like ‘Let’s call roofers. Let’s ask our friends about roofers they trust,’” Williford says. “But the reality is those roofers work on pitched roofs and residential roofs on cottages and Craftsman homes. They come to our loft and they’re like ‘Yeah, I don’t know how to work on this type of roof—you need a commercial roofer.’”
Fret not, for her building’s HOA is working to fix the roof for all the units in the former factory.
Heating and cooling aren’t exactly a walk in the park.
“The kind of stuff you hide behind walls in a normal home, like electrical wiring and pipes and air ducts, they’re just out in the open here,” she says. “So the air ducts don’t do a great job of moving the temperature controlled air where we need it to.”
The bottom line, according to Williford? “Heating and cooling is a pain in the butt.”
Be prepared to do weird stuff.
Like… tend to those random holes in the floor.
“There are holes in the concrete floors that look like they were made for machinery to be bolted down,” Williford explains.
To remedy that, she cleaned them out and stuffed them with cement filler.
“They were really filthy. You would stick a little bottle brush down there and they were so gross,” she says. “I don’t know the last time somebody cleaned them!”
Holes in the floor are perhaps a small price to pay for some unexpected (and weirdly fun) benefits that come with open-concept loft living.
“I actually like living in a big, open space. It’s kind of fun that I can just throw my laundry [over the balcony] from the bedroom to downstairs where the laundry machines are. I don’t have to carry my laundry downstairs,” Williford says. “And I can just shout for my husband when I need him to do something, like if I’m in bed and have that ‘Oh crap, I forgot to unload the dishwasher!’ moment.”