Above 1200 Sq/FT 1898 Ohio Post and Beam Barn rebuild - 6784

[STINEY]

Well, we recieved 3.5" of rain over the weekend - so this was a good test of the lower barn floor tile/sump pump system. I am glad to report all worked as intended and the pump kept up.

This is a 2" PVC outlet for the sump pump, by the way.

I have video of it pumping, but don't know how to upload video to GarageJournal?

View media item 112088

 

[xtremek]

You can feel free to send some of that wet stuff to us. We're in a mild drought here in the mitten state (at least in our area). And don't bother with the cold, we have plenty of that here.

 

[STINEY]

I wish I could, its been an early warm spring and lots of the crops are (were) already in the ground. The forecast for the next week is more rain with lots of cold, even some frost warnings. Just the thing for budding corn...not!

We go to Silver Lake Sand Dunes quite often, looks like we swing very near to the Princess Palace as we go around Lansing. The work you have done on that driveway is impressive.

 

[NUTTSGT]

There was a guy on CL that had wire shelving, $8/ea


This was the link.
https://columbus.craigslist.org/mat/d/radnor-price-reduced-pallet-racking/7251650360.htmlL

 

[xtremek]

I wish I could, its been an early warm spring and lots of the crops are (were) already in the ground. The forecast for the next week is more rain with lots of cold, even some frost warnings. Just the thing for budding corn...not!

We go to Silver Lake Sand Dunes quite often, looks like we swing very near to the Princess Palace as we go around Lansing. The work you have done on that driveway is impressive.

Thank you for the compliment. Having the Girlfriend means that hopefully I can get it finished this summer. And yeah, March/early April seemed very warm, but pretty much every morning for the last week has had frost.

Yep, when you head to Silver Lake you pass within about 15-20 minutes of the PP. I think it's 3 turns and your going up my driveway.

 

[STINEY]

Have been busy on lots of things this summer, found a little time to improve the outdoor lighting situation for the coming months where daylight is in much shorter supply.

I didn't want it to be annoyingly bright, but did want useful. Thinking 1000 lumens did the trick?



Here is the box if anyone is curious on the details.

 

[jollygreengiant]

I have a couple 1600 lumen bulbs for outside my place, and they don't seem to be as bright as your pic.

 

[xtremek]

Yeah, what he said. But all that matters is that it works for you.

 

[STINEY]

I thought the same thing, and that is why I shared the picture of the box. Seems as bright as my other bulbs which are rated at 10,000 lumens.

 

[STINEY]

Getting geared up to give the South Barn the treatment.

As bought.



We didn't get any pictures of stabilizing this one, but it involved a lot of the same work as the first barn. Jack up, build footing, set back down. Repeat. The rear half of this one has a stem wall foundation, and a fourth of it was badly tipped out. That whole section was removed and a new stem wall poured. Built new wood doors, replaced a bunch of siding, and screwed the roof down. That was around 2004, and bought us 20 years until we were ready to give it "the treatment".

This was its condition in 2017. Should have took those trees down in 2004, they were more manageable then.



Most of the Maples gone, and our orchard is starting to come into its own. Grape arbor too.

Notice the new roof and gutters? Making some progress....and the barn is starting to look like maybe someone cares a bit.





Before we get real serious and start with new siding and doors.....lets tackle the "never been cleaned out haymow". There is no place in this haymow to drop hay or straw down thru the floor, unlike every mow I have ever seen (and I have seen plenty, lol). No built in ladder on any of the barn walls to access the mow either. Very strange. I guess I can understand why nobody ever cleaned it properly before throwing more bales on top.

We took the path of least resistance. This section of siding was in very bad condition already, so no foul in cutting it out. Old straw and hay goes into a wagon parked outside.

See anything interesting buried in there?



How about a closer look? Yep, giant bee nest. Thankfully they have moved on already.



A view of the fun to be had. My best guess is there are around 100 wagon loads to be drug out of here. Gonna be a while.

 

[STINEY]

My cousin loaned me his old Square-Body bucket truck recently, and I made good use of it cleaning gutters and trimming trees. Trimming trees led to the discovery of just how hollow this old maple was, so down it came. Tried my hand at burning the trunk....had mixed results but it was sure fun for several evenings.

 

[STINEY]

Back to Satans Haymow.

This is an easy 8' deep. It is a 50/50 mix of bales and loose stuff. The bales are about 50/50 intact versus broken strings.



Starting to clear a path to the entry point. Will be nice to know what we are walking on instead of wondering if you are going into it hip deep. Lots of critter tunnels throughout.



So far only found one rotten spot (still hurts from that discovery). Plywood over it, keep working.



Same progress, viewed from the ladder.

 

[STINEY]

Had a neighbor show up while I was working. He brought dinner, but didn't seem to be in a sharing mood. They live behind me in a quaint little treehouse, a few summers ago a young one was snacking on something behind our barns when I got home.

 

[a_thiel24]

Glad to see you posting again!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Had a neighbor show up while I was working. He brought dinner, but didn't seem to be in a sharing mood. They live behind me in a quaint little treehouse, a few summers ago a young one was snacking on something behind our barns when I got home.

No doubt the same one I saw sitting in the top of the dead tree last week. Martin's pasture on 98 just before Sulphur which is a short flight back to the tree house.

 

[STINEY]

Most likely the very same bird.

Has been a rough year health-wise for me, but am finally back to somewhat useful status. Will work on updating this thread soon.

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

I don't know how I missed it for the last 10 years(!!!) but I only found this thread today.

The first thing I wondered was, "What's a "haymow"? I still don't get why you'd put hay up in an overhead area with no way to get it down - if I'm understanding correctly (probably not). I am a city boy born & raised. Never been on a farm much less worked in one.

Seems like a LOT of work you've been doing but everything has come out nice. As to the haymow - did a millions mice and rats come flying out when you opened up that side? A million bee stings?

 

[NUTTSGT]

@Dan in Pasadena


Livestock lives below at ground level. Hay bales are tossed down for feed. Haymows are used as storage for hay & straw. Beehives are common to be found growing in them as are mice. A lot of farmers have "barncats" and their duty is to catch and keep the mouse population in check.

Hay is "green" and comes from alfalfa, timothy and clover. It's feed during the winter when the pastures are covered with snow as feed.

Straw is "yellow" and a by product of taking off the wheat, as it's the "stem" of the wheat plant. It's a hollow stem and provides good insulation and used on fresh concrete during the cooler temps as insulation or as a cover for newly sown grass seed. Farmer's use it as bedding for livestock and has literally no nutritional value, if any.

Depending how tight you make the square "man sized" bales, straw is about half the weight of hay.

 

[NUTTSGT]

@STINEY

Saw this last week. Pretty impressive seeing our Bald Eagle population growing locally in Crawford County. As a kid growing up, I thought never in my life would I see a Bald Eagle. . . . much less turkeys, not to mention black bears in the next county over.

 

[STINEY]

Same here Eric. I about flipped out when I saw my first Bald Eagle, so cool. I thought that would be the first and only time I would see one, lol.


Haymow cleanout continues.



Its a daunting task. Just have to focus on whats in front of you, and not the whole mess.




Just think, for every wagon filled - there is a wagon to empty on the burn pile. So yeah, twice the work. And you can't put it on the burn pile until the embers have cooled completely, or it will blaze up and burn the wagon. Makes for a slow patient process.

 

[STINEY]

Making some real progress.



At the same time I had a ton of blood clots hit my lungs surprisingly. Just out of left field, no warnings. So I got a really cool ride in a life flight helicopter and a weeks vacation in the pulmonary wing of OSU hospital, while they went in through leg vein, to heart and on to lungs with a Flowtriever device to pick the clots out one at a time. Cool stuff, and awake the whole time watching on a wall sized flouroscope. They showed me this right afterwards in the procedure room.



The above has forced me to radically change my work techniques, and slow is a major part of that change. But everyday improves, and I am fairly close to where I was before now.

Work continues.

 

[930dreamer]

Making some real progress.



At the same time I had a ton of blood clots hit my lungs surprisingly. Just out of left field, no warnings. So I got a really cool ride in a life flight helicopter and a weeks vacation in the pulmonary wing of OSU hospital, while they went in through leg vein, to heart and on to lungs with a Flowtriever device to pick the clots out one at a time. Cool stuff, and awake the whole time watching on a wall sized flouroscope. They showed me this right afterwards in the procedure room.



The above has forced me to radically change my work techniques, and slow is a major part of that change. But everyday improves, and I am fairly close to where I was before now.

Work continues.

Yikes, glad they were able to catch all those clots in time, slow and steady!

 

[zanyad]

Nice progress on the cleanout.

That fluoroscope looks gnarly. To my untrained eye it seems like you're lucky to still be here!

 

[STINEY]

Nice progress on the cleanout.

That fluoroscope looks gnarly. To my untrained eye it seems like you're lucky to still be here!

Oh, my bad, that wasnt the flouroscope, that is just the thing they put my clots on. The flouroscope is basically a live, moving constant x-ray.

It is sobering just how many very wide eyed medical professionals have told me exactly how lucky I am to be here. Its like I am a walking case study to them. Eerie.
To me, I simply figure my work is not done yet, so onwards I go.

 

[STINEY]

Finally found a second corner. The biggest reason to clean this out is to be able to see the true condition of the structure. And eliminate habitat for the local racoon population.



Was very surprised to find the floor has a step running the length of the room. Guess that rules out using it as basketball court.

Wife got in on the action. Thanks wife!

 

[xtremek]

First, glad you're still with us. You have to slow down a little, but is there anything else you're going to have to change? Specifically diet? Looking for hints now that I'm older. Second, I'm thinking of all that work to put the hay up in the mow. Bet it went in easier than it's going out. Keep up the good work, but most of all, stay healthy.

 

[STINEY]

First, glad you're still with us. You have to slow down a little, but is there anything else you're going to have to change? Specifically diet? Looking for hints now that I'm older. Second, I'm thinking of all that work to put the hay up in the mow. Bet it went in easier than it's going out. Keep up the good work, but most of all, stay healthy.

Good question. They ran several gauntlets of tests, exhausted all their options, and eventually turned me out to be my own advocate. There simply seemed to be no cause they could point at, so really no change they prescribed, other than low dosage of blood thinner. My lungs are very healthy (other than they were unable to process oxygen due to very little surface area was available for blood flow). It was an hour-long procedure to remove the worst and largest of the clots (they can only reach the largest veins without causing more trouble than they help), and I was barely able to walk 30' without being completely winded before the procedure, while an hour or two after I could walk 150' before becoming completely winded. Major improvement, but still, winded is winded, lol. Turns out we burn oxygen as fast as we take it in, I mean right now. Take it from me, you have about three breaths or three steps to wonder what is going on with the air, then lights out and down you go. We burn oxygen THAT quick.
I am regularly volunteering as a practice dummy at a local universitys' ultrasound program, so maybe we can catch a buildup in the legs before they travel to the rest of the body if there is a next time. My leg was full of DVT veinous clots from ankle to above knee, looked like raisins lined up in there on the ultrasound. Treatment was bloodthinners until they went away, took many months to slowly disolve.
This isnt much of an answer to your question, I know. I really wish I had more to tell you, its unsettling when I realized they had basically given up finding a cause. Not blaming them, they certainly tried.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Make sure to take precautions if you hit your head while on those blood thinners.

You're lucky, very lucky.

 

[STINEY]

Thanks Eric. I appreciate it, head injury is something I have not heard about through all this.

 

[STINEY]

Some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[xtremek]

That looks like you've done a good stroke of work. The end is in sight?

 

[Jayman17]

Great job on all your barn work, specifically, I can't believe how much nicer the ceiling you pressure washed looks after you finished cleaning it. Has a real nice patina to it now that the grime is gone. First time seeing your thread. Glad you got your health scare handled.

 

[STINEY]

Thanks. The end is in sight.

The ceiling really surprised me. Really helped brighten things up in there.
It shocked my helper crew, they just stopped in their tracks and looked....finally asked how that could be new wood?

 

[STINEY]

All cleaned out! Still some heavy dust sweep up to do, and the first level underneath is a disaster, but now the structure is totally accessible.
Next up will be some new doors and metal siding work.

 

[Tynee]

You may have already said, but do you have anything specific planned for that space, or will it just be storage?

 

[STINEY]

I am open to suggestions?


Probably put in a stairway and will be storage. No real plans, we do want to do work on the barn and I wanted to evaluate what the structure might need before putting siding on. Wouldn't want to have to do more jacking after the siding is done.

 

[xtremek]

No stairs? How big is the barn? The best part of our barn was the stairs from the mow to the basement. Really steep and a covered access upstairs with a simple door.

 

[STINEY]

Nope, no stairs. This back section is 52x32, it is built 90 degrees in a "T" shape to the front section which is 48x32.

 

[STINEY]

Getting real close to major changes to the south barn, so here are some pictures of its current state.

 

[STINEY]

Placeholder.