This thread is going to take me a while to create. I will edit this original post until the photos and details are up to the present day, so check back for additional pictures and descriptions.
Here is the situation in a nutshell: I have an old barn. My grampa built it from reclaimed lumber from a mill that was torn down. It's not particularly great from any historical or craftsmanship standpoint. But, he built it and I want to use it. I've done some work to it over the years, but need to do a lot more. The ultimate goal is to turn it into a clean, weather-tight space where I can store things that will help to keep my basement and other, newer barn uncluttered. Household stuff upstairs, and vehicles, parts and equipment downstairs.
I don't know how much it will cost to get it into that kind of condition. I know enough about building to get myself into trouble, but nowhere near enough to know my *** from my elbow when it comes to coming up with a good plan for a big project. I'd like to do as much of this by myself as possible, for financial reasons. But, I do have a builder who I use and who treats me right/does nice work for a good price.
These are the oldest digital pictures of the barn that I have, and were taken sometime after I moved here in 1999.
Sometime prior to 2004, I had a builder come here to look at the barn and talk to me about what it would cost to save it. His solution was to tear it down, as he said it would take an easy $50k to get it into shape, maybe more. Thankfully, I found a fellow that my cousin used around her farm, who had experience saving barns. He's not a professional, but he has saved a number of barns over the years, and he didn't charge much money. Before he and I started working on the barn, this is what it looked like.
The front wall of the barn, to the right of the sliding door in the pictures above, was just shredded. No sill, and the 2/4s going down to the concrete had turned to dust, been partially sistered, and turned to dust again.
This pic and the one that follows are of the old pig and cow stall in the far end of the barn.
Upstairs was nasty. Lots of old hay, pigeon and bat ****. I learned to work hard on this farm when I was a kid. That included taking in hay, which was hot, sweaty, and torture for someone with pollen allergies. I remember it fondly, now.
The next few pics show some progress that I made in cleaning out the inside of the barn so the fellow and I could start working on it. I knocked out the back wall that was separating the old pig/cow pen from the rest of the space.
Update 7:30PM
Ok, so now I will show what work was done a few (8?) years back. I spent about $8k. This covered partial straightening of some walls, new sills on 3 of 4 sides of the barn, sistering all wall framing on the first floor, cutting two new openings on the front wall of the barn, adding some headers along the front and back walls, and redoing the supports in the middle of the span i.e. the stuff keeping the upstairs floor in place.
The new sills are made from hemlock, I think 6x6 or 8x8, I can't recall. In fact, I think all of the lumber that Chum (a Cambodian fellow) and I used was hemlock from a local mill.
In this shot, you can see some of the column and header work that Chum did, and the new windows that we cut into the east wall of the barn, where the old cow/pig stalls were.
A view of the two new east-wall windows. We also added three new windows to the back (north) wall.
The west wall of the barn was sort of like a ski slope: it gradually curved out from the top to the bottom. Chum did some work to reinforce/recreate the corner post, using a bunch of dimensional lumber. He also dug out the old cracked concrete chunk that was under this corner of the barn, and poured a new footer. Despite not doing what I would call a professional job, the footer remains uncracked and doesn't seem to have settled; I just checked it today.
This picture should give you a sense of how much the bottom of that wall kicked out. Also, this is the one side of the barn that we didn't put a new sill on. There is no sill. For some reason, the 2x framing just comes down and rests on blocks, unlike the other three sides of the structure.
Chum got it much straighter. The whole barn still has slopes and twists and leans and bends, but it is better than it was.
We added one window to the west wall, and an entry door. Chum did not do a very good job installing this door, and I never use it. In fact, I think I lost the key for it. I always just enter through the equipment bays.
After Chum left, I power washed most of the siding and then painted it. It looks great in these pics. The work has not held up, though, and everything looks much less bright today. I will post those, most recent pics later.
Here is the situation in a nutshell: I have an old barn. My grampa built it from reclaimed lumber from a mill that was torn down. It's not particularly great from any historical or craftsmanship standpoint. But, he built it and I want to use it. I've done some work to it over the years, but need to do a lot more. The ultimate goal is to turn it into a clean, weather-tight space where I can store things that will help to keep my basement and other, newer barn uncluttered. Household stuff upstairs, and vehicles, parts and equipment downstairs.
I don't know how much it will cost to get it into that kind of condition. I know enough about building to get myself into trouble, but nowhere near enough to know my *** from my elbow when it comes to coming up with a good plan for a big project. I'd like to do as much of this by myself as possible, for financial reasons. But, I do have a builder who I use and who treats me right/does nice work for a good price.
These are the oldest digital pictures of the barn that I have, and were taken sometime after I moved here in 1999.
Sometime prior to 2004, I had a builder come here to look at the barn and talk to me about what it would cost to save it. His solution was to tear it down, as he said it would take an easy $50k to get it into shape, maybe more. Thankfully, I found a fellow that my cousin used around her farm, who had experience saving barns. He's not a professional, but he has saved a number of barns over the years, and he didn't charge much money. Before he and I started working on the barn, this is what it looked like.
The front wall of the barn, to the right of the sliding door in the pictures above, was just shredded. No sill, and the 2/4s going down to the concrete had turned to dust, been partially sistered, and turned to dust again.
This pic and the one that follows are of the old pig and cow stall in the far end of the barn.
Upstairs was nasty. Lots of old hay, pigeon and bat ****. I learned to work hard on this farm when I was a kid. That included taking in hay, which was hot, sweaty, and torture for someone with pollen allergies. I remember it fondly, now.
The next few pics show some progress that I made in cleaning out the inside of the barn so the fellow and I could start working on it. I knocked out the back wall that was separating the old pig/cow pen from the rest of the space.
Update 7:30PM
Ok, so now I will show what work was done a few (8?) years back. I spent about $8k. This covered partial straightening of some walls, new sills on 3 of 4 sides of the barn, sistering all wall framing on the first floor, cutting two new openings on the front wall of the barn, adding some headers along the front and back walls, and redoing the supports in the middle of the span i.e. the stuff keeping the upstairs floor in place.
The new sills are made from hemlock, I think 6x6 or 8x8, I can't recall. In fact, I think all of the lumber that Chum (a Cambodian fellow) and I used was hemlock from a local mill.
In this shot, you can see some of the column and header work that Chum did, and the new windows that we cut into the east wall of the barn, where the old cow/pig stalls were.
A view of the two new east-wall windows. We also added three new windows to the back (north) wall.
The west wall of the barn was sort of like a ski slope: it gradually curved out from the top to the bottom. Chum did some work to reinforce/recreate the corner post, using a bunch of dimensional lumber. He also dug out the old cracked concrete chunk that was under this corner of the barn, and poured a new footer. Despite not doing what I would call a professional job, the footer remains uncracked and doesn't seem to have settled; I just checked it today.
This picture should give you a sense of how much the bottom of that wall kicked out. Also, this is the one side of the barn that we didn't put a new sill on. There is no sill. For some reason, the 2x framing just comes down and rests on blocks, unlike the other three sides of the structure.
Chum got it much straighter. The whole barn still has slopes and twists and leans and bends, but it is better than it was.
We added one window to the west wall, and an entry door. Chum did not do a very good job installing this door, and I never use it. In fact, I think I lost the key for it. I always just enter through the equipment bays.
After Chum left, I power washed most of the siding and then painted it. It looks great in these pics. The work has not held up, though, and everything looks much less bright today. I will post those, most recent pics later.
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What a wonderful barn. Your task in life is to save it... You will love it, and we will all think that much more of you for doing it. Plus your grandfather will guide you along the way. We have lost to many of these old treasures already. If your grandfather built it then you HAVE to repair it. No choice!
AWESOME! (can you tell I'm a barn nut?)
