Dead cat farm

[jb3]

Feral cat farm

Hi everyone, another new member happy to join and absorb some of the great ideas on this forum!


I just recently bought an old farmhouse, which unexpectedly featured 3 complete extra buildings on the property as a bonus, in addition to an attached 2 car garage/loft already.

The main structure is from probably 1850, and one of the garages matches the main as far as age. The attached loft/garage built onto the house is from what I can tell, a possible 20s era addition with a wood stove sitting in the middle of it.

The other two buildings are newer 2x4 construction, but built on ancient stone foundations that have been rebuilt and a concrete top section poured for them to sit on.

I was pretty surprised at the general good shape of all the structures, but I have a huge job ahead of me getting any of these buildings usable for anything other than sheep habitation and storage, which is what 2 of them were for. The last held the tools to handle the sheep, and I have no idea what was going on in the attached house garage, they certainly never parked any cars in there.

First question is this-

Every single building has a dirt floor, and a stone and concrete foundation. Im not coming from a world of construction, but Im pretty adept at getting things done, so forgive my lack of correct terms.

Is there anything special I have to do in order to get concrete floors in these buildings? Can I just hire a concrete guy to come in and pour a slab in each one? what kind of slab would this be called if so, and would it be suitable for parking cars upon (and I do actually have a lift id like to install in one of the buildings) even though its not attached to the structure itself?

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

here are some pics of the buildings to show what im describing-

This is the first garage, some original timber, but looks like its been rebuilt a few times, some minor rot. Not sure what I want to do with it, either keep it as it is, or pour some concrete inside so I can put a lawn tractor in here or something. Right now the building is pretty, and has a very usable loft accessible from both sides, and ground level on the back, but the lower part is rough and prone to rot.



Up the hill from that building is this one. Of the three, this is the worst shape, needs foundation repair in the back being partially built on railroad ties for the older part of it. Was a sheep residence



down from those two is this building, the one in the best shape, and most easily turned into a hobby shop I think. Needs a new roof and siding, and Id like to raise the roof or rebuild it taller at some point to fit a lift




any ideas or schemes, im open to all of them. Right now we are tentatively going with building the two bay garage into a auto hobby and metal work building, making the red one a wood shop, and leaving the white one to store tools and supplies for a future green house and storage. All three have basic power, but id probably have to run individual boxes to the bigger buildings if I want to run a lift or wood shop stuff

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

If you want concrete floors you will have to dig out some of the dirt and have proper base prepared. You might even get lucky and find out there is concrete under the "dirt floor".

 

[SteveCh]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Not standing there looking at the buildings in person, sounds as if this is an easy thing to do. Might have to remove some of the soil, add some crushed rock, or something, and build some simple forms and pour the concrete. That white one is a beauty.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

BLDG #1, the white one, keep that one in great shape. It's perfect for the lawn/garden stuff. Done right, maybe the loft as a playhouse for the kids.

BLDG #2, the red one, that definitely needs some work in the near future. Get it weather tight, dig out the old dirt floor and sheep manure, plastic down and some stone for the time being.

BLDG #3, the tan colored one. Is that unpainted plywood ? I wouldn't raise the roof, I'd raise the entire thing. Jack it up, pour a footer and lay some concrete block to gain the height you want and set it back down. Once that is down, pour yourself a new floor and replace the O/H doors as a start.

 

[Zeke]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Do the best you can for now. They won't get too much worse if you do the basics. After you've had some time in and around them, they will speak to you.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

If you want concrete floors you will have to dig out some of the dirt and have proper base prepared. You might even get lucky and find out there is concrete under the "dirt floor".

That would be great if so, I need to start digging. Im really surprised the house garage seems to have a dirt floor, especially with how complete it seems to be. It looks like the plan was to pour one in at least some of these buildings, the brown building and the house garage the actual existing floor surface is really low, you step about 6 inches down from the garage entrance into dirt

This is the 4th garage structure, attached to the house

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Not standing there looking at the buildings in person, sounds as if this is an easy thing to do. Might have to remove some of the soil, add some crushed rock, or something, and build some simple forms and pour the concrete. That white one is a beauty.

I love that white one too. The previous owner of the property looks to have poured those outside concrete walls to support field stone inner walls. Its also built in such a way that the lowest part of it definitely has limited floor space, the huge rock shelf behind it is also about a third of the inner space.

Here is what the inside looks like-



And these are the old field stone walls, that have been short up outside of it. The guy did some great work on these buildings, pouring decent concrete before rebuilding them-

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

BLDG #1, the white one, keep that one in great shape. It's perfect for the lawn/garden stuff. Done right, maybe the loft as a playhouse for the kids.

BLDG #2, the red one, that definitely needs some work in the near future. Get it weather tight, dig out the old dirt floor and sheep manure, plastic down and some stone for the time being.

BLDG #3, the tan colored one. Is that unpainted plywood ? I wouldn't raise the roof, I'd raise the entire thing. Jack it up, pour a footer and lay some concrete block to gain the height you want and set it back down. Once that is down, pour yourself a new floor and replace the O/H doors as a start.

questions on building 3, its got kind of a stepped foundation as its built into the side of the hill. On the back side, the roof actually sits on the foundation wall. Its unpainted particle board

i was thinking just raising the roof, as the rest of the structure is really only half a building as far as walls that can be lifted. My thinking was it might be easier to run around the whole top with a same size wall extension, then build a multi level wall, but then again, I have never even contemplated such a plan before, so I don't have the slightest idea what makes the most sense.

Here are some pics closer up of how that building is constructed-



and on the opposite side-



From the back and under the eave-




This is what I want to put in there, ive had this old full size auto shop lift for years and love it. It can lift 10k easy. Its currently in my rented commercial condo to service my work vehicles and personal vehicle, but I want to move my business address to this property and set it up in this building. This thing is 14 feet high at the top. (unfortunately I dont have a whole pic, these are in the closing auto shop I bought it from)

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Do the best you can for now. They won't get too much worse if you do the basics. After you've had some time in and around them, they will speak to you.

They are definitely speaking to me.

Im coming from a 2nd story apartment with off street parking, two self storages, and a rented commercial condo. Once I ran the numbers, even with the mortgage and all the work to get stuff done on this property, im saving almost a grand a month between personal and business.

Going from city street parking to this constellation of little buildings has both the wife and I jumping around with the possibilities. For the next couple years, there won't be enough time in the day to get everything done we want done, and then of course spend a lot of time "working" at our jobs as well, as if that were worth doing in the first place.

 

[RustCollector]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

"Here are some pics closer up of how that building is constructed-"

I didnt want to stretch your thread by reposting all your photos so- under your quote above is a photo of the exterior plywood . That appears to be OSB (oriented strand board) which is a recycled lumber product. The problem that you have, is that OSB is NOT weatherproof. You can see that it is delaminating. Even if the P/O painted it, it will not last because its structural integrity has been compromised. It should be removed,and replaced and then covered with weatherproof wrap or paper, then the exterior siding application of your choice. If (for budget sake) you want to band aid it, and address it later, you could cover it with Jumbo tex or a building paper used in your area, and install new siding over it.That would buy you some years, but don't let it go through another winter as-is. JMHO. Moody.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

"Here are some pics closer up of how that building is constructed-"

I didnt want to stretch your thread by reposting all your photos so- under your quote above is a photo of the exterior plywood . That appears to be OSB (oriented strand board) which is a recycled lumber product. The problem that you have, is that OSB is NOT weatherproof. You can see that it is delaminating. Even if the P/O painted it, it will not last because its structural integrity has been compromised. It should be removed,and replaced and then covered with weatherproof wrap or paper, then the exterior siding application of your choice. If (for budget sake) you want to band aid it, and address it later, you could cover it with Jumbo tex or a building paper used in your area, and install new siding over it.That would buy you some years, but don't let it go through another winter as-is. JMHO. Moody.

I definitely agree. Id be removing all that for sure. Both the other buildings were properly sided, and this one was not. I spoke with the neighbor for a while, and his opinion is the owner of the property just had his health decline too much at the end of his life to finish this building siding wise, so just left it.
The guy was over 90 by the time he died last year or so, and according to the neigbor, was siding the 3 story house and garage building as little as 15 years ago all alone. He did an amazing job, all I have to do is sand and paint.

This building in particular though needs new exterior wall material

 

[ambenz]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Sure looks like your property has a lot of potential to be a great place to set up a place to tinker and stay busy during your free time!
Hope your current income is close to 6 figures and you're a handyman, you can really save those buildings by doing it yourself!
It would be interesting to know how the out buildings are placed on the property and evaluate your needs, based on the proximity to the main house and garage.
It sure sounds like you have enough work to do with the main garages dirt floor first.
That has to be a main priority and if funds allow.
Then... drain tiles along the inner shelf of building #1 and crushed stone or concrete floor.
As funds allow, try to save #2 foundation issues and then get #3 winterized and spruced up before going back to #2.
The large house with attached garage has to be your #1 priority.

Evaluating your funds to rationalize if you can even afford to maintain the main house, main garage, and 3 outbuildings should be a concern...those buildings didn't get any preventative maintenance for a reason!
That a lot of roof structures to maintain and I know I would not want that cost burden with my current lifestyle.
Ultimately, if it were me, all the buildings would get maintenance free exteriors, stagger re-roofing each building at 2 year intervals based on current condition, and keep your expectations realistic based on your current income.

Might have to think about think that the wife might want a new bathroom, kitchen, patio or deck...those costs can put a crimp on your plans!

 

[HoosierMark]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Everybody loves old buildings and the memories. But sometimes you need to look at the full picture. You can spend a lot of money on something that really is not what you want or need. Do you have a real use for each of these buildings, what would be the cost of fixing them? I love that white one but the inside is scary. My thought is to eliminate most of them and salvage what you can. I would do my best to put that white door in a new building, it is fantastic. Also check your taxes on the buildings and see how much they are costing you. You can fix anything but in the long run, will you really have what you need. A friend tore down a large dairy barn and put up a smaller shop building, taxes are not much different but maintenance and utility are totally different. Just something to think about.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Sure looks like your property has a lot of potential to be a great place to set up a place to tinker and stay busy during your free time!
Hope your current income is close to 6 figures and you're a handyman, you can really save those buildings by doing it yourself!
It would be interesting to know how the out buildings are placed on the property and evaluate your needs, based on the proximity to the main house and garage.
It sure sounds like you have enough work to do with the main garages dirt floor first.
That has to be a main priority and if funds allow.
Then... drain tiles along the inner shelf of building #1 and crushed stone or concrete floor.
As funds allow, try to save #2 foundation issues and then get #3 winterized and spruced up before going back to #2.
The large house with attached garage has to be your #1 priority.

Evaluating your funds to rationalize if you can even afford to maintain the main house, main garage, and 3 outbuildings should be a concern...those buildings didn't get any preventative maintenance for a reason!
That a lot of roof structures to maintain and I know I would not want that cost burden with my current lifestyle.
Ultimately, if it were me, all the buildings would get maintenance free exteriors, stagger re-roofing each building at 2 year intervals based on current condition, and keep your expectations realistic based on your current income.

Might have to think about think that the wife might want a new bathroom, kitchen, patio or deck...those costs can put a crimp on your plans!

all excellent points, our current income is no where near 6 figures, and we are planning to start having kids, so Im definitely having to realisitically work out priorities with this property.

One of them is to do nothing on the white building for a while, do nothing on the red one and let it deteriorate before knocking it down and possibly cannibalizing it for parts, then building something else there later in life.

Our two main priorities are more heat and power in the main attached garage, and getting the other garage usable as even just a storage space for the interim for work. Id love to put the lift in, but that may have to wait a while, and I can store the thing on the ground till then inside one of these buildings.

One bonus is that all these buildings apart from the house are low and simple, and the property came with enough spare shingles stacked up in one of the garages, that I can reroof the brown building essentially for free apart from hardware. It definitely needs new shingles

this picture kind of shows the layout of the outbuildings. The house is to the left of the white one-

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Everybody loves old buildings and the memories. But sometimes you need to look at the full picture. You can spend a lot of money on something that really is not what you want or need. Do you have a real use for each of these buildings, what would be the cost of fixing them? I love that white one but the inside is scary. My thought is to eliminate most of them and salvage what you can. I would do my best to put that white door in a new building, it is fantastic. Also check your taxes on the buildings and see how much they are costing you. You can fix anything but in the long run, will you really have what you need. A friend tore down a large dairy barn and put up a smaller shop building, taxes are not much different but maintenance and utility are totally different. Just something to think about.

another good point. Im not sure how taxes are calculated for this property. They are reasonable, and the land plot shows all 3 outbuildings on the tax website, but no idea how they relate to the main building as far as compared cost.

 

[rsanter]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Even with the pictures we still have limited information.
Based on that limited info this is my thought

White building. Garden shed
Do a compacted gravel floor as it will drain any water that may come in but you won't have a dirt floor.

Red building
Fit it up a little if you can and try to just hold the state of the building. Use it for storage and a shop building. Later you can rebuild it if you can and want

Brown building
This one looks very rough and limited in its usefulness.
If it was me I think I would strip it or tear it down and build a similar but nicer and taller one where it is. Perhaps some of it can be salvaged to save some money
My though of putting the new building where the old one is, is that you don't have to claim new building you can just claim you fixed up the old one little by little. If it can't be readily seen from the road then who will know.

For roofing I would look at metal roofing as that is the cheapest and easiest shop roofing there is and it lasts a long time. Look at some of the steel buildings being put up and talk to the contractors. Often they have left over pieces that didn't get used because they were dented or something. Some will give them to you and others will sell them cheap to you

Before spending money on these building I would also look at what it will cost to fix these verses what it would cost to just build a single larger shop as you would want

Bob

 

[colt zantop]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Now those are some cool projects. I would be busy for years! I say keep them all and just fix them as time and money allows. The finished projects will be awesome once they all are finished.

 

[fourjeepin]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Looks like a great property and a lot of work. My suggestion would be to not bite off too much at once. If you start too many projects at once, you can get over whelmed and not finish any of them.

 

[Blue]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

This is the 4th garage structure, attached to the house

Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare in that pic?

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare in that pic?

thats the wifes 340k 1985 benz diesel. She loves that car, never stops running.

EDIT-
Wow they really do look amazingly similar though. Ive been looking at pics of volares and aspens, the benz 300TD shares the exact same rear hatch angle and light arrangement.

Looking at their wikipedia specs, the aspen/volare is 10 inches longer, 2 or 3 inches wider, but more than 500lbs lighter than the benz!

Possible engine swap? I wonder if the volare could handle the all iron turbo diesel as far as front end weight. The wifes car is getting awful crispy, im getting tired of welding patches to it

 

[NUTTSGT]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Wow, now that you have posted more pics of the bldgs, I can tell they are in alot worse than I originally thought. They are all going to take some serious hard work.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Wow, now that you have posted more pics of the bldgs, I can tell they are in alot worse than I originally thought. They are all going to take some serious hard work.

Yeah, there is a lot of stuff to do for sure.

The brown building at minimum needs to have the OSB removed, resided, raised, concrete, ect.

Im debating what I want to do, as ive found that I have an almost free hand "improving" the original structure for simple buildings already there, and have to get a ton of permits and inspections if I knock down something and do it again. Thats weighing heavily on my mind on how to proceed.

The good news is we have a closing date, and soon I will get to really inspect whats worth fixing, and whats worth letting sit.

Let me add some more pics of the red building specifically in a sec-

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

heres some details of the red building. Its actually a widened crude sheep shelter, that was resided. about 2 thirds down this wall, they added another 10-15 feet to the building-



Inside you can really see as the old roof is still in place, and the supporting columns are just local wood poles. The roof extension was built onto the old roof, and the whole structure was re roofed after that. Its actually in really nice shape as far as exterior water tight condition-



Here is the foundation weirdness. The extension was well built with a concrete base, and just added to the railroad tie on dirt of the old building. you can see the division here where the step is-



another of the front part-



and outside, here the OSB has been chewed a bit by sheep. This building has no door so the animals could get in and out past the hanging cloth

 

[xtremek]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

I'm subscribing to this one, looks like my kind of pain/adventure. You've got a serious balancing act ahead of you. If you decide to keep them all, I'd stablize the worst first. And if the others can wait, go ahead and finish it. But that's me. I'm getting tired of half done projects, so I'm trying hard to finish what I've got going while trying to get supplies for the next builds. Keep us updated so us folks at home can follow along. Oh to be young again.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

I'm subscribing to this one, looks like my kind of pain/adventure. You've got a serious balancing act ahead of you. If you decide to keep them all, I'd stablize the worst first. And if the others can wait, go ahead and finish it. But that's me. I'm getting tired of half done projects, so I'm trying hard to finish what I've got going while trying to get supplies for the next builds. Keep us updated so us folks at home can follow along. Oh to be young again.

hahaha, im in trouble for sure!

Fortunately, the wife has tons of energy, and its rubbing off on me at least on joint projects, but this place is a lot of hard work ahead.

The wife is a portrait painter, so the garage/loft structure is what sold us on this property because she can so easily operate out of the house with some basic improvements, no counting all the other buildings. Here are a few better pics of the main structure-

house from the street-



and this attached loft structure and extended garage space. Our plan is to install skylights and finish off the second story of this section so she has the ultimate painting studio up there. Ill have to get some pics later inside, but its huge, the length of this entire attached building-




We got lucky because this place came out of an estate at a fire sale price to get rid of it. I suppose its kinda sad that people can't see the potential in things, but smaller houses in the development across the street were going for more money with 1/6th the land. I couldn't believe it. I guess they got turned off by the cess pool and one partially working bathroom.

 

[xtremek]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

..... I suppose its kinda sad that people can't see the potential in things, but smaller houses in the development across the street were going for more money with 1/6th the land. I couldn't believe it. I guess they got turned off by the cess pool and one partially working bathroom.

Looks like you've got quite a few trees, so who needs a bathroom? Potential and uniqueness beat out cookie cutter and ease every time, in my book.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

so ive spent some time with a friend who had done several old building raising projects with a restoration company taking a look at the brown buildings roof structure.

Also, these buildings all have semi-official names now

Brown building is now the "half stone garage"
red building is now the "sheep shelter"
white garage is now the "carriage shed"

Anyway, related to the half stone garage, the reason it has this name is after taking a really good look at the huge boulder foundation its made up of cut into the hill. Who knows how old the original foundation is, but its impressive, and I want to incorporate that into the structure im going to make this into. Inside its like a dungeon. Ill have to post some pics later of that, but the back wall is just piled giant fieldstones, probably 10 feet thick. As my friend said, they don't make walls like that anymore, clearly a farmer piling stone on stone on stone until he had a monstrous wall

However, the roof is going to be a problem. here is a pic-



Its supported by 3 vertical posts, and its not really a truss design, just with I guess whats called a collar "beam" which looks like part of an old shed. He made some really good points to me, one of which is that such a roof is not worth lifting because the structure is no where near strong enough to stand on its own, especially if I don't want that center post in the way. His opinion was that I should disassemble the entire building, and either modify the triangle frames that are there into an actual truss design, and reuse it on a higher stud wall, or just build the whole thing from scratch again on the boulder foundation.

That might be the plan. There is a lot of good wood, and i can probably use the roof framing again to save costs and make my own trusses out of it. However, that will involve inspections and permits, so who knows what they will approve. I will probably take it apart in a few months after we get settled

Ill get more useful advice after I feed him a few hundred beers

 

[xtremek]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Ill get more useful advice after I feed him a few hundred beers

I learned early on from my Dad that "poison of choice" can get a ton of work done

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

I learned early on from my Dad that "poison of choice" can get a ton of work done

I figure you gotta use the currency of the field if you want results.

I don't even drink, but i try to provide quality beer for those that do when I seek to absorb their wisdom.

Earlier on ambenz asked for a better idea of where the buildings were in relation to each other, so I have drafted this crude drawing of kinda how things are laid out. All the buildings are on a fairly steep rocky grade, with the lowest being the stone garage

 

[Cougar67]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

I wonder if the old white garden shed wasn't built as a "spring house." The inside looks like it stays damp. The huge rock out cropping would have kept food cool before refrigeration was invented. I don't know much about New England houses but they were common in the south. edit: I think it might have been an ice house. I found a picture of one.

Your new house is beautiful! Good catch.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

I wonder if the old white garden shed wasn't built as a "spring house." The inside looks like it stays damp. The huge rock out cropping would have kept food cool before refrigeration was invented. I don't know much about New England houses but they were common in the south. edit: I think it might have been an ice house. I found a picture of one.

Your new house is beautiful! Good catch.

thanks!

I bet you thats exactly what that building was! good call, It doesn't seem deep enough with that rock shelf to have stored anything really big, though it seems just barely large enough for a 2 wheel cart or something like that.

It makes perfect sense that it was an ice house, I can just see it packed with straw.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

some few interior pics. We are waiting on the sellers 5 sibling family feud session to be over and the deal to close. Hard parts past, but they still hate eachother, and will only communicate through their lawyer. That guy is not being paid enough.

I have some masonry repair to do in this garage structure. The dots of light you see in the middle of this pic are sunlight from outside, and that wall is 2 feet thick at least.

I have been reading about mixing my own lime mortar for an old wall like this, especially a dry stone wall, any opinions? It seems like a bag of quickcrete is that worst thing I could do apparently

I do need to make it water and especially vermin tight though



also here is the dirt floor to the same building that needs some concrete

 

[jason_etc]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Ah New England, your stuff is so much older and has more character than most of what you see out here in the 'ole west'. We moved into a small farm with 4 outbuildings a year ago and none of them have some of the features of yours despite the similarities in use (sheep chewing on things and what not). I think if you can figure out a way to salvage some of the original features of these buildings, despite the extra effort and cost it will be very worthwhile. Hopefully the family will tire of their feuding and will step aside so you can help that land start a new chapter; its clearly in need of a new caretaker. Good luck!

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Ah New England, your stuff is so much older and has more character than most of what you see out here in the 'ole west'. We moved into a small farm with 4 outbuildings a year ago and none of them have some of the features of yours despite the similarities in use (sheep chewing on things and what not). I think if you can figure out a way to salvage some of the original features of these buildings, despite the extra effort and cost it will be very worthwhile. Hopefully the family will tire of their feuding and will step aside so you can help that land start a new chapter; its clearly in need of a new caretaker. Good luck!

Thanks!
I definitely want to salvage as much original as I can, some of this stuff is built so well that I don't even want to modify to improve its usability in some cases. This does not go for the extra garages, but the attached garage is super heavy duty.

Finally closed! have a ton of attached garage interior pics now-

this is the inside of this structure-



empty canvas-



add on to the house, with its own staircase, also encompasses the original bulkhead basement entrance-



heated with this wood stove, this space has got to be freezing in the winter, no insulation of any kind-



there is almost another bay of space on the far end, with a big storage ledge-



up the staircase is this big loft with french doors on the end, those doors are about 3 feet above grade at that end, so it almost has exterior access to the second level, awesome for filling it with stuff though-



looking down from the loft, that cut out is for the second story bathroom window to be outside



the roof of this loft is using pretty heavy timber for rafters. These beams are 5-6 inches wide at least.

 

[Lippyp]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

For the stone walls, I have done similar walls to that over at my place in France. Over there you can buy bags of premixed lime mortar, they are even available in a range of shades to match in with any existing mortar. Its a time consuming job, pick out any old mortar and wash out with a hose, then whilst its still damp trowel the mortar into the gaps you don't need to be too picky about the finish as that will be dealt with later.(any really deep holes you can prefill with mortar and odd bits of stone first) When the mortar has gone green i.e. started to set but is still soft brush it off with a stiff brush to get a nice brushed finish. I could do two bags a day but its hard graft. It will then be vermin and weatherproof, only issue we had then was some damp from stagnant air as we lost all the airflow through the walls!

We had the whole outside of our house done but we did get a pro in to do that, they used a pump that pumps the cement out of a nozzle so its a bit like icing a cake so way faster and you get good penetration into deeper holes.

This is them with one end ready to fill. they also sandblasted the stone.



before and after

 

[Zeke]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Congrats on the closing. The fun begins. As I said before, just do what you have to to preserve the buildings from anymore serious deterioration for the time being. AFA rebuilding, proceed carefully. Generally one can't used old lumber in a newly constructed building. Find out what you can and can't do and avoid the need for permits and approval. IOW, don't stir the pot too hard. Looks like the main attached garage is ready to go as is.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

For the stone walls, I have done similar walls to that over at my place in France. Over there you can buy bags of premixed lime mortar, they are even available in a range of shades to match in with any existing mortar. Its a time consuming job, pick out any old mortar and wash out with a hose, then whilst its still damp trowel the mortar into the gaps you don't need to be too picky about the finish as that will be dealt with later.(any really deep holes you can prefill with mortar and odd bits of stone first) When the mortar has gone green i.e. started to set but is still soft brush it off with a stiff brush to get a nice brushed finish. I could do two bags a day but its hard graft. It will then be vermin and weatherproof, only issue we had then was some damp from stagnant air as we lost all the airflow through the walls!

We had the whole outside of our house done but we did get a pro in to do that, they used a pump that pumps the cement out of a nozzle so its a bit like icing a cake so way faster and you get good penetration into deeper holes.

This is them with one end ready to fill. they also sandblasted the stone.



before and after

Look at the knife edge on that building! hundreds of years old and look how straight it is.
Im going to look into seeing if there are any companies that would perform this type of task locally, I have a suspicion ill be mixing it myself though. Wood is the preferred building method, maybe a stone mason though might do the lime mortar.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Congrats on the closing. The fun begins. As I said before, just do what you have to to preserve the buildings from anymore serious deterioration for the time being. AFA rebuilding, proceed carefully. Generally one can't used old lumber in a newly constructed building. Find out what you can and can't do and avoid the need for permits and approval. IOW, don't stir the pot too hard. Looks like the main attached garage is ready to go as is.

Right now im working on arresting the invasive foliage situation to prevent the continued deterioration from that end. Things are looking better than I thought now that im starting to clear out the extra buildings.

Sounds like a small thing, but over the last 3 days, I mowed the lawn.

took 3 ten hour days to do that. The last time someone trimmed and mowed was almost 2 years ago. I freed up what I thought was a pile of scrap, but turned out to actually be a hand crank dump trailer completely obscured by foliage, and I also found a flat bed trailer by hitting the damn thing with the mower.

Both are ancient farm made, look like a solid front axle from something really old welded straight. They both have kingpins to give you an idea on the age of the front axle the farmer must have sourced. Unfortunately, both are way too heavy for my little lawn tractor.

The dump trailer seems to me to be potentially amazingly useful, but im gonna need a bigger tractor to use it. waffling between craigslist to sell the trailers or craigslist to look at other tractors.

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

trailer scores-

might be a little much for the belt fed roper