Dead cat farm

[transplant_wi]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Great thread - thanks, I will be watching with interest. I love restoration, but am relieved to have sold a property with too many projects waiting in the wings The house looks great, and it all has a lot of potential.

 

[xtremek]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

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................waffling between craigslist to sell the trailers or craigslist to look at other tractors.

I'm guessing there a bunch of us who understand "arresting the invasive foliage". I'm still working on that front myself, and this is the third summer doing it. I vote for CL for an old small farm tractor and CL for the non-dump trailer. If you were close by, I'd make an offer on the dump trailer myself.

 

[Lippyp]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Yeah the corners are about as straight as you can get which is partly what sold it to us,at least a couple ofhundred years old and straight as a die.

Those are two cool old trailers, all we found was an oxen plough!

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

so a quick update.
i had honey bees under the eave of the 2nd story on the house, and wow did this become a crazy ordeal removing them.

i had two guys struggling with this for almost 10 hours. in the end they both got stung 50 to 60 times each even with protective suits, but they pulled almost 500lbs of honey comb out of 25ft of eave, and vacuumed up probably 100k bees with a special hand made vac that doesnt hurt them.

gonna cost a small fortune, but will nice to have the things out of the roof, attic, and second story bedroom


garage related, i found 2 decomposed and dismembered feral cats in the attached garage, and cleaned those out along with a mountain of other dead prey animals.
that just leaves the hundred or so gallons of feral cat piss splashed on every wall ofthe inside of that garage.

was a gross ordeal. also have to sift the 25 x25 foot giant catbox the sandy dirt floor of that garage basically was.

pro tip- dont let feral cats live in an empty place for two years

 

[jb3]

dead cat body count is up to 5 found in all buildings but one, which is full of dead mice for a little change in the bones I find. 3 complete skeletons, 2 dismembered, lots of pieces I couldn't identify well, could be a few more cats. Thread name has been changed to reflect the new name of the property since it seems fitting.

some small updates, im finally moved in! (sort of, moved in meaning mountains of stuff piled everywhere)

This is a pic of my commercial condo, I emptied this entire space into the attached garage and its packed. Ill be moving stuff around for months before I can really get to improving.



Lift made it into the red building through an impressive effort by two guys who had some trouble with the access and traction-




Attached dirt floor garage was full of these strange pits- made the floor totally unusable for stacking things short term. Holes on average about 1.5 feed deep and 3 across-



I knew I was throwing a lot of weight on top of this pit, so I tossed a bad tire and rim I found in the woods in the hole, filled it with dirt, and put down some OSB to stack my stuff-
rest of the pits I filled with dirt from the yard and more OSB, just to get things usable for the short term until I filter stuff into permanent places





jury rigged short term floor-

 

[jb3]

In the next stall over I had the same dirt floor and rotten wood problem, and here I wanted to store my long term project-

(pic in an old shop when I first got it)
1974 Mercedes 240D diesel.
Like all projects, im "almost" done with the drivetrain.

In this instance, im a diesel guy and love diesels, so this car has a 1980 300SD turbo 5cyl, a custom turbo, a 5-speed manual out of a 190E custom adapted, and a 3.42 diff out of a 1983 300D N/A.




the car is relatively rust free, I did not want to park it on top of this-



Again, in temp measure mode, I grabbed all the random wood scattered all over the lawn, and piled it up over the dirt to make things sort of level-



Then all the carpeting I ripped out of the house went down upside down (thanks garagejournal for this idea)-



Car should be fine until concrete one day.

 

[jb3]

the end of the attached garage has a unique giant shelf over some rock outcropping. This turns out to be perfect size for car doors. Good thing, because for some reason I have 9 of them.

Shelf is now a good storage place for winter tires for the wifes and I daily drivers, doors, and other large bulky body parts. (Sorry for crappy pic, this was after sweeping the shelf of two years of dust and cat hair and removing cobwebs from rafters. Respirator was worn)

 

[skyking]

Wow ,What character those buildings have. Nice place.

 

[madoc1]

good progress. keep us up to date, cause I think this will turn out great.

jim

 

[SteveeP]

Back in post #9 I noticed the Tyngsborough Auto Works sign. Were you from that area?
I grew up in Lowell and now reside in Pepperell, my wife was from Tyngsborough...

 

[bgarrett]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

trailer scores-

this trailer was made using 1948-56 Ford pickup hubcaps, wheels and axle with overload springs and is an excellent base for a trailer that suits your needs. Do not sell it for scrap metal

 

[Bogey won]

The saying, you have a long row to hoe, comes to mind. whew !! years in the making.

 

[404]

In the next stall over I had the same dirt floor and rotten wood problem, and here I wanted to store my long term project-

(pic in an old shop when I first got it)
1974 Mercedes 240D diesel.
Like all projects, im "almost" done with the drivetrain.

In this instance, im a diesel guy and love diesels, so this car has a 1980 300SD turbo 5cyl, a custom turbo, a 5-speed manual out of a 190E custom adapted, and a 3.42 diff out of a 1983 300D N/A.




the car is relatively rust free, I did not want to park it on top of this-



Again, in temp measure mode, I grabbed all the random wood scattered all over the lawn, and piled it up over the dirt to make things sort of level-



Then all the carpeting I ripped out of the house went down upside down (thanks garagejournal for this idea)-



Car should be fine until concrete one day.

Love the place and the car.

Am thinking of making a locost with a 300SD drive train, but all came with the automatic.

What's your opinion of the longevity of the 190E manual transmission with the turbodiesel?

 

[James-W]

Maybe I am pessimistic, but in my opinion, if the property were mine, I would keep the white building and get rid of the other two buildings. Then, when I could afford it, I would build a new building in place of the other two. Sometimes it is more advantageous to start from scratch rather than try to rebuild an old building that has outlived its usefulness. I doubt that any remodeling you decide to do with the other two buildings would make them as convenient or as useful as what you would like them to be. My thinking is that a well thought out and well designed building will be much more in line with what you want and need than something that was "fixed up" would ever be. But, its your property and your money, so I guess in the final analysis its what YOU want that counts.

 

[jwhcars]

I bet the family was looking for buried treasure by the amount of holes that where dug.
Get out there with a metal detector lol

 

[bgarrett]

I bet the family was looking for buried treasure by the amount of holes that where dug.
Get out there with a metal detector lol

the holes show where the bodies are buried

 

[404]

the holes show where the bodies are buried

More Cats.

Regards,
404

 

[Piece-it Pete]

I'm in love with your garage and outbuildings, and your home is no slouch either! Nice.

Subscribed

Pete

 

[jb3]

Wow ,What character those buildings have. Nice place.

good progress. keep us up to date, cause I think this will turn out great.

jim

I'm in love with your garage and outbuildings, and your home is no slouch either! Nice.

Subscribed

Pete

thanks!

 

[jb3]

Back in post #9 I noticed the Tyngsborough Auto Works sign. Were you from that area?
I grew up in Lowell and now reside in Pepperell, my wife was from Tyngsborough...

Thats where I bought the large auto equipment stuff I have. Tyngsborough Auto Works was closing down and it was a fire sale, It was all I could do not to try and buy 3 lifts instead of one.

originally from CT. That part of MA is very pretty though, liked the area

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

this trailer was made using 1948-56 Ford pickup hubcaps, wheels and axle with overload springs and is an excellent base for a trailer that suits your needs. Do not sell it for scrap metal

Both trailers are using that same axle, its a ford axle? thanks for the info!

I had no intention of scrapping them, but I have been trying to sell them for a while. Stored them inside one of the buildings until they are gone

 

[jb3]

The saying, you have a long row to hoe, comes to mind. whew !! years in the making.

yeah, im betting it will be a decade before things are just so. We have tons of house stuff to do as well

 

[jb3]

Maybe I am pessimistic, but in my opinion, if the property were mine, I would keep the white building and get rid of the other two buildings. Then, when I could afford it, I would build a new building in place of the other two. Sometimes it is more advantageous to start from scratch rather than try to rebuild an old building that has outlived its usefulness. I doubt that any remodeling you decide to do with the other two buildings would make them as convenient or as useful as what you would like them to be. My thinking is that a well thought out and well designed building will be much more in line with what you want and need than something that was "fixed up" would ever be. But, its your property and your money, so I guess in the final analysis its what YOU want that counts.

Im seriously considering knocking down the red building long term. If I knock it down, I can run a drive up into the half of the lot that is wooded, and maybe build another structure that is back in the woods to store stuff which would be bigger and more efficient. I do want to keep the lower stone building though. For now though it has one of the best roofs and is dry

 

[jb3]

Love the place and the car.

Am thinking of making a locost with a 300SD drive train, but all came with the automatic.

What's your opinion of the longevity of the 190E manual transmission with the turbodiesel?

the 190E gearbox has a starter wart on the opposite side, so I had to cut and weld the bellhousing to get it to mate to the earlier diesel. Im curious to see how it handles the 617. Guys mate this gearbox all the time to the 124 chassis cars 6 cyl turbo diesel though and it seems to do well. it bolts right up to 60X motors. For the 61X motors it has to be modified.

The reason I did this was because the smaller body benzes have an overdrive gearbox, and I was looking for that .78 or .81 overdrive.

The 240D though has a robust 4 speed with a 1 to1 final ratio that can handle the turbo diesel power no problem, and that bolts right up. Plus these benz transmissions are unbelievably light compared to domestics if you are used to them. Like 70lbs for the 4-speed.

The Locust is one of those rear engine kit cars?

Id probably use a 60X series motor as its more powerful, lighter, and you can bolt a 5 speed manual right up. Sounds like an awesome project idea you have!

 

[jb3]

I bet the family was looking for buried treasure by the amount of holes that where dug.
Get out there with a metal detector lol

haha, not a bad idea! ive already found tons of metal lying around.

the holes show where the bodies are buried

maybe the family was looking for something the owner buried in the garage
Ill probably find it when it comes to the concrete state.

Or as you state, more likely the one guy was looking for a place to bury cat bodies, and decided he didn't care after digging the holes.

More Cats.

Regards,
404

more cat content that will show the state of the garage when we moved in-




see that definite line? everything below it is from cats marking. Its one of the most disgusting things ive ever had to clean. The entire garage is saturated. Years or it.

Heres a weird feature of the house, again cat related. When we first looked at the building, I wondered what this was. I was thinking a coal shute or something, maybe outside storage.



I was wrong, what that is happens to be is an entrance so that feral cats can enter the building and sleep in this sectioned off quarters hanging from the ceiling of the basement. Two bedrooms!




Will be nice to remove that, dont want racoons or feral cats in the basement with a weak screen between them and running amok down there.

 

[jb3]

returning to garage content, here is the garage mess as it stands currently. Looking forward to organizing!

 

[Piece-it Pete]

Im seriously considering knocking down the red building long term. If I knock it down, I can run a drive up into the half of the lot that is wooded, and maybe build another structure that is back in the woods to store stuff which would be bigger and more efficient. I do want to keep the lower stone building though. For now though it has one of the best roofs and is dry

In the meantime you need to get some sheep into the red one

I like the brown one. The foundation is super cool. If it was stable and capable you could have a walk in second floor from the house grade level, correct? Maybe on the ten year plan lol.

Pete

 

[jb3]

In the meantime you need to get some sheep into the red one

I like the brown one. The foundation is super cool. If it was stable and capable you could have a walk in second floor from the house grade level, correct? Maybe on the ten year plan lol.

Pete

here is what im thinking on the brown one (again, decade plan)-

(pardon the crude drawings)

I love the foundation too, and a better welding and grinding space I can't think of. Ive been going in there all summer and its nice and cool being so far under ground, so its a great tinkerer shop if I can modernize it.

access to this building is kind of awkward. It was built before what was the farm for this house was sold off, so it services someone elses private road now. Super convenient if he owned the building, but for me, that leaves somewhat limited access.

here is a pic showing the private road with the building facing it. This is about 30 feet from a fence the guy closes all the time, its definite no access.



There are two ways to get to the building through my property, one is a narrow steep hill the arrow shows, and the other is around the stone wall to the right of the arrow



because of this, its kind of hard to pull straight in to this garage with any kind of car. The maneuver room is really tight.

Here is my plan, im leaning towards going with the drawing on the right, changing the main orientation and pouring a pad in front of the building to install my lift- (the dotted line shows my more cost effective plan of building the front part of the rectangular building and a small roof for drainage on the existing structure, then extending it over time.)



Here is sort of a crude look of how it would turn out with red lines-



Then if I extended the roof, I could do what you are saying as well, and make a second level on the one side to park a car. Id end up with effectively a 3 car garage with doors on 3 sides, and 4 car space in a weird little package

 

[sean Buick 76]

I like the old buildings and i look forward to seeing what you make with all this!

 

[Piece-it Pete]

What fun. Shame about the private road.

We've got a housewarming present:

http://www.joygazm.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/lots-of-cats_zpse9b8be3d-e1386904020427.jpg

But they were clearance, the tag says 'cadaver challenged - DIY ready'

Pete

 

[404]

the 190E gearbox has a starter wart on the opposite side, so I had to cut and weld the bellhousing to get it to mate to the earlier diesel. Im curious to see how it handles the 617. Guys mate this gearbox all the time to the 124 chassis cars 6 cyl turbo diesel though and it seems to do well. it bolts right up to 60X motors. For the 61X motors it has to be modified.

The reason I did this was because the smaller body benzes have an overdrive gearbox, and I was looking for that .78 or .81 overdrive.

The 240D though has a robust 4 speed with a 1 to1 final ratio that can handle the turbo diesel power no problem, and that bolts right up. Plus these benz transmissions are unbelievably light compared to domestics if you are used to them. Like 70lbs for the 4-speed.

The Locust is one of those rear engine kit cars?

Id probably use a 60X series motor as its more powerful, lighter, and you can bolt a 5 speed manual right up. Sounds like an awesome project idea you have!

Hi,
Thanks for the information. The locost is one of these.. Front engine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locost

My reason for choosing the 300SD engine is that I believe it to be the last diesel with all manual injection pump.. No computer. Also, I saw one on Craigslist at a price I could afford. Do you know it the later motors can be converted to a manual injection pump?
I want to avoid really expensive common rail injectors and electronics.

Also it would be "different".

That cat spray is amazing. I bet with the right marketing you could wash it off with alcohol, add a pinch of vanilla to the residue, and sell the result in small perfume bottles for big money.

Only the most discerning could appreciate the subtle nuance etc. etc. Any one who did not like it was just not sophisticated enough. Usual marketing BS.

Did the previous owner run an Asian restaurant? Might explain the cat collection/collector on the house.

BTW, I Really envy you your place. So much room and potential to do stuff.

Regards,
404

 

[jb3]

Hi,
Thanks for the information. The locost is one of these.. Front engine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locost

My reason for choosing the 300SD engine is that I believe it to be the last diesel with all manual injection pump.. No computer. Also, I saw one on Craigslist at a price I could afford. Do you know it the later motors can be converted to a manual injection pump?
I want to avoid really expensive common rail injectors and electronics.

Also it would be "different".

That cat spray is amazing. I bet with the right marketing you could wash it off with alcohol, add a pinch of vanilla to the residue, and sell the result in small perfume bottles for big money.

Only the most discerning could appreciate the subtle nuance etc. etc. Any one who did not like it was just not sophisticated enough. Usual marketing BS.

Did the previous owner run an Asian restaurant? Might explain the cat collection/collector on the house.

BTW, I Really envy you your place. So much room and potential to do stuff.

Regards,
404

thats an awesome swap idea!

id be concerned about the height and weight of the 617 motor, I had some height issues doing an engine swap into a van. Its super tall. plus with an iron head and iron block is weighs more than many V8 motors.

Check out this website, good info on the benz diesels on here. Check out especially some of the Scandinavian build threads. What these guys do with the older mercedes with the OM60X motors is incredible-

http://superturbodiesel.com/std/

this below thread has some good engine to chassis info. I think the most people have gotten out of an OM617 is 200ish HP, but a mechanical OM60X motor is the one that can put down huge HP with the right mods. like 300 plus hp i believe. Not completely familiar, but the later motors did have mechanical injection pumps at least for a certain amount of time, and a popular mod is to boost the fuel of the mechanical injection pump and install it on a later electronic controlled motor.

http://www.superturbodiesel.com/std/Thread-OM-Engine-and-Chassis-Information





here is my minivan diesel swap that might show some of the OM616 and OM617 characteristics (I swapped from the 4cyl to the 5cyl after a few months of use). I love that engine, completely indestructible

http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/showthread.php?21008-Turbo-OM616-into-astro-van-build

In this forum, there are a lot of good swap threads on the OM617 motor-

http://www.4btswaps.com/forum/forum...s-OM617-amp-Variants-Sponsored-by-4x4Labs.com

 

[404]

Thank you for all the information!
Looked at your minivan diesel. Your skill level is very, very high!



Regards,
404

 

[theoldwizard1]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

... the huge rock shelf behind it is also about a third of the inner space.

Probably just me, but i would spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME trying to minimize that ledge rock as much as possible !

 

[Kevin54]

I would not have put carpet down on a dirt floor. When you get around to it, and have the room, lay down a layer of crushed stone and run a plate tamper over it packing it down as tight as you can get it. Dampen it a little, tamp some more. Then lay down a heavy vapor barrier. Over top of that put some more stone and tamp some more. By the time you get around to pouring concrete, from walking, parking, and storing stuff on it, you will have a base packed so tight that you won't have to worry about any cracks at all.

Also in you other out buildings, if you don't have a power washer, rent one and clean all of the years of crud off of the walls and ceiling/roof. This will get the dirt out of the cracks of the one that has the stone walls, and help prep for sealing it up.

Now as far as the house. Very nice and has a lot of charm to it. I noticed on the quoins at the top corner of the house and garage. Is that a brick wall, or did they do something else to it to make it look like that?

 

[jb3]

Re: Repurposing several farm buildings

Probably just me, but i would spend WAY TOO MUCH TIME trying to minimize that ledge rock as much as possible !

Long time to respond to this, but yes, I definitely need to pour a concrete step or something over the rock, or jackhammer bits of it off, because any time I go in there I stare at that corner thinking about what I could put there

 

[jb3]

I would not have put carpet down on a dirt floor. When you get around to it, and have the room, lay down a layer of crushed stone and run a plate tamper over it packing it down as tight as you can get it. Dampen it a little, tamp some more. Then lay down a heavy vapor barrier. Over top of that put some more stone and tamp some more. By the time you get around to pouring concrete, from walking, parking, and storing stuff on it, you will have a base packed so tight that you won't have to worry about any cracks at all.

Also in you other out buildings, if you don't have a power washer, rent one and clean all of the years of crud off of the walls and ceiling/roof. This will get the dirt out of the cracks of the one that has the stone walls, and help prep for sealing it up.

Now as far as the house. Very nice and has a lot of charm to it. I noticed on the quoins at the top corner of the house and garage. Is that a brick wall, or did they do something else to it to make it look like that?

carpet was a "broke after buying" short term solution hopefully. Im calling short term a few years. Plan is concrete in one building, then clearing the house garage, and concrete in there next

Thanks on the house! those are fake wooden federal style corner panels the PO apparently added in the 80s when he resided a lot of the house

 

[jb3]

update on partial stone garage.

after cleaning the yard of brush for what seems like forever, ive created reasonable access to the building

Im finally in the process of getting some concrete in there and putting mortar in the stone. Ive got an old fashioned Portuguese mason on board to fill in everything with the correct mortar, and it comes as a package deal with a concrete guy who will then pour in a floor.

The more I use this building, the more I appreciate the guys design, (though eventually I have to rebuild it to get a lift in there)

These eave doors are great, allowing access to the rafters, and a really nice cross breeze with everything open and hooked in place. Im going to preserve them for a while until its time to raise the roof




The mortar guy has to do the inner walls first, then the concrete guy, but the concrete guy is showing up this weekend to start leveling out the inside with gravel, and start putting in rebar for the floor. hes also going to dig out an apron on the outside which can take place while the mortar is being done.

with this in mind I finally started clearing out all the rotten wooden stuff in this garage-



couple tough choices on what wood to get rid of. this is a work bench where the work top is an 18 inch wide 2.5 inch thick oak slab that weighs about 100lbs and is as hard as iron, though horribly warped and fractured now from the POs fetish of putting wood on wet dirt (and also from at least 100 years of being used as a work bench in this old shed).
I decided I would keep this and do something with it. boards like that just dont exist anymore. I can probably cut it in half at the fracture and have two nice boards for something around the house or in the garage later.

 

[Andrew S]

Thanks for updating this thread, I am looking forward to watching your progress.

 

[rusty1]

...where did the name "dead cat farm" come from?