Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT Old barn - New life

[Adaylate]

Great to see your progress!
I've never layed block before but I have mixed mortar. Lots of work!
The windows will look perfect in there.

 

[DCJets]

Having documentates each row from the same spot, you could create a nice animation.
Great to see and the windows will fit perfectly.

 

[pals444]

Some more rows this weekend. Only one more to go at the front wall now. But a lot of work remaining on the other side, over the gate. I’m starting to think a steel beam here maybe would be better. But so far sticking to the original plan of casting a concrete beam.

 

[pals444]

Great to see your progress!
I've never layed block before but I have mixed mortar. Lots of work!
The windows will look perfect in there.

Thank You. Laying blocks is a bit like building Lego. Only heavier.

 

[pals444]

Having documentates each row from the same spot, you could create a nice animation.
Great to see and the windows will fit perfectly.

Good idea! I found some pictures taken from the same side. Not the exact same spot, but it worked out OK. I’ll try to follow up and take a picture on this spot whenever something happens.

 

[Dividing Creek]

I see you kept a bit of distance with your wall returns from the other structure. Will you connect the two or do you have a different plan ?

 

[pals444]

I see you kept a bit of distance with your wall returns from the other structure. Will you connect the two or do you have a different plan ?

Good question. There is a gap between the old and new structure. But the two will be connected at some point. I first need to stabilize the old foundations, then adjust the height of the old structure to align with the new. The side purlin (I think it’s called, marked red on the picture) is supposed to finally rest on the corner of the new wall.

 

[pals444]

The trusses arrived today as planned. Fortunately it was ready to land them on the wall directly, although there is still a day or two before the walls are finished. The final row is draining. The blocks are u-shaped, so that a continuous reinforced concrete layer finishes the wall structure. That means climbing the ladder with buckets full of mortar, and once started it needs to be finished.

 

[Adaylate]

Glad to see you were able to land the trusses on the wall!
How long, once the mortar is in place, do you have to wait to set the trusses?

 

[pals444]

Glad to see you were able to land the trusses on the wall!
How long, once the mortar is in place, do you have to wait to set the trusses?

Thanks. 3 days should normally be enough. The trusses doesn’t add much weight, so the downward force isn’t much of an issue. It’s more about moving and shifting loads on top of the fresh concrete. But looking at my calendar for next week, it probably will have more than enough time to set properly. But then - vacation

 

[DCJets]

Since it is only the trusses, there should not be too much force impacting. Regardless if it is wind, rain or snow.

 

[pals444]

Well into the second week of vacation. Summer is time for family visits, the house has been crowded for a while. Really nice, although the project gets less attention. But things have happened. Final concrete work is done except the plastering. Trusses are positioned and secured, gable wall frame is up, and roof panel is started.

Some pictures from the process:

 

[DCJets]

Great job! Looks like you'll be moving in in autumn.
The window will fit perfectly. Will it be with dual layer glass?

 

[NightSky]

Nice work... In post 39 you mentioned abandoning the extension (for the time being, at least) because of a difficult permitting process requiring a geological evaluation. Did the rebuild that you are currently documenting not require this permitting process?

By the way, do you have any pics of the cast in place header over the future garage door? Those would be interesting to see.

 

[pals444]

Great job! Looks like you'll be moving in in autumn.
The window will fit perfectly. Will it be with dual layer glass?

Thank You, DCJets. No room to fit dual layer glass directly to this frame. I’m going to do as they did in the old days, add an inner window.
I’ll be using a single sheet of Lexan or similar in a narrow frame, easy to fit and change. This will insulate and also protect the outer glass from workshop incidents. Flying sparks from grinding/welding is a real glass killer, i know from experience..

Nice work... In post 39 you mentioned abandoning the extension (for the time being, at least) because of a difficult permitting process requiring a geological evaluation. Did the rebuild that you are currently documenting not require this permitting process?

By the way, do you have any pics of the cast in place header over the future garage door? Those would be interesting to see.

Thank You, NightSky.
First question: The short answer is no. There is no new building, but replacing/renovating the old structure. The digging is shallow, and can be done without permission.
Second question: I’ve been sloppy on documenting the header. I’t was a race to finish before the trusses arrived, and I forgot to take pictures along the way. But i can tell You what’s inside:

Rebar in the top U-block can be seen on the last picture in post 88.

 

[Mr onetwo]

Just found this....great work on a very interesting build. Somehow, I really like the look of the blocks without plaster. Can they be left exposed with some sort of sealer? Good luck moving forward

 

[pals444]

Just found this....great work on a very interesting build. Somehow, I really like the look of the blocks without plaster. Can they be left exposed with some sort of sealer? Good luck moving forward

Thank You, Mr onetwo.
The blocks need to be plastered to be water resistant. So the surface will eventually be smooth and white on the outside, inside yet to be decided.

 

[NightSky]

Thank You, Mr onetwo.
The blocks need to be plastered to be water resistant. So the surface will eventually be smooth and white on the outside, inside yet to be decided.

I thought they looked porous from this pic:

They must be fairly light.

 

[pals444]

I thought they looked porous from this pic:

They must be fairly light.

The blocks are made from lightweight expanded clay aggregate and cement to make lightweight masonry blocks. Easy to shape, good insulation properties. But needs to be plastered to be water resistant. One standard block 250x250x500mm is about 21 kilo’s. So this structure adds up to about 10 tons.

 

[DCJets]

These blocks are typical for construction in Europe. At least in the northern part.
Insulation properties were already mentioned.
The classic red brick, we all know, is 240mm by 115mm and 71mm high. It weights about 3,9kg. So it will be three layers of four red bricks replacing one of these blocks. Twelve times 3,9kg. That's round about 47kg plus required amount of cement.
Name it more than double the weight, but providing far less insulation.

 

[pals444]

My Norwegian body is not so efficient when temperatures are close to 30C, so some cooling is required. But in between vacation activities, there is of course room for the project. Here are some pictures from recent progress.


Tarp to keep the boards dry before roofing felt


Not quite closed, but close


Pre-fitted the window

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

Everything is looking great. Love seeing the window installed.

 

[Adaylate]

I like the look of the the underside roof decking!
Great progress with the window fitted.

 

[pals444]

An echo from the past.
I noticed some old floorboards stacked away in the barn. My guess was that they were removed from the house when it was renovated. Not many, but good quality. Look at the growth rings how narrow they are:


The other day I noticed there was some writing on back of one of them. Something like: «God’s eternal mercy» and the name Henry Larsen Orbek, Langseth 7/9 06.


The house was built in 1906, so that makes sense. I looked the man up in national archives, and it turned out that he was 18 years old when he wrote this. He was not family to the owners. Maybe an apprentice?
More to the story: Henry was not to be an old man. He died i 1918 from tuberculosis, just 29 years old. His title when he died? Manager of a woodworking factory.

I find it fascinating to discover these small echoes from the past that link together to the history of this place.

 

[littlebean]

interesting story about the boards and progress is looking really good

 

[DCJets]

Impressive, which stories returning to light during rebuilding that barn.

Beside, my understanding of past times was, a) a person older than sixty years was considered really old and b) enterprises were managed by the older generation as long as they could handle it. So I feel surprised, hearing a young man, of less than thirty years was a factory manager.

Agreed, the years between 1914 and 1918 had some difficulties, but to my knowledge, Norway was clearly not involved.

 

[LOW1]

Pals, thank you for a wonderful thread. Keep up the great work!

 

[pals444]

Tomorrow my summer vacation is over. 4 wonderful weeks in my own pace. And some long days to work on the project. Well, there is still a lot of summer left, and I now have a sealed roof over the new part, almost ready for tiles. That’s a milestone reached.

I got a picture from the roadside of the house and barn today. The winding road passes by so people look straight at the barn when driving by. So it needs to look good. And it will, eventually.


As mentioned, roofing work has come a bit further. I will tile the new part so it’s ready for winter before starting to work on the existing structure.




View from inside. I will have a layout ready for the interior real soon. At least in my head.

 

[littlebean]

looking good!

 

[Adaylate]

Great progress on the barn during your vacation!
Will you do the plastering?

 

[pals444]

Great progress on the barn during your vacation!
Will you do the plastering?

Thank You! I plan to do the plastering myself, although I’ve never done plastering on this scale before. But how hard can it be

 

[pals444]

looking good!

Thank You, littlebean. It’s inspiring that other garage enthusiasts follow along. I’ll keep posting.

 

[pals444]

Pals, thank you for a wonderful thread. Keep up the great work!

Thank you, LOW1. I’ll give it my best

 

[zanyad]

Great thread, looking forward to seeing your further progress!

Pre-fitted the window

I love that window! How did you put the arch in the header here and over the door?

 

[pals444]

Great thread, looking forward to seeing your further progress!

I love that window! How did you put the arch in the header here and over the door?

Thanks, zanyad!

I bought the old window first, so the size and arc radius was determined. I cut sticks of wood about 5cm wide and same length as the blocks. Then drew up the radius on a board, fixing the sticks along the radius line. Then another board on the outside. Viola, a nice formwork frame for the arch. This was then fixed in the window and door frame, some rebar layed across, then I filled the formwork with concrete.

Unfortunately i found no pictures from the process, but you can see the formwork in top of the window here:

 

[pals444]

Weather forced me inside yesterday. So it was an opportunity to plan for the next stage.

I want an open space for 2 parking bays in the old part of the barn.
There is a separate inner wooden structure here, about 20 square meters that once was room for livestock. This room also has a concrete floor, that I guess can be from the 40-50’s. Top floor is too high, and the concrete quality is poor. So all of this needs to come down.

The timber frame here is solid stuff. It’s about 3" thick, and varies between 7 and 9" high. And a closer look at it reveals real quality wood.


I count over 140 growth rings on this. That’s amazing. I’ll make good use of this wood eventually. Don’t know yet for what, but it will come to me.

 

[Bob Heine]

I plan to do the plastering myself, although I’ve never done plastering on this scale before. But how hard can it be

I said the exact same thing 40 or so years ago. I had done my fair share of drywall installation and compound spreading so I assumed I could do at least a fair job plastering. We had been looking at new houses and my wife was impressed with one that had an open floor plan. Rather than tear the whole house apart, I removed an entry hall closet adjacent to the living room. With a truss roof I knew I could remove the whole thing because it was not a load bearing part of the house. Removed the living room wall first.

Removed the hall side of the closet and the ceiling plaster and blueboard (plaster baseboard) next.

I chipped away the skim coat of plaster wherever the new blueboard met the old and applied mesh tape.

Mixed up several batches of scratch coat plaster. Very much like Goldilocks, my first batch was too thin and sloughed off the wall. My second batch was too thick and refused to spread. My third batch was perfect but I realized applying it to a wall was a completely different challenge from applying it to the ceiling. It also occurred to me my Goldilocks approach would involve a second, finish coat.

At the time, the Internet was mostly *********** so I searched the Yellow Pages portion of the phone book and found lots of professional plasterers. None of them were interested in coming to the house or even providing a guestimate -- it was too small of a job. The free newspaper classified section came to the rescue with an ad placed by a retired plasterer who was looking for small jobs. I replaced all the blueboard I had ruined, re-taped the joints and he arrived the next afternoon. In about an hour he had a perfect scratch coat on wall and ceiling. He returned the next day and applied a perfect, flawless finish coat. He had warned me at the start that he wouldn't do the sand finish so I put a bunch of sand in a can of ceiling paint and after the second coat it was an invisible repair. This master plasterer gave me a $50 quote for the job and when I tried to pay the man more when he finished, he was adamant and said he was already charging me too much.

The living room expansion saved me from buying a new home at the time and my previous project of turning an unneeded fourth bedroom into an expansion of the family room provided a door to reduce the noise from the family room in the living room when friends dropped by.

That last photo shows my flooring foolishness. Liane asked me to tile the floor of our small galley kitchen. My undeveloped frontal lobe suggested I do the living, dining, kitchen and family rooms in the same 12" x12" tile. To prove I was insane I did the kitchen and family rooms in a running bond pattern. A 2019 photo by the new owners of the house posted on the Internet shows the two patterns.

I have recently done some exterior plastering repairs on our current home and it came out just fine (watching a master helps). I'm sure you will make your barn expansion plaster job as perfect as what's on your house.

 

[DCJets]

The internet being mostly *********** and a retired craftsman rejecting additional payment. Ist this the past better times, people are talking about?

 

[pals444]

I said the exact same thing 40 or so years ago.

Thanks for the historic review, Bob. I can relate. The thing one learns the most from is ones mistakes. Especially if they are painful enough.

I have made my fair share of mistakes along the way. At this stage I have enough experience to admit to myself that I’m still an amateur, and always will be. There is professional help available, and no shame to use it.

 

[DCJets]

Doing some insulation work at my home currently. The first floor is larger than the ground floor, giving the porch some roof. But the first floor had some feet cold portions.
This should be removed by installing insulation underneath. Of course this is to be plastered afterwards.
I basically know how to do. Applying some mesh first and then have it plastered with a think layer.
My motivation went in vacation, especially as I never did this before. Walls, ok. But ceiling?
Luckily found a plasterer, willing tondo this. He qouted an hourly rate of approximately sixty, but refused giving an estimate in the dowmtime for not being nailed If the unforeseen might happen.
It will be abot two guys, one week. We are talking about roughly ten metres by one and a half metre plus fife metres by one and a quarter meter.
In the end I will have to pay for how ever long it took them. Maybe quicker, maybe not. But on the other hand I am well aware that's not excessive...
And I may call myself lucky, that this guy ist willing to accept that small job.