jimmie jam
Well-known member
Today was a very good day!
The swedish barn
- Thread starter plexxarn
- Start date
Dividing Creek
Well-known member
This is one of my favorites as well. I have several old wooden barns and take inspiration from this thread.
rixtrix1
Well-known member
Good to see you back. I've been patiently waiting.
NTCRS
Well-known member
Upp med fler uppdateringar nu 
jb3
Well-known member
that lift arrangement turned out great! I was hoping to see the scissor lift in action on its pre-arranged rails
spoonsports86
Well-known member
thanks for the update. this is my favorite thread and the one that keeps me coming back for more
lift came out great
lift came out great
Thank you so much for all your kind comments!
After finishing the floor my plan was to construct a small
cinder block wall as a base around the garage walls.
But I was not happy with the back wall of the garage. The foundation for one of the poles was not in line with the rest of the foundations and the wall was not straight.
This foundation was done in the very beginning of the project and the quality demands on the project had risen a lot since then
I decided to widen the base for the pole and move it about 2-3 In to make the wall straingt. It was sort of now or never.
Here you can see how much the pole neede to be moved:
The outer edge of the slab was also corrected and made straight:
After that I could start with the cinder blocks:
And finally render it to a nice finish:
Meanwhile I also experimented with my plan to have some lighting in the pit to illuminate the under side of the car while working. I had already cast in electrical pipes in the floor to run the cables, if you remember:
It helps a lot!
Later a light will be added to the other end of the pit as well.
After finishing the floor my plan was to construct a small
cinder block wall as a base around the garage walls.
But I was not happy with the back wall of the garage. The foundation for one of the poles was not in line with the rest of the foundations and the wall was not straight.
This foundation was done in the very beginning of the project and the quality demands on the project had risen a lot since then
I decided to widen the base for the pole and move it about 2-3 In to make the wall straingt. It was sort of now or never.
Here you can see how much the pole neede to be moved:
The outer edge of the slab was also corrected and made straight:
After that I could start with the cinder blocks:
And finally render it to a nice finish:
Meanwhile I also experimented with my plan to have some lighting in the pit to illuminate the under side of the car while working. I had already cast in electrical pipes in the floor to run the cables, if you remember:
It helps a lot!
Later a light will be added to the other end of the pit as well.
Bib Overalls
Well-known member
Now, I must ask this question. The only time I visited Sweden was in the summer when the weather was nice. But, they tell me it gets miserably cold in the winter time. So, do you have a plan to tighten up the Barn and heat it up a bit or will you just drink aquavit and work in the cold?
Winter in Sweden is cold. Not like the north pole like people think, but definitely cold. Aqvavit is nice, but you car gets all messed up when working on it
The barn will be fully insulated and heated!
Techie1961
Well-known member
Man! What a great thread and I am in total awe over what you've been able to do on your own. The floor pour was so ambitious and when I saw that you were starting on it, I had a fair bit of doubt that you would pull it off but, you did. Amazing!
madoc1
Well-known member
just found this again and read it all. amazing work and dedication. get up to date as you get the time please.
jim
jim
mtm_motors
Well-known member
Really enjoyed reading through your thread and excited to see how you finished the barn up!
vonhef
Well-known member
Thank you for sharing your hard work with the rest of us.... I am very glad to watch your progress!
HCNDM
Well-known member
Re: The Swedish barn
Great! Better late to the party than never right!
Subbed and will follow with great interest!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Great! Better late to the party than never right!
Subbed and will follow with great interest!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jon_beer
Well-known member
Been reading this pretty regularly since the beginning - I'm really impressed by the workmanship - its inspiring to see that with each step things get better and better.
lieutenant
Well-known member
Geez, nice work. Updates?
OK, time for a long overdue update !
Been pretty busy with life and work but here we go, despite photobucket being slow like I-don't-know-what tonight.
To get some natural lighting in the barn I wanted to put some windows in the back wall. That winter (2013) I scored three 3-glass windows for a very resonable price. To pick them up and bring them home in as few pieces as possible I made a small jig for my trailer:
The inside of the wall I made by first laying a 2x7" on top of the cinder blocks with a sheet of bitumen between. This will give room for about 7" of insulation in the walls.
I then started to make frames for the windows.
The top was secured behind the roof beam.
Then it was just the daunting task of cutting a big hole in the wall
And put the windows in:
All three are in:
I think it will give a much nicer look to the barn, and it's much better atmosphere inside with some daylight coming in.
But I was not happy with the way the big windows looked. They were too modern so I decided to attach a thin "cross" in the middle wich makes them look more period correct for the barn. Also attached some white frames around them. Swedish standard procedure 1A for red buildings with white details Cut just like the ones on the big house. I will do them exactly the same style on all my buildings I think. If you look in the first pic with the trailer you can see how plain and boring they look when just cut straihght. Also removed the rests of the old door:
Been pretty busy with life and work but here we go, despite photobucket being slow like I-don't-know-what tonight.
To get some natural lighting in the barn I wanted to put some windows in the back wall. That winter (2013) I scored three 3-glass windows for a very resonable price. To pick them up and bring them home in as few pieces as possible I made a small jig for my trailer:
The inside of the wall I made by first laying a 2x7" on top of the cinder blocks with a sheet of bitumen between. This will give room for about 7" of insulation in the walls.
I then started to make frames for the windows.
The top was secured behind the roof beam.
Then it was just the daunting task of cutting a big hole in the wall
And put the windows in:
All three are in:
I think it will give a much nicer look to the barn, and it's much better atmosphere inside with some daylight coming in.
But I was not happy with the way the big windows looked. They were too modern so I decided to attach a thin "cross" in the middle wich makes them look more period correct for the barn. Also attached some white frames around them. Swedish standard procedure 1A for red buildings with white details
Cut just like the ones on the big house. I will do them exactly the same style on all my buildings I think. If you look in the first pic with the trailer you can see how plain and boring they look when just cut straihght. Also removed the rests of the old door:
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Knyte Tyne
Well-known member
Re: The Swedish barn
Windows... I wish I could have giant windows like that. Natural light is always the best to work with...
Sent from my GT-I9190 using Tapatalk
Windows... I wish I could have giant windows like that. Natural light is always the best to work with...
Sent from my GT-I9190 using Tapatalk
NASMAN
Well-known member
Looking good, glad you added the crosses.
Good to see you again.
Good to see you again.
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jimmie jam
Well-known member
Glad you are back! Wow, what a difference the windows make...it's not a barn anymore.
rixtrix1
Well-known member
Windows look good, and yes, the cross really improves the appearance!
lieutenant
Well-known member
He's back! Awesome, I love this thread.
Ok, I'm gonna totally blow your minds now and make a second update the same year as the last one !
To utilize my scissor lift a bit more I decided to make a bench-top for it so I can use it as a height adjustable work bench for woodworking etc.
I used some 1" planks of good quality. It became very heavy to put on and off, but pretty sturdy. But now I can adjust it to the exact same height as my other bench. Perfect for wood working.
You can also see the inside walls are covered with what we call "wind paper" in sweden. It's like a black bitumen treated weather proof thick paper. This was a very dark period of the garage build so the pics are not the best.
Then it was time to start with the garage doors. I wanted two really wide doors to have a lot of room when driving cars in and out.
They would then be 3 metres wide, almost 10 ft. Downside is that such big properly insulated doors are very expensive, and have to be custom made. (was quoted about 3k $ each, and I needed two..)
So I decided to make them myself. Spend some time instead of money
First I started mocking up the frame in the door way:
I could then lay it down on my new workbench and finish it, measure everything twice and make it really square.
When squared up, I put on some cross braces so I could move it in and out and test fit it.
Then to make the door blades, I decided to try and old technique to make them not warp over time. The trick is that you split the wood down the middle. Turn one half 180 degrees, so one of the sawed edges comes to the outside. Then flip it down the length so the top end meets the root end of the other half, and glue them together. That way any twisting of the wood will cancel each other out and it will remain straight.
When all the wood was prepared I could start the door blade frames.
They could be test fitted to the frame on the workbench and adjusted:
When everything measured up, I glued, and screwed on some plywood on the inside, to give it some extra strength.
I could then fit the hinges and line everything up, and measure out the door lock positioning.
Doors were then insulated and the outside was covered with a thin sheet of weather proof oil-hardened masonite board (not sure if this is the correct term in english)
Finally the outside was dressed with some siding.
They are about 75mm thick (3in) and pretty heavy.
From the inside the build up is: 12mm plywood. 45mm insulation, 4mm board, 14mm siding.
Painted:
With hinges mounted:
To utilize my scissor lift a bit more I decided to make a bench-top for it so I can use it as a height adjustable work bench for woodworking etc.
I used some 1" planks of good quality. It became very heavy to put on and off, but pretty sturdy. But now I can adjust it to the exact same height as my other bench. Perfect for wood working.
You can also see the inside walls are covered with what we call "wind paper" in sweden. It's like a black bitumen treated weather proof thick paper. This was a very dark period of the garage build so the pics are not the best.
Then it was time to start with the garage doors. I wanted two really wide doors to have a lot of room when driving cars in and out.
They would then be 3 metres wide, almost 10 ft. Downside is that such big properly insulated doors are very expensive, and have to be custom made. (was quoted about 3k $ each, and I needed two..)
So I decided to make them myself. Spend some time instead of money
First I started mocking up the frame in the door way:
I could then lay it down on my new workbench and finish it, measure everything twice and make it really square.
When squared up, I put on some cross braces so I could move it in and out and test fit it.
Then to make the door blades, I decided to try and old technique to make them not warp over time. The trick is that you split the wood down the middle. Turn one half 180 degrees, so one of the sawed edges comes to the outside. Then flip it down the length so the top end meets the root end of the other half, and glue them together. That way any twisting of the wood will cancel each other out and it will remain straight.
When all the wood was prepared I could start the door blade frames.
They could be test fitted to the frame on the workbench and adjusted:
When everything measured up, I glued, and screwed on some plywood on the inside, to give it some extra strength.
I could then fit the hinges and line everything up, and measure out the door lock positioning.
Doors were then insulated and the outside was covered with a thin sheet of weather proof oil-hardened masonite board (not sure if this is the correct term in english)
Finally the outside was dressed with some siding.
They are about 75mm thick (3in) and pretty heavy.
From the inside the build up is: 12mm plywood. 45mm insulation, 4mm board, 14mm siding.
Painted:
With hinges mounted:
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NASMAN
Well-known member
Love this last post about the doors.
Good detail and plenty of pictures, great job.
Good detail and plenty of pictures, great job.
Bib Overalls
Well-known member
Do you have any heat in the barn? Doors look like they will last for centuries. Is black a traditional color in Sweden for barn doors?
Re: The Swedish barn
Yes nowadays it is insulated and heated. It cold and humid here in the winter so I need heating from October to May. I try to keep about 55 F / 12-14C wich I find ok for working if you have some clothes on. It also keeps the humidity down a lot even if you don't have full room temperature, wich is good for the cars.
Yes, barn doors are normally black over here!
Yes nowadays it is insulated and heated. It cold and humid here in the winter so I need heating from October to May. I try to keep about 55 F / 12-14C wich I find ok for working if you have some clothes on. It also keeps the humidity down a lot even if you don't have full room temperature, wich is good for the cars.
Yes, barn doors are normally black over here!
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Dividing Creek
Well-known member
Your wind paper looks to be what we would call tar paper here, comes in different weights /thickness.
Love the doors and your choice of long strap hinges.
Love the doors and your choice of long strap hinges.
Thanks.
No the bracing was more or less improvised.
Normally there are two horizontal pieces, one behind each hinge.
Then a diagonal brace from the lower hinge point to lead the forces from the weight of the door to the lower hinge, like you can see on the old doors:
I improvised the new door frames a bit since I wanted this diagonal brace to go all the way to the top corner of the door frame. Then the upper horizontal hinge support was attached to this. All the load on that hinge support will be directed to the inner vertical part of the frame.
The last short diagonal piece was just some spare piece I had laying around that I attached for extra stiffness.
No the bracing was more or less improvised.
Normally there are two horizontal pieces, one behind each hinge.
Then a diagonal brace from the lower hinge point to lead the forces from the weight of the door to the lower hinge, like you can see on the old doors:
I improvised the new door frames a bit since I wanted this diagonal brace to go all the way to the top corner of the door frame. Then the upper horizontal hinge support was attached to this. All the load on that hinge support will be directed to the inner vertical part of the frame.
The last short diagonal piece was just some spare piece I had laying around that I attached for extra stiffness.
rixtrix1
Well-known member
Nice to see you back doing updates. This is a great thread showcasing your renovation of an aging building!
Great barn rebuild. You have a lot of energy to do all this by your self. 
In the first post of 4-22-17, what is the small humped building to the left of the barn??
Would love to see what your home and grounds look like also.
Looking forward to seeing the finished barn.
In the first post of 4-22-17, what is the small humped building to the left of the barn??
Would love to see what your home and grounds look like also.
Looking forward to seeing the finished barn.
Re: The Swedish barn
Thanks. The "hump" is a root cellar. Half-buried in the ground, traditionally used for frost-free storage of potatoes and other harvests. Keeps very cool in the summer also. Mine is mostly a habitat for some pretty nasty spiders though I'll try to take some pictures of the rest of our place some day!
Thanks. The "hump" is a root cellar. Half-buried in the ground, traditionally used for frost-free storage of potatoes and other harvests. Keeps very cool in the summer also. Mine is mostly a habitat for some pretty nasty spiders though
I'll try to take some pictures of the rest of our place some day!