west of Philly - barn saving

[rieferman]

Hi Riverfarm, thanks for the compliment, and thanks for the information on your siding cost. I have an amish builder from Lancaster PA stopping by tomorrow to give me a quote. I suspect it should be in the $6K - $10K range, and if he lets me be a crew member, possibly cheaper.

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Different topic, I scored a craigs list find tonight.. Local guy inherited a pile of misc. wood. Only one piece worth making furniture out of (a 3.5 inch thick, 12 inch wide, 10 foot long vintage plank, not sure of species yet). But, I got twenty 2x12x10 footers, a whole mess of 4x4x3 footers (i.e. workbench legs), and various other pieces. $20. I think I'll use the long wide planks as a wall covering instead of plywood.

 

[rieferman]

New wall is up, electric roughed inside of it, insulated, osb on both sides, and door hung. Door is pretty old from the looks of it, it was originally at the bottom of my attic stairs in my 1902 farm house - but when we refinished the attic the door wasn't needed any longer. Thought I'd save it for a rainy day. Turned out it was a snowy day.

The new wall creates more storage and nooks on the shed side. I think although it shrinks the shed side's size, it actually improves the usability because there are more wall surfaces to hang stuff on.

I have lots more to do to make the woodshop what I want it to be, but will show pictures when I reach an interesting stopping point.

Next steps are to insulate the other walls in the woodshop, and use the planks (post above) to cover those walls. I'm adding a few more recepticals while I'm at it. I will have all the power tools on a separate circuit from all the rest of the electric so I can shut off all dangerous tools when I'm not in there (little kids etc.). I have a bunch of work benches to build, but I think I'll wait until after my woodworking course to build them so that I can play around with various techniques.

edit: you know what's funny? I really really truly thought out how I wanted the space to be in the end... and it's going to be nothing like that now. the biggest change was deciding that a car will never be in the building, and therefore my workspace can be twice as big.

 

[rieferman]

ok cleaned up enough to take a few work in progress pics.

- new wall from workshop side, door closed
- same thing door open
- from within shed side
- inside shed showing nook with potting table, shelves will be here eventualy
- pile of planks that will cover the last wall in the woodshop side

 

[Jack Olsen]

The wall and the door look great.

I agree about a master plan being useful -- and also something you will probably always end up a long way away from.

 

[DIYnotBUY]

for some reason i am having a hard time imaging where this wall is! Is it the wall where you used to have your mitersaw at with the storage behind it??

 

[rieferman]

you're right, it's probably a good time to go over the floor plan again.

So, the spot that you saw recently of me drinking a beer at my new workbench.. that's the lower left area in the floor plan attached here.

The upper left area is the more finished space.. we use it as a hang out area and exercise room. It could also be an office. It's heated/insulated.

Upper right is what I call the "shed area". It's behind the new wall.

The rest of the right side was originally to be car parking. But will now be woodworking shop. Although, I did put the new wall far enough back that a 19 foot long car could park in there. For resale purposes etc.

so here's pics of
- floor plan
- workbench
- exercise room
- shed area and parking area BEFORE (the "after", rather "work in progress" are in above post)

make more sense now?

 

[DIYnotBUY]

i think i got it the blue prints helped!! Have you pretty much stopped working on the upstairs for now then??

 

[rieferman]

yeah, upstairs is on hold for now. a couple reasons:
- it's full of vintage lumber that I'll eventually use to build workbenches and furniture.
- I'm fairly broke by now

I can't wait to do that work though.. compared to all the other work, the upstairs is cake.

Of course, by "cake" I mean it'll be way harder than I think




(edit on 12/3/13 - holy **** I just almost fell off my chair laughing reading my post above... "cake".. ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)

 

[DIYnotBUY]

yeah well best of luck on that i keep getting sidetracked on my garage im finishing the shop side up and i keep scoring new things that threaten to take time away from getting it where i need it so i can paint. Like 5 cabinets (4- two door 37"wide by 32" high by 14'' deep and 1-67" wide by 38" high by 20" deep) that i got for FREE!!!! and so i have been working on them and then i am framing up some removable wall pieces that will seperate my shop and garage side. Then try to keep my daughter happy while she is out there with me!! Too much to do too little time!!!

PLUS i have a steroid infested sawhorse i have to build to hold my miter saw because of something i saw on SOMEONE'S damn thead!!!! "cough cough"

Keep it coming!!

 

[tman74]

Awesome build!!!!!!!!

 

[M-technik-3]

Should have torn it down and started from new....Just Kidding looks great so far, looks good and when it's completed maybe This Old House would like to see it. They like old barns and what not.

 

[rieferman]

thanks fellas!

here's what it looks like over here today... we're up to about 30 inches of snow

 

[heffneil]

I am originally from Baltimore MD and lived in De since 2001 and FL since 2007. I gotta say today makes me appreciate the last move the most!

Neil

 

[rieferman]

ha ha, neil, you **** My back is killing me.. wet snow, lot of weight to it this time around

 

[M-technik-3]

That's what a snow blower is for! Bought one after last year here in Mass and tell you what since I have bought it I have only had to use once this year. The terrible blizzard we were supposed to get here today has given us squat besides a dusting.

 

[heffneil]

We were in Delaware for the Xmas holidays and had a great time playing in the snow. I got to use the Deere 322 with the front plow to do my driveway and all my neighbors. This time I would have to switch to the two stage snow thrower. Man sometimes I wish I was there - as long as my equipment worked!

 

[DIYnotBUY]

man i thought the snow we got in Nebraska sucked that east coast **** you guys are getting now makes me appreciate how flat nebraska is and that its not 100 years ago when 10ft of snow was nothing!!

 

[Woogeroo]

As long as the roof holds up you should be good.

Nice picture.

Very cool barn.

-W

 

[Andy4639]

That is a nice deal. You saved some history and made good use out of what you had. My hats off to you sir! Great way to build a super garage.

 

[intimadatorsquizz]

wow that's turning out great. looking forward to seeing it in person. i love old building.

 

[rieferman]

Well, I was over at Jim's place last night (intimidatorsquizz) and got a burst of "need to get it done" as a result. (btw, you need to check his build thread).

And, Jack's recent recapping of his way-better-than-mine-will-ever-be space got me to thinking about a recap too.

So here goes.. the pics are ordered as the space actually flows.. from looking at the front, to walking into the exercise rooms / office, to walking into the workshop, to going into the woodshop/garage bay, to going into the shed.

(also, built some new shelves and a new workbench)

 

[rieferman]

and now the workshop area

 

[rieferman]

and now the woodshop / garage bay

 

[rieferman]

and now the shed area (this will be the end of the tour, please exit to your left)

 

[jeff51]

Your barn looks great! Thanks for the tour.

 

[intimadatorsquizz]

went to check out Bob's barn on sunday afternoon
WOW awesome job he did. it looks great a lot of hard work and for doing it by himself is even better. some of the work he did is unbelievable for someone new at construction my hats off to him for doing a excellent job bringing the old barn back to life.

 

[s_ontario]

Too bad you weren't closer to me i have more old barn beams some short hand hued beams 10-12'
and 4 36' 9x9 douglas fur beams

all stored inside

 

[Jack Olsen]

And, Jack's recent recapping of his way-better-than-mine-will-ever-be space got me to thinking about a recap too.

Ha! My garage would fit in one corner of your place. I'd trade in a heartbeat, if your barn wasn't bigger than my whole postage-stamp-size piece of land.

Of course, I'd probably paint your place green as soon as I got it.

 

[detsurt]

Dude, what a job. The photo is post 252 is awesome. I joined this forum just to see the pictures on your thread. Great build, great save, great work, keep it up!

 

[bsakal]

Great job Rieferman, I just stumble across this thread. I'm close by in King of Prussia, I drive by you alot on my way to my sister's, she's just up 113 about a mile past Gypsy Rose. I love it!

 

[Woogeroo]

I like the rocking chair section. A nice foot stool and a afghan blanket and it is seriously nap worthy.

Good job on the barn!

-W

 

[Mustanger]

Great job. Just read the whole thread in one sitting. Really like how you kept the bones of the old carriage house.

 

[Grizz1963]

Rain rain rain here in England.... so my teardrop build and other things are on hold.

Love to sit here and read up and again, love your whole project.

Thanks for the tour.

 

[rieferman]

wow, thanks for all the comments guys. I'm really happy with the "end" state right now.

Interestingly, and you won't believe this because I barely believe it myself, we might be putting the house on the market in the not-too-distant future. Therefore, all barn progress and planning has halted for now. We'll see.

I will promise though... if we move, I'll do another project

 

[Laredo]

thanks fellas!

here's what it looks like over here today... we're up to about 30 inches of snow

Awesome winter snow scene!! Love it!!

 

[tman74]

Great job man, Looks awesome!!! What a difference!!! Figures, sell it once all the work is done!!!!! It happens!! Just think how much better the next one will be!!!

 

[rieferman]

yeah, tell me about it. All that work, and we want to sell. I will say though, that we had the house on the market once before... and the reason it didn't sell was: roof was old, no central air, and that old rickety barn. Fixed all three things.

And yes, next shop will be great too. We'll see how it all goes. Need to find work first.

 

[Riverfarm]

Nice. No work is wasted.

 

[rieferman]

Thanks riverfarm

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Good ol' Jim (intimidatorsquizz) hooked me up yesterday. I needed to bend some flashing to properly waterproof the windows on one side of the barn (big rain storms = wet inside the barn = mad me). He has a metal brake, and knows how to use it. Taught me how (good skill to have), did all the measurements and figuring out with me, and drank a few beers with me. WIN.

Went home and rigged scaffolding so I could reach the area where the flashing was needed. Cut a slot above each window/door at an upward angle. The flashing slides into the slot and then comes down into the j-channel built into the window (someday when siding goes onto building, this all becomes a moot point, but for now, needed a way to keep rain from sneaking behind the builder's tab of each window). Got everything up and finished. Supposed to rain all day today. Hard. So we'll see if my solution is the right solution or not.

 

[Kevin54]

I'm having a hard time with the phrase "workshop area" and curtains


All kidding aside, the Barn looks great. Glad too see an old structure saved instead of torn down. What you have is a lot of character inside A lot different than 4 plain walls