And Now For The Barn

7 October 2016

With a fair bit of "stuff" still being stored in the house, it's time to turn our attention to the barn. I'm hoping we can use most of it for storage. I'm also looking at it with an eye toward restoring it to it's original functionability (is that a word?). A restoration of the barn would definitely come after the house is done (will we ever actually be done?)

After poking around for 30 to 40 minutes, it's crystal clear that there are a lot of things wrong with the barn. It has suffered from decades of careless use, neglect, and temporary patch repairs.

The sill beam (8" x 8" cedar) and bottom ends of some vertical posts are thoroughly rotted at the front left side.

The sill beams at this corner have completely rotted away, allowing the vertical post to settle down onto the stacked stone pier.

This sill beam is also completely gone.

There are also tilting, crumbling, and bulging foundation walls. At some point in time the original stacked stone wall here was pulled down and replaced with this cinder-block wall. This was done at two areas under the main barn level.

This corner of a stone wall has started to fall apart, probably due in part to the work done to put in the block wall. The stone wall was made with a gravel/mud mix used for mortar.

There are also cracked and rotted sill beams above the lower level that support the main level floor.

This beam is part of the floor directly below the back door of the barn. There is not enough roof overhang here to protect the doorway from rain. So this is what you get. Just a word of advice here based on my experience repairing doors and windows, jambs and sills, and what I've seen on this house and barn. If you want your windows and doors to last without diligent maintenance, make sure there is enough roof overhang to keep them dry. At least through all but the worst rain storms. 

There are horizontal beams in the structure of the lower level that support vertical beams of the main level and the rest of the barn. This is what you can get with no direct vertical load transfer. The arrow points to the bottom of one of the vertical posts on the main level.

And this is what that post looks like from the main level.

Here's a couple of examples of the repairs that have been done.

It's amazing the barn is still standing actually. So... I think that first I will resist the impulse to knock it down and sell the salvageable lumber, despite a very strong market right now for reclaimed old barn wood. Instead I will try to brace and support where I can. I dare not try to move anything. No telling how or where the weight for this old barn is being carried, and I don't want to find out right now. After a little research, it appears that there is a lot of interest in saving and restoring old barns in the north east. Down here in North Carolina, not so much. I did find one company based in NY that will give us a ballpark estimate based on pictures and descriptions, just so we'll have an idea.