Barn Tear Down on the Agenda
Last spring, when lumber prices were at an all time high, our family kinda fell into some good fortune with a barn. My mother had bought some additional property adjacent to her own and there was this old barn out there that had definitely seen better days. It needed to be torn down, and after some prodding and begging by me, she said get after it!
After I broke the news to my poor husband who really doesn’t like my salvaging nature, I grabbed my 15 year old and we all set out to save some really great old wood.
From the pictures below, you can see that we had a bit of a lean to deal with. Before I could let my boys climb on top, we had to add some bracing on the interior in the opposite direction. That wasn’t terribly difficult. We built a little temporary brace wall to hold everything up.
First Things First
As there were downed trees all around the barn, the first thing that we had to do was cut and move all of that stuff out of our way. That allowed us to back the big trailer up close, which was so much better for hauling it out of there! Kris grabbed the chainsaw and went to cuttin’ and Logan used those muscles of his to make quick work of clearing the area out. I decided to be the photographer and foreman during this timeframe. I made good use of my time directing traffic and taking lots of great pics!
Deconstruction; Careful Demolition
We do a great deal of demo in our work, and that is typically one of my boys’ favorite things to do! Usually they get to beat the heck out of stuff and tear it apart. ( Who doesn’t love that?) But, not this time.
In order to save all of the materials, we had to be pretty careful of how we took it all apart. I was on the inside (as high as I could reach, knocking the metal roofing up from the rafters. The boys, meanwhile climbed on top and began pulling nails and removing metal a sheet at a time. (I got the job of carrying them to the trailer and stacking them up while they were busy.
While they were pulling the roofing material, I also began pulling off the exterior sheathing boards (as high as I could reach anyway). Of course the more I pulled, the less structural integrity the building was able to maintain. I have to say, it worried me a bit the whole time, with my guys up there on top of it, but it held strong all the way through.
Just the Bones – Really Great Bones
When we got all of the exterior sheathing and roofing removed, you could really see how terrific this old wood was. I have no idea how long ago the barn was built, but I can tell you that it was back when a 2×4 was, in fact, 2 x 4! We could actually see the mill lines in the wood, which tells me it was really, really old. And, they are strong and tough and just really awesome wood! I was so excited! SCORE!!!
A Great Haul for a Great Day’s Work
When it was all said and done, it took us most of the day to get it handled, but we hauled off enough lumber and various building materials that we will be repurposing in other projects on the farm. Plus, it helped my mom out by getting the broken down old barn out of there before it killed any of her cows.
More to Come! Don’t Miss a Thing!
Upcoming, you will see a bunch of really terrific projects that we make with these materials. I couldn’t be happier! For more posts about farm building, check out Awe Inspiring Skills You Need to Love!
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