I found a barn

[PA Fire Bug]

I cleared all of the limbs off of the old barn. The building is in worse shape than I realized and it is sad to see it left to waste. I'm glad that it was leaning away from me so that it wouldn't fall on me if it fell over.

 

[Dataman]

Just needs a little TLC. Paint and some matches.

 

[firefighterjake]

As Dataman inferred . . . I think that the barn is more like the start of a really big bonfire.

 

[brenndatomu]

As Dataman inferred . . . I think that the barn is more like the start of a really big bonfire.

Those old barn timbers make excellent firewood! My neighbors barn burnt and he let me cut up what was left of the framing timbers...nothing like 150 year seasoned firewood!

 

[TreePointer]

I'd be interested to see if there's enough good wood there for a lumber salvage company to make an offer.

 

[johneh]

Even if the board s are bad or not enough to salvage
The framing is and a salvage company may give you
a few dollars for it . Don't let it go to wast it is history

 

[peakbagger]

It looks past the point where a salvage firm would be interested in it. In order to salvage a barn, the structure need to be stabilized to make safe to disassemble it. Do it wrong and the whole thing ends up on the ground with injured folks. That said there are some special cases where valuable woods are involved. Some old barns were made with whatever species was available. If the beams are chestnut, oak, cherry, walnut, cypress or tight grained softwoods then its potentially worth trying to salvage a few beams.

The normal approach for that method is just push it over and pick through the pieces.

 

[therealdbeau]

A little duct tape and she'll be right as rain

 

[Bad LP]

Caulk and paint make it what it ain't.

 

[Hogwildz]

I'll take some of the beams if you are junking them. I am looking for some for my remodeling project.

 

[weatherguy]

I've seen some barns like that and people have restored them, not sure if that one's salvageable from the picture but maybe.

 

[peakbagger]

A barn in that condition is not restored, a new barn is built incorporating a few pieces of the old one in the new barn. Once the roof is gone, they deteriorate quick and that roof is long gone. Water gets in the joints and rots out the important parts. A joint does not need much strength in compression but a rotted joint will usually fail in tension. Once the skin is stripped off the structure which is required to disassemble or rebuild, all the joints are under potential tension due to racking and the only hope is put them all back under compression by putting in lots of cables, bracing and scaffolding and then slowly start at the top and work down . Few farmers are interested in a restored old barn as they do not fit well with modern farming equipment and take up space plus they have to pay taxes.

Years ago This Old House did a so called "barn conversion" on a barn in far better shape than that pictured. It turned into a big ad for Ted Benson's timber frame business. They salvaged a few bits and pieces but they were only used for trim. Subsequently I heard from a few timber framers that it was standard business practice to get their foot in the door by saying that they could restore a barn and once in with the owner end up starting from scratch with a new project. It made sense, they could get several months of work fabbing the new structure in their shop under cover with heat and then field erect it at the site in a week or two.

I was helping a friend erect a timber frame barn at the same time TOH was doing their project on TV. My friend and his son had precut all the complex joints and beams in advance. We took three weekends to assemble the frame and get a roof on it and did it without a crane. We didnt wear black and white suits but it was darn close to Amish style. Everything went up with only manpower and block and tackles. We cut in diagonal bracing as we went and used bits and braces to drill the holes that received hexagonal oak pegs that my friend had cut over the winter. We had a lot of temporary straps and bracing in order to erect the building and we were working with new materials.It was about 30 years ago and with the exception of one carpenter ant invasion due to some flashing that went bad, the rest of the barn is in perfect condition and I expect barring a fire its going to be around long after I am around.

I was aware of a project in Vermont where the stereotypical real estate lady from NYC bought an old farm property with barn on it. She hired a few locals who talked a good story to disassemble the barn. They didnt do anything for months and finally went at it when she complained enough. I drove by one week and they had started stripping the siding and a week later there was a pile of rubble where the barn had collapsed because they didnt know what they were doing. The lady from NYC made a lot of noise about suing but in order to sue someone they need assets and the locals sure didnt have any. Not sure if they were all named Daryl (a nod to the Newhart show )

 

[kennyp2339]

My neighbors barn burnt and he let me cut up what was left of the framing timbers...nothing like 150 year seasoned firewood!

hopefully you got the slightly used fire wood discount

 

[brenndatomu]

hopefully you got the slightly used fire wood discount

I did! And some of it was even "pre-charred"

 

[Ashful]

Those old barn timbers make excellent firewood! My neighbors barn burnt and he let me cut up what was left of the framing timbers...nothing like 150 year seasoned firewood!

Part of my barn framing and siding (ca.1770 timber frame) was charred pretty badly. Very localized to one area, likely a wood stove mishap, long ago. Most of that damage was covered in the conversion to heated shop, but since I’ll be out there today, I’m going to have to see if any of it is still exposed. Some of the structural beams removed to make way for an interior second floor were re-used for posts.

Peakbagger is spot on, it’s all in the joints, keep them under compression. The only failing joints in my current barn, as well as my two prior barns (both mid 1800’s) were the few that were under tension. And once there’s just a bit of rot in that joint...

 

[bfitz3]

... Not sure if they were all named Daryl (a nod to the Newhart show

Nope. I know that crew. The foreman is named Larry.

 

[Ashful]

My little barn fire evidence. Might be 200 year old damage. The wall board covered most of it, but half of one post is still visible. I placed the cleaner post myself, reused from a beam removed from another part of the barn.

You can see where I dusted away the sawdust for the photo. [emoji3]

 

[PA Fire Bug]

I'd be interested to see if there's enough good wood there for a lumber salvage company to make an offer.

That's a great idea. I'll mention it to the owner the next time that I see him. It may be a while since everything is wet and muddy again. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[shoot-straight]

while driving up to harrisburg, i passed several barn reclaimation businesses. business is good, i certainly would make a few calls. they sell that lumber for big bucks.

 

[jaoneill]

There is a company here locally that dismantles old barns strictly for the lumber. They de-nail and re-saw it for re-use, primarily in cabinetry; needless to say it makes very expensive lumber.

 

[peakbagger]

About 15 years ago I had a big industrial warehouse built in the around 1910 that the owner wanted to come down. It had concrete walls. It had a warehouse on the main floor with lots of posts that were in the way of forklifts but there was an entire second floor and roof all framed out in mostly old growth northern softwoods from the companies sawmill. Not big wood by western standards but big and tight grain for the northeast. The first floor wood was beat but the second floor deck walls and framing and the roof framing was mint. Unfortunately the roof decking had asbestos containing asphalt so the claim was it wasn't worth saving so that would get taken off by seperate contractor and hauled to the companies landfill, The owner wanted it gone and a new widespan warehouse put on the existing footings. I had a price to pull the roof and called about 10 firms that claimed they salvaged wooden structures. Of the ones that called back only one or two of them had a clue and I wasn't impressed with the professionalism, they were all just scrambling to make a buck and when I asked them how much they would pay for the wood they said they would have to come look and never showed up. Maybe there now are reliable professional firms that do this type of work but I couldn't find them. This was a 100' by 275 foot building so there was a lot of wood.

The owner went bankrupt and the warehouse is still in use by the latest owner of the facility that is teetering on bankruptcy.

 

[kversch]

Nock her down and Salvage what You can. Its amazing what people do with repurposed wood