Day 65: Added support



Work on the northwest corner continues. In order to tie the old to the new a steel bracket was put into place to make sure the two will hold together. If the materials were both new the two pieces of timber could have been pinned with wooden dowels as the original timbers were connected.  

Support Bracket

The boards on the barn were falling off as the hole in the photo above will attest to. A lift was brought in so the workers can lean in and renail the boards.

Lift used to secure siding.

more work

Day 64: Work on the west and north walls

Because I wasn't there I really don't know how this photo was gotten. The light pattern is fantastic. What it does show is the west end of the barn still has a few boards that need to be replaced. That is the large areas of light. My guess is someone climbed a scaffold

Light Pattern
 

The photo below shows more work on the timber that holds the northwest corner. In earlier posts this whole area is open to the sky. Now it has a new timber and roof and roof boards in place.


New Header Beam






 

Day 63: Fixing the bad corner

Well it was mentioned some time ago, but the fourth corner, the northwest , had some real issues. The corner was so badly rotted that part of the corner post didn't exist any more. Below you see the cut away of the timber near the base. It's amazing that the corner still stood. That's a testament to how well the barn was crafted.

 



Center of old beam

Well, the corner must be fixed. a new timber is put in place so once again the corner can carry its share of the weight.

New beam lashed in place

Day 62: More about the roof

The roof work continues. Of special interest to me in this photo is the bow in of the wall. The bow was larger, but Roger was able to pull it back to a 16" deflection in. But the rafters have been built out so visually the bow should be a little less noticeable.

Roof overhang

Now to a photo similar to one you'll see often. The light coming through the separation is just too hard to resist and not put up again and again. But there is a good reason here and that is the opening at the peak of the roof. When the roof is complete it will look the same. Roger is planning to put a transparent cap on the roof which will let more light into to second floor of the barn. That added light should be of great help during the day. Also it might create some interest with the lights on in the black of the night.

Peak of roof

Day 61: The new roof continues

Building or in this case rebuilding does, as oft mentioned here, have to fit in between the rain drops. Friday was a rain out. It's kind of hard to work in the rain, but on a roof with a 34 degree pitch it's absolutely dangerous. So today the work continued as the sun shone. Here you see the purlins almost all in place on the south side. But what of more interest to me is how you can tell the difference between the wood nailed down on Thursday and what was done today. Notice the west quarter or so, the purlins are a few shades darker than the rest. All of this lumber was off the same load. That is the effect of rain and sun over just three days.

Two toned roof

Now a look at how much the barn is being moved back into place. The gap between the stone wall and wood sill will evidentially be filled with mortar. But for now the gap shows how the barn has been moved.

"Hole" in the wall

Day 60: More Roof Work

The roof will take some time to tear apart and put back together so it can be finished. So we may have a few too many days talking about the roof, but we'll try to keep it interesting and informative.

North side with roof stripped

Here is the south side with some of the new boards put in place to help fix up weak spots in the roof structure. It is not noticeable yet, but one on the things that will be done is straighten out the front edge of the barn roof. The wall still has a bulge to the south, but the roof can help that look better by being straight.

Rebuild work started

Day 59: Roof Work

Today the roof removal continues. The roof with shingles removed looks pretty good. There will be a lot of work to get the structure ready to be covered. Adding to the mix is the fact that what will go on the roof has yet to be decided. It will probably be a steel cover, but what is yet to be decided is how we will put solar panels on top of the steel. There are at least two ways with at least two types of panels. Roger said that it will take some time after the shingles are removed to make the roof structurally sound enough to put even steel panels.

Clean slate

This is a close up of the roof. It's a little blurry, but gives an idea of what the structure looks like.

Loose pieces left for clean up tomorrow

Thanks to Bill Esch for the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 58: The New Season Begins (at last)

Spring has finally arrived in the Thumb area. The sugar beets, delayed almost a month in planting, were all, but all planted last week. If you look back to the last posting you get a vague idea of how wet it was. With the barn area drying off, Roger and the boys finally got here and got started this morning. With the new season comes a new load of wood that will be used in places for repair.

New load of fresh lumber

The roof, is in desperate need of repair is being torn to the rafters. There are two layers of asphalt shingles over top of cedar shingles. That means the barn is indeed old. Tearing the roof off leaves the building open to the elements.

The old roof is leaving
 

The next photo is one of those that just begs to be posted. It gives a sense of what it is like when there is a "hole" in the roof.

Striking light

And finally with the roof uncovered the new floor mentioned in earlier posts needs some kind of cover from the elements. Some tarps will do just nicely.



Tarp covering the new floor

 

 A special thank you to Roger and Bill for providing the photos today. I'm not there because of the death of Wanda's father, the Rev. Stanley C.F. Hayes, on 6 May 2013.





Day 57: A New Season About to Begin

Well the new construction season is about to begin. Roger stopped by today to get measurements of the roof and check the rotten beam in the northwest corner. Those two things you can see a lot of in the last few days of the last season. Roger was wondering when I thought he should start. I told him that I didn't care if he didn't show up for 2 or 3 weeks. There is still some frost in the ground and it's still very muddy. Besides that, it started raining while talking to Roger.

North wall in the mud

Two highlights of the photo are, all the water and mud, and the big gap between the barn and the barn grade. This is the gap that was mentioned in an earlier day. There will be some reinforcing put in place before dirt is put in to back fill the space. Then it will be sculpted to meet the barn and give access to the second floor.

West wall

The west wall will be torn out in a few weeks. I put the photo in because I like the 'stair step' effect the light, through the cracks in the block, makes. It also tells a bit of the story as to why the wall needs fixing.

The roof will be important part of the next phase. Plans call for a metal roof with solar electrical panels mounted on top to provide some of the electrical needs of the farm. Our daughter, Liesl Clark, and her consulting firm, 5 Lakes Energy, are providing possibilities for the roof mounted solar electrical panels.

Day 56: Season is over

Boy did I get a surprise this noon. After discussing several issues yesterday, Roger said he'd be calling it a season by Friday. Well I saw Roger in the parking lot behind Main Street Cafe and Bakery this noon. I had an item for him. He said when he got that done, they were done until spring. It just doesn't make sense to keep going because so much depends on the replacement of the west wall and fixing the roof.

Now we'll take one last 'walk' around the barn. Here is the south wall with its three new piers. The two 4x4s are on jacks helping to hold part of front wall in place. Something will have to be done with them. Also the yellowish brown spot in the center of the stone wall is an area that needs to be built in. Years ago I covered that opening with translucent panels. What you can't tell from the photo, the door to the right closes and latches. It hasn't been able to do that for years.

South side

Next the west wall is the area that will have much of the work next season. Notice all of the boards that are missing. Yesterday's photo shows the wall from the inside with the light shining through. Given some other holes the barn had, these really don't look too bad. If you look closely at the left most missing board. That's a fresh break. So its high time all the boards are nailed or re nailed.


West side

The north side probably has the most change and seems the least left to do. There's the new piece of wall and the new doors in an area that was wide open on Day 1. Of course the roof will be redone, but what you cannot see is how much work the barn grade needs to have done to it. There is a section of grade missing out from the barn about 10 feet where the rest of the grade continues. The hole will need to be filed so the grade can be used. Also the grade needs some retaining work done to it.

North side

And now the side that seems the most complete, the east end. Of course the area in front will be cleaned up which will make it look different. Also the door I built so many years ago on the lower right will be replaced. Remember back to earlier posts, the interior wall was raised and the door will need to be rebuilt to fit. If you look closely you can see into the barn along the bottom of the door.

East side

There are probably more things that could be shared, but the season is done. It'll probably be sometime in March, two months or so from now (weather permitting) when the work begins again.

Day 55: Season nears the end

Today Roger and I discussed several items that needed to be resolved. We'll mention them during this, the last week of the 2012 season. In the agricultural area weather is a big part of the mix and usually the final arbitor of what can be accomplished. The mild beginning to the winter would make one believe work could still be done, but it's better after awhile to not fight mother nature so we'll be done with work for now.

Rotten timber

 The rotten upright timber will be the point of concentration for the next season, starting in 8 or 9 weeks. There is a timber from another barn lying under the pile of material by the west wall. As noted in an earlier blog, the west stone wall will be removed and a poured wall will replace it. We hope the cement forms will make the cement give the impression of stone.

West wall of second floor

 I like this photo because of the lighting, but it serves more than that. It shows some of the holes that will be filled with boards from other barns.

Protection for the weak corner

And finally this photo that has blue tarp covering the corner area that has the rotted timber. Also what is not noticeable in the top photo shows up here as blue streaks in the roof. There is much of the roof that has holes in it that will need to be repaired.

But the first thing that will be done in the spring is the shingles will be torn off the roof. One of the things we are looking at is putting solar panels on the roof to supply some electricity to help power the barn.

Day 54: Bottom Floor Post

Today we look at the bottom floor's layout, but first a look at a 'timber.' When the work is complete these two 2x10s from down below will look like other timbers. For that matter, when the flooring is put in place it will look like a timber from on top.

When is a timber not a timber

Now back to the issue of the day, the bottom floor's basic layout. If you look back to Day 51 you'll see aisle one which includes that braced timber you see to the left here. Aisle two, seen here, is a straight shot east to west. There's about 16 feet between the timbers in the row and 10 feet between the rows of timbers.

Aisle two

Below is aisle three. It's not much different in look than aisle two.

Aisle three

And at last the new north wall and aisle four.

Aisle four

Don't worry about the wood in the fore ground. That's the back of Roger's trailer. I couldn't get a photo from the east door without including it. What I'm trying to work through is that in the old layout that post center left didn't exist. Also most of the rest were in slightly different places which "seemed" to make the barn more roomy. The reality is the total square feet of the barn hasn't changed. We'll just have to work with the new layout.

Day 53: First work day of new year, but still on last season

We have tried to salvage and reuse as much lumber as possible in refitting the barn. As noted in an earlier blog, floor boards from the center section would be lifted and used in the east section with the center getting a whole new floor. Well more new lumber will be required to finish the east because existing lumber was in worse shape than first thought.

Need a hole in the floor

We need a hole going between the upstairs and the down just about in between the end of the second and third timber which will in part match the one on the other side of the center section. That hole you can see below a little off center right.

Original chute to the main floor

The two holes in the floor allow material such as loose or baled hay or straw to be easily pitched down to the first floor for use with animals from the storage on the second floor.

Added bracing

In an earlier post the bracket at the center of this photo was mentioned. Near the beginning of  the work the joints of this timbers were soaked with water. The moisture allowed the timbers to be moved around a bit without breaking because of being brittle from drying out over the years. The timbers were adjusted to square up the barn. To help this timber hold into the future this bracket was crafted to fit and hold the timbers and keep them from slipping apart. There are other timbers treated in this manner. To the center right along the timber going into the center of the barn is a vertical timber that was added to help shore up the roof. You'll also notice the turn buckle and steel cable that runs from one side of the barn to the other which also helps hold it all together. The barn is old and somewhat brittle. Therefore, assists like we see here and other types used in the barn, will help the barn stand another 50 - 100 years. At least that is what Roger says. And because it's very probable that neither of us will be here to see it, we all just have to believe it will. I have no reason to doubt Roger based on the work he has done.