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.