Loading ...That is the question! Perhaps I am getting a little ahead of myself! We have 4 barns, 1 was built after the Great Ice Storm of ’98 collapsed one of the older barns. The other three are Old and the subject of this post.
The main barn is in pretty good condition and is pretty important, this contains both our hay loft and our wood shed. We are also planning on it providing shelter for the jag, for the car during the winter, and we are considering building a chicken ‘coop’ within it.
Attached to the main barn is a smaller barn, which has been used as a storage space. It is pretty saggy, but also pretty full of stuff. Most of which we didn’t put in there. There are lots of old windows, doors, and siding. It seems to be one corner causing the trouble; one of the supports where it joins the main barn is now at quite an angle.
Then there is the large lower barn, this provides great shelter for our sheep, in fact it is far more room than our little sheep need. It looks really well put together with its big solid beams, but the foundations are cracking and it is gently falling forwards.
It would seem that the simpler option would be to take it down and maybe build a smaller, more practical barn. But, isn’t there always a but, swallows nest in it every year. While I was taking pictures I counted the nests and there are 9 intact swallow nests in there, and evidence of there having been many others in the past. I am loathe to make then homeless when they return in the spring.
It isn’t simply that I love to watch them swooping around, although I do, but in their swooping they are busy eating flies and mosquitoes, which is very welcome around here.
So we have these barns in varying states of disrepair, do we try to repair them or just take them down and use the materials for other projects?
If you get the replacements up in time, I suspect the swallows will move in and nest there. But it’s always a tough call; new structures never have the same character as old ones, and seem built with far less solid elements.
Comment by Michelle — October 18, 2009 @ 9:34 pm
HI Heidi,
From looking inside the lower barn it seems like a fairly simple construction frame wise. I can see peg holes but are there any pegs in the holes? If the foundations are moving then it may just be a case of fixing the foundations and probably just jacking up the frame level.
DO you have any more pictures of the one that you think is the problem that seems to be collapsing? If its anything like the other one in construction I think that it would definately be worth saving. COuld you take a picture to demonstrate how much the ‘lean’ is, maybe someone next to it, or better a vertical spirit level or best of all a plumb bob from the top going down to a ruler to indicate the degree of deflection.
It maybe a good idea to prop the small barn if the lean is as bad as you say it is with a solid timber of scaffold poles, or whatever. Also make sure that the roofs arent leeking, including around the eaves.
You dont need to renovate them all at once though, and you can always rent out space when you have it. They look like good structures. More pictures though please (including close ups), so we can look at more details. PLease take more of problem areas and also the state of the foundations.
Comment by Mike Dennis — October 24, 2009 @ 1:11 pm