Saturday, September 20, 2014

My Summer Barn Project: Part 6

As the summer passed the barn repairs slowly came together.  The photos in this post encompass a month's work.
 
 

 

 


Tuesday, September 09, 2014

My Summer Barn Project: Part 5

With the broken floor joist replaced, my attention turned to rebuilding the supporting wall that had previously rotted away and rebuilding or reinforcing the two end walls.  As the barn was originally built the joist beam's longest unsupported span was twelve feet, however when the supporting wall had rotted away the beams then spanned nineteen feet, much too far to safely support the floor load normally associated with a working barn.
 







Tuesday, September 02, 2014

My Summer Barn Project: Part 4

Frank and Elaine posted questions on Part 3 that I will answer here.  I do not know when the barn was originally built but from the stories related to me by my grandfather I would assume that it was somewhere around 1920.  My grandfather and grandmother purchased the farm in 1927 and the buildings were relatively new.  According to Granddad's stories there was an earlier house and barn sitting to the east of the current buildings.  The original buildings were razed with parts of them used in the construction of the current buildings.  Granddad noted on occasion that some of the log beams from the old barn had been reused in the current barn.  If that was the case some of the logs would be well over a century old.

I began the barn project the first week of June.  The photos in part one were taken at that time.  The photos for part two and three were taken over the next three weeks.  The photos in part four were all taken on June 28.  This was a day when some family and a friend gathered to give me a hand with building and hanging the replacement beams.  Thanks to Willard, Justin, Paul, and the occasional inspection by my lovely niece Amy, the day ended with all of the new beams built and secured in place.