Hello All –
Progress continues and the last of the old farms are on their way out in my area. It’s sad to see these old timber barns and out buildings go by simply being dozed into a hole and covered up. I have a lead on the salvage of a couple barns in the area and think it would be worth my while to check things out.
I have never torn down anything larger than a small out building or a deck, and in those cases was never concerned with keeping anything. With that said, I really do not know the best procedure for reclaiming that which can be recovered from these buildings so input in this area would be appreciated.
The basic procedure I was thinking of would be to start by determining, as best as possible, the construction and existing structural integrity. Next would be to remove all of the old siding and stacking. Then we would removed any internal pens or non-structural structures. As going on to any of these roof would not be wise I think next, working from the outside, we would loosen structural timbers with a chainsaw, sawzall, etc. After the structure is considerably weakened, we would pull the building down with a tractor or truck. At this point we would probably just discard the roof unless there was something worth the effort of reclaiming. Then further section off timber with cuts at ends and joints and then pull out the timbers and dimensional lumber with a tractor or truck and stack.
What will I do with this? Use for my own projects where it makes sense and maybe contact a broker/sales company and sell wholesale.
So, anyone with any experience or know-how in this area your input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Derek
Replies
...next, working from the outside, we would loosen structural timbers with a chainsaw, sawzall, etc. After the structure is considerably weakened, we would pull the building down with a tractor or truck.
you were doing fine till this point - - assuming these are pinned, timber framed barns, they are very difficult to 'pull down' -
best strategy is to take down in reverse order of assembly - that means getting the roof off - suggest you saw sheathing from eves to ridge in 2 or 3 runs on both sides - then pull sections of roof off - heavier boom truck works well - clear debris (it pays to keep the site tidy) and deal with the queen posts and purlins - I find these to be the most difficult...
brace the bents as necessary and then de-pin or cut loose each of the long sides and fell them out - disassemble them, remove the material from the way, and then lay each end out, disassemble and clear, then lay the internal bents down and it's flat on the ground -
dirty, dangerous work - be careful -
get a book or two on barns - I like 'The Barn' - 'A Vanishing Landmark in North America' - Eric Arthur and Dudley Witney - reverential overview - inspiring photos, good detail on assembly - mostly NE and midwest barns -
David -
Thanks for all of the input! If I am lucky, I'll have 'til spring to research this and plan, and if I'm not this will happen about Jan. 15th when it can be quite cold here. In any case, I plan on going to check a couple of these places out in the next week or so and take some pictures. Maybe I can post and you and others can comment?
I may be able to bribe (beer) a buddy of mine who runs a tree service into letting me use his large boom truck. So his boom has a bucket. Do you use a boom with a loader or crane setup?
I'll check out the book.
Thanks, too, to the others for the input. Sphere - post that pic if you find it.
Thanks,
Derek
couple of things, your boom truck should be a great boon <G> - always nice to have a skyhook - one of the worst offenders trying to get the roof off is the hay track - it ties the rafters together at the peak - disconnect it from one side or the other and you can pull rafter/sheathing assembly sections off with your tractor - (gawd, be careful)
If you have till spring, I'd suggest you do some hard thinking/marketing - stuff is heavy and doesn't weather well stacked - you say you have no intention of using it 'in its original form', but to reuse it otherwise is difficult to do elegantly - I attach a couple of picts (from 25 years ago - gawd, where does the time go!?) where I turned parts of three barns into a new sales room for the family business - by careful planning, I could reuse sections of framing and minimize the necessity of cutting new mortice and tenon joints - morticing seasoned hardwood is a bitch...anyway, best bet is to move the material from the site to the end use as best as possible - -
"there's enough for everyone"
Thanks, David (and Doug) for the replies and pictures. When I said "no intention of using it in its original form" I could have been more clear and said I do not plan on moving the structure and/or frame and reassembling. I have a couple of people interested in some of the stuff already; An UIL who's a builder, would like some barn siding for misc. projects and a fella I've done work for in the past is the founder of a Minnesota barn preservation and restoration society and has a list of people looking for certain items. Beyond those two sources, I have also located a company in Iowa and a company in Wisconsin that will purchase the raw salvage. Margins will be tighter with these two, but I will work the numbers and see if it makes sense (cents?).
Thanks again guys,
Derek
Check with the Timber Framer's Guild. They're always looking for material and may help take it down.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
A while back there was a thread here dealing with the use of explosives to blow the siding off of barns.
Check with junkhound if I remember correctly he had something to say about it.
Listen to Doud...he is dead on with his advice. Top down, and be careful...I have done this many times and can attest to the fact that the frame can be a lot stronger (or weaker) than first guess will tell ya..
I'll try to post a pic of one going down as we speak..it's up the hill from me..it got away and out of hand for the guy, and came down a bit too fast for him..quite the mess.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
drkru
I've done this a few times and as David D. and Sphere said, go in reverse.
The last barn I took down was all pinned together. I tore the roof off, it had corrugated tin on it. I tore that off and sold it for scrap, probably got gas money out of it but at least I didn't have to haul it to the dump and pay them.
Took all the siding off(vertical board and batten) saved all of it, probably have 5 to 7000 bd. ft. of some wood in fantastic shape. There were lean-to's on either side of the barn so most of the siding never had the direct hit of the weather.
I took all the board and batten off with nothing more than a cats paw. Stanley $4.99.
I was lucky enough to get the use of a farmers tractor with a bucket on it for a couple weeks. I would get the bucket high up as possible and tie off a section. Then I would drive the pins out, had to use cheap socket extensions to drive them out but in most cases they were still intact when they came out. I have a box of those things around, bet I only lost half dozen on the whole barn.
I then slowly dropped the section down to the ground and dismantled it there.
When I got to the last section, or should I say the last two, I had to support one while I dropped one. Then hook onto the other and drop it down.
I didn't have help for any of this. My girlfriend, now wife, came out and helped me do some of the clean up.
I also had a huge piece of culvert, maybe 8' diameter and 5 feet high. I used this as my burn barrel. every scrap of wood that I didn't want went into that. When I left that site there was nothing but a small pile of ash and the concrete footings. I didn't have to take them out.
I had a three month window in which to take it apart and remove it from the site. I did it at my leisure.
If I had a helper I'm sure we could have taken that thing down in a week, two at most. All the wood stacked and cleaned.
Doug
Hey, Doug, thanks for the reply.
I, too, will have the use of tractor, an old, but strong, Farmall H. I will also have two helpers along for the ride. All they want out of it is the experience and some barn siding - we'll see how long that holds out.
What did you do with the recovered lumber when you were done? It sounds as though you were carful as to preserve as much of it as possible. I have no intention of reusing any of the salvage in its original form, but do want to keep everything "long" as possible without spending too much time.
Thanks again,
Derek
Derek
My intention was to keep all the post and beams and reuse them. Maybe to use it on a house or a shop. That never came to pass, I stored the beams outdoors and never took good enough care of them. Thus they became fire wood.
All of the siding I still have. It is stored inside. Its in such good shape that I could probably use it for a board and batten house or shop if I wanted. Not really sure.
But since when did one need a use for something to stash it away. :)
While I was tearing this place down I had numerous people come by wanting to get a piece of timber in order to make a mantle. I think I sold 6 or 7 pieces about 6' to 8' long.
I have used some of the boards to replace backs of antiques and a few other things but I must still have better than 5000 bd. ft.
Doug