BARNS 1

1730s

I write 1730s because no one really knows when these barns were built. I have three. But the Standish tales and town tax records lend to these dates.

The 1730 barn, the 1830 barn, and the 1860 barn; I'll drop the possessives right now.. The 1730 and 1860 are joined. The 1830 is separate. It is referred to as "The Tractor Shed." It had the skeleton of an old tractor when I first saw the property in 2012, and said machine was removed at my request as a part of the property transfer.

If you want to get technical, go back to the beginning of this blog; one of my first tasks after buying the place was to clean out the household garbage piled in each barn (as well as the greenhouse, shop and garage), then to stabilize the buildings. I knew my main object was to make the house livable and to get it refinanced, so the outbuildings would have to get the short shrift. Stabilize, then restore.

One of my neighbors, apparently watching more closely than I expected, smiled at me in a local store.

"See you're restoring the old barns on the Izbicki place."

I nodded.

"You're doing it right, a little at a time."

I don't know if it was right, but as always, I have no money, a lot of sweat labor, some tools and experience, and an expectation of what is needed to save old structures. And though I have time, it comes in tiny dribs and drabs.

So let's see how it went....

So far.

A little synopsis. Music, maestro...

First view, 2013

 Removing garbage, realizing it needed some shoring so it wouldn't collapse.

Also realized the big barn was TWO barns.

The 1860 barn had a bit of a roof problem. A bit of a RAFTER problem, in fact. Which meant the other side of the roof was about to collapse. I would shore it and remove this part. Good practice for what was to come.

 More shoring, this time the front wall. Rafters with eight layers of roofing caused the wall to move out. No joists, either. Cause and effect.

 Shroring the 1730 barn. Sheesh.

Life throws curves, old barns do too. I had already removed most of the garbage from the milking floor of the 1860 barn here. Opened a few old windows, too.



I'm sure my two readers have already seen all these pics, as they were posted years ago, but I hope for a few new readers someday. Besides, it's important to show you this so you get some perspective on what's going on now. Go on! KEEP READING!!

I soon realized I had a disaster on my hands. The frickin' SHINGLES were holding the barns together. Twenty nails in each. Good thing? Maybe. I did some engineering to maintain the front wall, moving out at an incredible rate. See the big 2x10 at the eave? It's not for decoration.

 I drilled holes and put two big x10s with gigantic eyebolts through them, then brought out my 2-ton come along to keep the front wall from going down. It would have brought down the entire structure.

 View from the loft of the 1860 barn, looking at the 'cleaned' floor of the 1730 barn. The 1730 barn was used to store hay, the 1860 barn for milking cows.

I wouldn't know this for almost six more years.

Most of this furniture burned nicely. All, in fact, except for the chair in the lower right.

I strung lights to work in the early dark of winter. What a dweeb. The 1860 barn is now secure and the 1730 barn will not collapse. Yet.

 I set up staging to cut out the failing roof in three by three sections (it had eight roofs plus cedar shakes), then cut out the failing front wall the same way. Trust me, vertical is easier than angled horizontal when it comes to one-man demo.

 Took a while.

Ahh. THAT'S better.

Late 2017.

Little liar! 2017 was BITCH of a winter.

 Still used the staging to reinforce the old walls with anything that would hold them together. And didn't cost anything.

 Section of removed roofing. Headache! Two hundred pounds, mates. Thirty or forty of these. Fun to remove with one hand.

 Same inside.

 Reinforce the wall, which, let's face it, is ancient split barnboard with horizontal trees for framing.

Hurricane braces that wouldn't withstand a strong breeze had to be temporarily reinforced.

Especially without a front-wall plate.

 Geez. Why do I do this shit?

 Brace the standalone corner two ways. No. Three ways.

 A gift from the Farm. I often get these. Three two-inch wide southern yellow pine boards that, when screwed together with staggered joints, will form the plate I need to join the two barns and to support the 1730 barn roof. They seep a LOT of sticky sap each summer.

The barn ready for sleep, late 2018. I had set it aside for the refinance and expected to take it up again in late winter.

Cleaned up, January of 2019. Time to get to work again.