Tearing down one of my vintage barns...I hate to do it..

Ren the devils trailboss

Ren the devils trailboss

Joined
Feb 27, 2001
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I have three barns on my property. All were built with block and tackle and axe hewn logs and tounge and groove. Two of the three are in good shape but when I bought the property 13 years ago this barn was already listing to port..

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so my neighbor and I started the slow process of tearing her down. We are trying to preserve the wood and most definate the beams as they are made of solid maple or oak..massive trees cut out of Michigans forestland circa 1898 ( that is the date of the barn branded into a piece of wood in the other barn)

I will keep some of this wood but sell others...since I am outta work this may be a source of income for my haldol and lexapro...

anyway ..here are the other two barns on my property..

the feed barn..

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and the big barn..( I know I should fix the board missing but that is like 100ft in the air...:eek:

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might want to take the roof off first, so that it doesn't collapse on your head. Looks a little dangerous to me.
 
I don't know if it still holds true but a few years ago people were paying pretty good money for old barnwood to use for decorating inside their homes. You might have some pretty valuable wood there.
 
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Yep. I've seen it labeled as reclaimed and sold at a premium. People do it down here with the old dade county pine.
 
Mike Carter Custom Knives said:
I don't know if it still holds true but a few years ago people were paying pretty good money for old barnwood to use for decorating inside their homes. You might have some pretty valuable wood there.
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exactly what I was thinking. And we cannot tear the roof down first unfortunately..the structure is too unstable to get on the roof. We are carefully removing the lumber. Then we are going to cut a few crucial beams with a chainsaw and I am hoping to pull it down with my tractor and a chain.
 
Yeah, that's sketchy stuff- a fella could get hurt if he's not careful. We tore down an old Civil War era barn on our property a couple years ago- and it was tricky business. It was sad, but it had to be done. We pulled ours down with the tractor- that's definitely the way to do it. Just toss chains around the uprights and heave-ho! Do it a few times, even after the big collapse, until nothing is standing up anymore. Then work from the top of the pile down. Don't get inside a heap of that mess under any circumstances- my brother found that out the hard way- at one point, he found himself supporting a nice big section of the roof on his back- he's lucky he didn't get squished. He got beat up pretty good- but no permanent damage.
If you need to get at a certain piece, hook a chain up and pull it out with the tractor- a tractor is awesome for that type of work.

Have fun and stay safe!
 
Ren the devils trailboss said:
I have three barns on my property. All were built with block and tackle and axe hewn logs and tounge and groove. Two of the three are in good shape but when I bought the property 13 years ago this barn was already listing to port..

Barnpics003.jpg
Click to expand...


Not to be overly picky, but in that first pic the barn appears to be listing to starboard. :D

Be safe. Selling the wood seems a good idea.:thumbup::thumbup:
 
That old barn wood is worth a few bucks to the right people and you look to be going about it the right way.Use cable,and a long one at that when you hook the tractor to it,so your far away from the pile when it comes down.Before you get rid of it all,make sure you keep enough to repair what needs to be on the big barn.Is that a slate roof on the big barn?
 
Mike Carter Custom Knives said:
I don't know if it still holds true but a few years ago people were paying pretty good money for old barnwood to use for decorating inside their homes. You might have some pretty valuable wood there.
Click to expand...

You might want to do a bit of research on this. Who knows - have a company come out, pull down the barn, haul it away, and pay you for it.

Start with a google on "barn wood." Plenty of hits.
 
Ren...there's gotta be 10 barns around me that have gone down this year...

I'm jealous of the big barn BTW;)
 
Mike Carter Custom Knives said:
I don't know if it still holds true but a few years ago people were paying pretty good money for old barnwood to use for decorating inside their homes. You might have some pretty valuable wood there.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is still VERY true. It is quite a valuable resource.

Irritatingly, I cannot recall where I heard this, but there are groups of folks who will come out and tear it down FOR you, very carefully, because that wood is so valuable. You might want to Google about and look into this possibility. No use damaging anything valuable while tearing it down, when others might be anxious to do it for you.
 
There was a series on public television about British firms that demolish old buildings in return for a share of the materials.



I think this topic will fit better in Gadgets & Gear than Community Center.
 
This was the way we took one down a few years ago. First we cut all the major interior supports and then pulled them out. With just a bit of pressure we then collapsed it on itself. an application of flame took care of the rest...

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Hell that barn ain't going to fall over, I've been a thousand foot in the air on a lot shaker things than that.. Get up there and start from the top and take her down.......YMMV..
 
fyi, Ren, if you find out that barn has a lot of the old "cooper" nails (those old flat type), save them - they're popular at the antique shops here. You might be able to sell them to a dealer there if you find enough.

We've got an old barn on our property in NC that will probably have to come down soon. We hate the thought of doing that. :(

Good luck, and be careful.

thx - cpr
 
Post an ad, "Sustainable Hardwood" and all of the Green Industry will be proud you are flying the green flag of ecology. Get top dollar for that wood!
 
Nice! A hand-held metal detector, a good rotary planer, and you'll be selling those old timbers to Bohemian architects in no time! :thumbup:
 
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