Barn Restoration

[Ranger Rick]

Ranger Rich, that is exactly what I have to do to the sill on the grade side. Why white oak, did you have that on site? I have the old house on site, but too close to the road for my liking to fix up. I can scavenge from it. Barn look great now.

From what I was told White Oak is naturally resistant to rot. I looked it up apparently White Oak has structures in the wood called tyloses in the pores of the wood that prevent moisture from getting into the wood. Since the sill is sitting on the ground or close to it you do not want it to rot away in your lifetime. I have gotten White oak from a local saw mill in our area. They do not have it all of the time and I had to order weeks ahead to get the size cut that I needed. Of course you could always look into using pressure treated wood but you may have a problem finding the size that you need for the sill and the posts to sit on. Ask at a full service lumber yard they might be able to get large treated timbers for you. Compare costs.
Rick

[MissouriSprayer]

Very cool project

[JamesHW]

We had to take down our Upstate NY mid 1800's 30' x 50' three bay English barn a while back after the big old Maple near it decided to drop a large branch on a corner. It was already in bad shape due to neglect over the years, despite friends and my efforts to get a hat back on it. So we salvaged what we could and purchased a second, slightly larger barn of the same vintage from nearby and have it stacked on our property.

The plan now is to put it up as a house for us in our old age, all sealed up with SIP's and all the mod cons. Since most of the sills on the purchased barn were bad, we will likely dispense with them, securing the frame on a modern foundation.

I have a restacking project due to be done soon (the beams are all well up off the ground on stacked pallets, separated by slats for ventilation and covered with tarps). Part of the project is to get accurate measurements of everything and treat all the wood with BoraCare, which makes it inedible to bugs (powder post beetles are the main issue I undertsand). But you still can't allow it contact with the ground for any extended period.

Thanks for posting, I'll be following any updtaes with great interest!

[deerseeker001]

Glad to see someone restoring an old barn. To many people ruin perfectly good barns by not keeping a good roof on them and ignoring painting them. In the late '70s and mid '80s I helped my dad rejuvenate barns on a couple of pieces of property he purchased (unfortunatly the 1890's house on one was beyond salvage).

We used several (10-12) screw type house jacks and large (8"x8" posts I believe), and over a period of several days raised one of them over 12" to dig new footings, pour concrete, and make new sill plates. The key is to not get in a hurry. As I remember start to finish on each took between 45-60 days.

Good luck on your project, and as always, work safely.

Ken

you see a lot of barns that could have been saved but just left till its to late in Wisconsin.

[whitedogone]

Why not jack it up where it is straight and level and then just cut a few inches of rot off the posts,studs, and braces? Then dig and pour a new foundation under it and set the barn on a standard 2x treated plate with some modern connectors.

[Raider43]

Why not jack it up where it is straight and level and then just cut a few inches of rot off the posts,studs, and braces? Then dig and pour a new foundation under it and set the barn on a standard 2x treated plate with some modern connectors.

there in lies the question. I have had that discussion and have heard that the Oak or another type of wood (can't remember what it is) is better than the pressure treated. Also depends on the finished look. I am planning on raising the structure anough to work, then fix the foundation (one side is at grade and the other as seen in the photo is about 3-4 feet up). I then have the choice of the 8"x8" beem or pressure treated sill plate 2x with conventional (newer) fasteners of some sort. I am not a builder, but it does not seem to complicated. Hardest part is getting it lifted and level without any further damage to the structure.

thanks,

[cotterd]

It really depends on the type of foundation you wind up putting in. The timbers used in old post and beam were intended to cary most of the weight at the point where a post landed, and the studs are really mostly there to nail the siding to on the outside (and lath inside if you're plastering). In such a barn you'll find a BIG rock under the sill where the posts are (especially at the corners) and then smaller stone piled between. A piece of pressure treated 2x12 will have less ability to bridge the unevenness of that point load. With a continuous (poured concrete or block) foundation the sill is supported all along its length.

Dave

[Fidler4]

I am in the middle of a long term project of replacing the foundation, sills, etc in an 1800s barn (30 x 60). The sills on much of the barn were replaced already with dimensional lumber that has rotted away. I'm replacing these with 8x12" beams on top of a new poured concrete wall at least 8" above grade.

Besides my BX24 the most useful tool I've had is Nick Engler's book "Renovating Old Barns". It covers everything from foundation to roof. Very hands on, clear and well illustrated. Good advice on options for jacking and shoring.

Dave

Thanks for the tip on the book. I got it from Amazon.com the other day and am almost finished reading it. It has some good info in it.

[Raider43]

I am back, last week my hydraulic jack failed to work. I am now looking at some screw jacks to continue with raising the barn. I kind of like the Ellis jacks that you put either a 4" or 6" post in to lift. Anyone have experience with how much weight I might be lifting? I have a two story barn, slate roof. Is 5 ton enough?

Raider

[Raider43]

Hello all,
just reviving this thread. I finally have cleaned out the barn from debri of the last 100 years. News papers from "1936" era (kind of cool). The floor has to be taken out and I need to set some new support posts.

Raider,

Photo's to follow.