Rebuilding an old barn room

[kj3]

I have this barn with thick log walls and on one exterior side there is a room that is in complete disrepair. Since it protects one of the log walls I need to continue protecting that but rather than just pull it down and then cover the logs I figure I would be better off to have a new 10x20 room that is lockable in case I want to store a few tools in there or at least have a weather proof space since the rest of the barn roof is leaky.

Here's the beginning picutres:

pretty rough shape but I don't mind a challenge. Check out the stone foundation pier.


interior


Logs in the old barn wall are about eight inches thick, wish I could identify the wood with certainty. I believe they date to between 1830 and 1870. Found inside: old sheep sheers, scythe blade, barrel hoops and staves and a lot of manure


inside view of the long wall


wide view, the room is 20' long

 

[jimmysisson]

It's seen better days, for sure. What kind of use would you make of a new space there? Drive equipment in, or something with a framed floor? What kind of building g codes for Ag buildings do you have? I'd for sure want the covered space.

If for tools etc, build right over those old piers, if the others are as good as the one pic. For 20 feet you'll want one in the middle of the span. Maybe a lower long wall to increase the roof pitch. Main task is flashing at the edges. Fairly simple job, depending on what you want when done.
Jim

 

[kj3]

After some measurements and sketches I came up with a basic list of materials. You can tell the floor was partially collapsing in the second picture above, it appears that probably animals spent time in there for some period and I found the floor joists were 8" logs in fair shape on the ends but a few looking like clay in the middle. Thanks to some of the other build posts on here I figured that the 10' span for the floor should use 2x8 joists. But I'll have to notch the ends. For the floor I'm going to use 2x4s from my free source of pallets (HT)


Chainsaw every two feet reduced the floor quickly into a burn pile.


old joist broken


Once the planks were off I find mostly square nails and about half are decent enough to be used again for light work.


Ran a string at level to gauge the new floor.


Over 100 years and the foundation log is still level, someone did a good job in their time.


Here you can see how the original joist were notched to key into the main building. I have to repeat this with the new joists. If you open the picture fully you can make out the 2" wooden peg holding this log into the wall. Every 3rd or 4th joist was done like that so I had to hand saw the pegs to remove them.


The logs that were in fair shape I dropped out of the way, maybe they can be used for some non-structural use.

 

[kj3]

Jimmy, with five other large doors I use those spaces for the tractor, implements and winter storage for the camper. This will end up with a man size door or two I can use more for things to be under a new roof with no leaks. Probably will run electricity to it next year and maybe water then be able to work on future projects.

 

[farm boy00]

Jimmy, with five other large doors I use those spaces for the tractor, implements and winter storage for the camper. This will end up with a man size door or two I can use more for things to be under a new roof with no leaks. Probably will run electricity to it next year and maybe water then be able to work on future projects.

I would do a smaller door. Maybe like 5ft slider door? ? If your making the room lockable you may want to store things that are bigger then a man door. Just my opinion

 

[kj3]

Well there's a kink in the plan.

One of the beams has pulled away from the main structure and I need to pull it back in. Being at a corner there isn't a way I see to get at the end of this beam easily and pull it. I tried pushing the other end with the tractor but it is higher than the bumper so not much good.

Its held up by a 9" block so I made a temporary support for this floor beam and cut a new 4x6 to swap in. To pull the beam back I drilled a half inch hole through the beam down into the 4x6, dropped a foot of rebar in so they are locked together and then a couple of 8 x 1/2 lag bolts through the 4x6 to draw the combination into place. The 8" length I felt would give enough distance into the endgrain of the main wall and support this corner of the room. It all went well until the top bolt snapped just shy of the threads! Well over an inch needed to get the beam against the wall and the 4x6 vertical.

At minimum I probably need to get the headless bolt out someway and possibly replace it with something better so I'm open to ideas here.




Plan A


the old


the new


The oops


Still have a lot of gap

 

[kj3]

Checking back in, the weekend I was able to work the broken lag bolt out and replace it. Saw a suggestion on the internet to lube the threads so I did that and got the 4x6 squared up to the corner with the 1/2 inch rebar holding the beam to it. Will post some pictures later.

Now starting with the floor joists.

Is it a problem that I have to notch the ends down to about 4"?

 

[aczlan]

I would use joist hangers on your joists, then it won't matter how much you notch them.

Aaron Z

 

[Cord]

Don't use lag bolts, instead use the new timber screws. They go in easier, don't need to be predrilled and you won't snap one off.

 

[kj3]

Don't use lag bolts, instead use the new timber screws. They go in easier, don't need to be predrilled and you won't snap one off.

Thanks Cord. I used those on a different project and they worked well. In this case I was using the bolts with washers against the 4x6 to pull the beam back to the building with the rebar linking both. I see those screws come in 10" and if I didn't get the beam closer then I'd have had to use a 6x6 for support which would give only 4.5" of screw into the end of a 100+ year old log. Do you think what would have been enough? Maybe using 3 or 4 of those?

Aczlan, that is always a great Heinlein quote