Reclaimed Wood?

[El Wood]

I'm finishing up my pole barn and thinking about what kind of finishing to put on the inside. I was originally going to just drywall it but I think that will be boring. Another thought was to use rough sawn cedar boards.

I was talking to a friend and he mentioned reclaimed wood from old barns. I went on Craigslist and found lots of listings. One guy had a large supply for $2.95 / sq ft.

Has anyone used this type of material? Is it easy to use? Any advice? I have 12 ft ceilings and plan to put up 12' by 6" boards vertical across the wall. I might do the ceiling too.

 

[KennyG]

My thoughts are it would be heavy dark and expensive. White steel liner panel will cost about $1.00 per square foot.

 

[mark02tj]

The reclaimed barnsiding will be really pretty if done right, but $3/sq ft. is a lot more cost than drywall. A piece of drywall is 32 sq ft (4x8) so you're looking at $96 for the barnsiding vs. $8.98 for a piece of 1/2" 4x8 drywall at Home Depot to cover the same amount of area. So it depends on how fancy and expensive you want your pole barn.

I just had a "harvest table" made out of old white oak barn wood for my better half. They left a lot of the imperfections in it and just finished it with tung oil. The top is a single piece of 18" wide x 8' long. This thing is absolutely gorgeous! The place that made it for me also sells the old barn wood to use as flooring. Again, it's gorgeous, but expensive.

 

[oosik]

Many, many years ago I had a contractor who would tear down an old barn on my property just for the value he could get for the old barn wood. It was sided with 1" x 12" ponderosa pine. I later found out that he used it in a rec/party room in a very large, very expensive house he was building. In this part of the world most barn lumber is used almost exclusively as an interior decorative wall covering and not to rebuild a barn. Its just too high in value to use on another barn. Ha, ha, later that same contractor came by and gave me $750 for the wood he got - so you can imagine how much it must have really been worth.

 

[El Wood]

Think I'll stick with drywall!! Been calling around and checking on prices. The last guy I talked to said his price is 5.00 sq foot. I'm going to need about 3,000 sq ft. $15k!!! Ouch! Not gonna happen.

Maybe I should quit my job and get into the reclaimed wood business. Man, what a mark up on some that's recycled!!

 

[/pine]

Think I'll stick with drywall!! Been calling around and checking on prices. The last guy I talked to said his price is 5.00 sq foot. I'm going to need about 3,000 sq ft. $15k!!! Ouch! Not gonna happen.

Maybe I should quit my job and get into the reclaimed wood business. Man, what a mark up on some that's recycled!!

That seems very high for sheetrock...it been a couple of years but the last price I got was $25-$30 /12' board...to hang/finish/texture...

 

[mark02tj]

That seems very high for sheetrock...it been a couple of years but the last price I got was $25-$30 /12' board...to hang/finish/texture...

I think he's talking about he reclaimed barn wood being $5/sf.

 

[Jim Timber]

Added benefit of sheetrock is that it's fire resistant.

I did my shop in 5/8" on the walls and ceiling and painted it.

It does need to be supported at 24", with 16" OC being better. OSB is another cheap option, but some folks don't like how the texture looks (even painted).