salvage old barn wood - who to call?

[dknarnd]

A different solution...strip the tin off of the roof then call the local fire company and let them burn it down for you, if you offer them a nice donation (tax deductible) for the task they may do it. After that is finished just have a roll-off dropped and load it up...or if you have a low area you want to back fill use it yourself.

 

[JimMorrissey]

If you're talking that kind of condition you might be in for some $$. It's doubtful that they are going to "give away" the best part of the structure, especially since the frame sound questionable. Definitely worth asking though.

I asked my dismantling contact about keeping some of the roof slate on our barn (it matches our house perfectly in size and condition) and he said "I'll be happy to sell you some for a good price". I guess they figure the barn and all its contents are theirs once the deal is signed. Again, but that's here.

I'd like to see some pictures of the barn when you have some time.

 

[JimMorrissey]

If was thinking the same thing and the fire dept is always looking for something to practice on /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Maybe the thing to do is invest some of your time taking out the best material. Hire some kids for $20 a hour and have them help. The $$ invested in help to salvage the wood will be worth it for floors and such in the future. You then burn the rest. **Big-time mess and stink when it finally stops smoldering....all the while the smoke and smell is infiltrating your house. Not fun when it's 90 degrees out. Then the fun doesn't stop until all the mess is hauled off and/or buried.

You could just rent an excavator with a thumb and destroy the remains yourself. You break it up into smaller pieces and burn the moved pile slowly over a week or so. Then bury or rent a dumpster for the coals. That way you don't have to deal with the mess of a single big burn that will likely have a lot of unburned wood in it.

I've gone over the options ten different ways here on my property. -Try to find somebody to take it down for the least cost to you! I have a feeling it is going to cost though...just a question of how much. That's one of the reasons I got a TLB with front hydraulics for the grapple, so if I decided to burn our barn I'd have something to get rid of it with.

 

[dknarnd]

What ever you do make sure you do it before a large snowfall comes and it collapses due to the weight. I have a large pile of crap from a barn that has done just that. It leaves a large pile of wood, tin, and whatever was inside at the time, quite the eye sore.

It is very expensive to have it removed, estimated at over $10,000. Maybe I'll try to burn it someday then backfill overtop of it. I just emptied out an old chicken coop of 5 ton of scrap including the tin roof then dismantled it and threw the wood on top of the collapsed barn. It was ready to collapse also and it was much easier and cleaner doing it before it fell.

 

[Tom_H]

Speaking of the tin roof, the price of scrap metal has gone up so much that if you have enough for a truckload, you might be able to get a metal recycler to come get it and haul it off for free. Might be worth checking into.