The Slow Motion Retirement Plan

[vtsnowedin]

That is interesting that you don't have top plates and only have a truss at each wall post. I'm used to double or even triple top plates and trusses on 24" centers. Just a matter of how strong the trusses are built and the strength of the roof purlins between them. I do like that connection detail.

 

[dhagood]

That is interesting that you don't have top plates and only have a truss at each wall post. I'm used to double or even triple top plates and trusses on 24" centers. Just a matter of how strong the trusses are built and the strength of the roof purlins between them.

it's not what i'm used to either, but cleary has been doing it this way for a long time and their structures hold up pretty well. the trusses upper and lower chords look to be 2x8 with 2x4 purlins. the purlin sections overlap a considerable distance as seen below.

there are 4 diagonal struts on the end wall with the garage doors that connect the bottom chord of the end truss with the top chord of the next interior truss. on the other end wall, there are two of these struts. the struts are at least 10 feet long, and notice the face nailed 2x4 stiffener on top.

this is the attachment of the lower end of the porch roof rafter to its support. once again, i like how cleary does this.

my wife is old school. tractors should be green. barns should be red. and yessireebob, that's red.

and me? i planted a tree.

 

[KevT]

And a mighty fine tree that is you planted.

 

[vtsnowedin]

There used to be a good reason most barns were red. Do you remember what it is?

 

[dhagood]

red paint was the cheapest?

 

[vtsnowedin]

Nope! Red "Barn paint" didn't have any lead in it and you didn't have to worry about the calves etc. licking and chewing it off the wall and getting lead poisoning.

 

[dhagood]

i didn't know that vt, thanks for the info.

 

[Nelstomlinson]

Good paint had red lead. Before epoxy, red lead paint was one of your best bets for a lasting finish. I never heard that folks worried about calves getting lead poisoning. I would have guessed that barn paint had no lead because iron oxide was cheaper than lead oxide. Worry about low levels of lead is a modern fad.

 

[KevT]

It is said before the days of "Paint" farmers used to soak the barn wood with linseed oil, and the more wealthy farmers added blood from slaughtered animals, and the regular folks used iron oxide (rust) both gave the oil some body to make it last longer, and both would change color in time. Not until "Paint" was used were barns a true red. Most farmers wanted their barns a different color to contrast with the white farm houses, and rust was easy to come by

 

[vtsnowedin]

Good paint had red lead. Before epoxy, red lead paint was one of your best bets for a lasting finish. I never heard that folks worried about calves getting lead poisoning. I would have guessed that barn paint had no lead because iron oxide was cheaper than lead oxide. Worry about low levels of lead is a modern fad.

No even back in the bad old days they had learned enough about lead to not let the kids or livestock eat lead paint. Red lead was used as primer on bridge beams and you could tell the quality by just weighing a five gallon pail. I remember the caution to let the water run a while before taking a glass to let any lead contaminated water run by and get the cold clear direct from the main. This was in the Newspaper about the water in the dorms at Dartmouth college. And wives tales about a section of lead pipe in a cider mill contaminating barrels of cider etc. I have pulled up hundreds of feet of abandoned lead water pipe and saved it to cast bullets. It is a wonder anybody living in town in the twenties to fifties ever survived according to the modern hysteria about lead.