The Forestry Forum
General Forestry => Timber Framing/Log construction => The Wisconsin Barn Preservation Program => Topic started by: Brian_Weekley on March 21, 2015, 08:55:31 AM
Just an interesting short video on barn restorations in Iowa. Hard to believe that barns in Iowa are disappearing at a rate of 1000 per year. Having bicycled across Iowa a few years ago, it's a beautiful state. Very sad to see this happening here and across the country. Save your barns!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41fTIZJPqug&feature=youtube_gdata_player
When IA farms changed from dairy/beef/pigs/chickens around the mid sixty's and moved to mostly grain, there was no need for a barn. New construction turned out to be large sheds to hold machinery, or hog/turkey/chicken factories where they didn't see the light of day.
No need to have the added expense of keeping a roof on the barn and when the rain leaks in, the structure goes in a hurry. So not hard for me to believe, as Iowans want to keep it looking beautiful.
I contend that if people want to see the old barns saved, they should dig in their pockets and donate a new roof so the rain cannot leak through. That is a huge expense.
But no, they just want to get a grant from our taxpayers (who get fewer every year too) like a grant is just free money falling from the sky. Save a barn or two, not everyone seen in disrepair.