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What do you think of this barn?

Started by LKasdorf, February 18, 2004, 12:55:40 PM

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LKasdorf

From these photos, what do you think about this barn? I am considering buying this place and want to turn the barn into my workshop. How can I asses the condition of the structure, and whether the main floor will support a large table saw, band saw, jointer, etc.?

I didn't look carefully at the joints, but I don't see any pegs. Maybe they are m&t anyway, just not pegged.

http://www.lkasdorf.com/houses/john_wolford/barn.htm

The barn was apparently built in 1840 or so, burned during the civil war and rebuilt by the union after the war. The end wall with the partial stone is pretty wacky- I guess they built it back larger than it had been.

Were barns like this designed to withstand the weight of tractors and equipment on the main floor?

Anything you experts can tell me about this type of barn woudl be of value. The barn is in Virginia, by the way.

beenthere

I suspect this barn was designed to handle a barn loft full of hay, which likely was at first loose hay. Later likely baled hay. But the total weight of the hay was probably more than the weight of your equipment you are talking about.

On the other hand, would it support tractors? - that may be questionable as the tractors will have point loading which may overload the flooring boards (okay for broadly distributed hay) mid span. Your saw and other equipment may tax the integrity of the flooring boards between the supporting beams as well, and they may have to be beefed up to take the point load concentrations.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Norwiscutter

Need a little more information to make any kind of guess as at that question. Best thing to do would be to hire an inspector to come out there and do a acessment of the place.  Barns were usually designed with the upper level being the area for hay storage.  A good bale of hay can weigh 50-75 pounds, so figuren that you could fit at least a 1000 bales in the barn, you could maybe assume that it could support 50 thousand pounds. Because the hay is spread out pretty even, the load is also dispersed pretty even, you try and drive a tractor in there and it could easily end up in the lower level :'(  Alot of factors go into determining the load it is capable of... wood species, thickness, spacing, condition, etc. should all be considered.  Take a look at the repairs(if any) that are more recent. those could be areas of concern in other parts of the Barn. Is the floor joists or rafters saging at all? if so those may have to be replaced or repaired. Lots of things to consider... can ya get any more Photos?
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

L. Wakefield

   The pics that raised the most questions in my mind were #5 and #8 in terms of possibly uneven roofline/drip edge, and integrity of that one wall. The interior timbers looked bind of light but it's a nice structure and still looks square. I want to hear what others think (who know what they are talking about, unlike myself) I like the stone work.  lw
L. Wakefield, owner and operator of the beastly truck Heretik, that refuses to stay between the lines when parking

IndyIan

What you need to look at is the floor between the hay lofts.  In my area the typical barn should have 2" or more thick planks and lots of closely space floor joists underneath.  The hay lofts will have thinner planks and less floor joists and will not support point loads very well at all.  The floor between the hay lofts was designed for having the haywagon parked there full of hay so if your tractor is heavier than a loaded wagon you should be careful.  You also need to check out the condition of the floor beams and joists anyways from underneath.  One dryrotted beam and you could be going through :o
Looks like a neat barn though.
Ian  

LKasdorf

First, I would not plan on driving a tractor in there.

I would need to be able to install my machines though. Looking at the floor joist construction, it seems like it woudl be plenty strong enough for that.

From the photos, especially of the floor support posts and beams, it looks like they used butt joints and toe nailed them together. In the super structure of the barn, did they ever use a butt joint? If there is no peg, maybe they used m&t and nailed it.

I think the best thing to do for a woodshop in there woudl be to make a levelled, raised floor and run my dust collection and wiring under neath. It would be a real hassle to try to roll heavy machines over those floor planks.

L. Wakefield

   I missed it- did your photos actually show any details of the present flooring/subflooring/basement over which you propose either to drive (I guess you don't..) or load? I thought you showed all exterior and interior only down TO the floor. Makes it hard to judge what loading the floor could take. What did I miss?  Duh- lw
L. Wakefield, owner and operator of the beastly truck Heretik, that refuses to stay between the lines when parking

woodbeard

You will need a big telescope and a way to make the top of the silo rotate.  :D

Coot

what is your main purpose going to be and what kind of equipment will you be using in the barn

Bro. Noble

My thinking is that you could probably park a pickup or small tractor in there without problems,  but why not beef it up underneath just to be sure.  Looks like it would be easy enough to do.

You might ask the present owner (or longtime neighbors) if tractors have been parked in there and if so how large.  It wasn't designed for tractors cause they  didn't exist then :D  

Loose hay weighs much less than baled hay for a given volume and baled hay wasn't common until the 1940's so I wouldn't use the wt. of baled hay for figuring either.  That would hold many tons of loose hay though.  The key as already noted is to beef up the area where your heavy equipment would be to spread the wt.

Just my of the top of my head thoughts.

Looks like a neat barn where you could enjoy working.
  
milking and logging and sawing and milking

Coot

if the barn was built in the 1840s then it would have been able to accomidate the weight of a thrasher , now depending on the size of the thraser the floor may have been able the handel it.

now my buddy has the same style barn for beef catile and parks a 70hp loader tarctor on the mow with round and square bales.

and if i looked at the picture right it looked like there was stalls in the top which loked to hold horses , i could be wrong on that thought but a good set of work horses are about the same weight as a small pick up

just my thoughts

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