Main Barn - Old North Side
Ols Silo Pad
Silo Pad removed
Main Barn - Hay Door and Peak
On to Side #2 ...
This side I knew was going to be a nightmare, the garage area was nothing but rotted wood. The front corner beam and all of the lower wood sills had just crumbled and the roof had sagged about 4 inches. How someone could just watch this happen is beyond belief to me ! This is by far the worst side of the barn because of the structural damage and it was plain to see that I had to replace everything. But before I could even get started on this wall, I had some grounds work to do.
This is an old silo pad that at one time I considered keeping and rebuilding on for fun but it was cramping my style and getting in the way of my plans so I decided it had to go. Let me tell ya that pad was thick so at one time this must have been a tall silo that needed a strong base. I would love to see an old photo of this place when it was all newly built and a working farm.
Here you can see how thick the slab in the tractor bucket is. That was just one small section of the base of the silo pad. I removed all the biggest pieces and just dug a hole and buried the smaller stuff with topsoil. I really hated to remove the pad because at one time someone obviously put a lot of thought and time into building it. Now that the area was cleared I could get busy on the building. I jacked the roof back up where it belongs...stantioned it off and kept ripping out material till there was nothing left but good wood.
All the wood siding in the peak is original and in great shape so it only needed to be scraped and painted. I built a new loft door out of pine boards and had to replace some of the framing for it but doing the peak area turned out to be the easiest part of this side. I have a window going into the top in the fall after all the bats vacate for the winter. There are 50 or so bats that over the years have claimed this barn as theirs but thats gonna change. We need bats and I dont want them to leave the property, I am just tired of the indoor guana factory! My dad built me a beautiful
This is a photo from the inside of that back corner with the window and door. Where the cross member is used to be a wall that seperated the areas. That didnt make sense to me so I cut a hole through the wall for access to the rest of the barn. All the floors in the garage area and in this back shop area are cement but need to be addressed. I am thinking I might just repour over them to level and fill cracks.

Nothing is ever done but this photo below shows the "almost finished" side and how it looks all painted out. run your mouse over this photo and see if you agree with me that this barn was worth saving!
The North Side
Long story made short... Here it is after all the new beams were back in place and the new wood siding was on the lower wall. You can see where I nailed in 2x10's down the entire side to dress off the roof edge and strengthen the wall for a possible overhang in the future. I added this window and doorway for the small shop area I had planned in here. Now it was time to get the peak done.