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Thread: Any tips for fixing this old shed?

  1. #21
    Boolit Master pmer's Avatar
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    We'll have to keep Petrol & Powder away from this project at least for now LOL.

    The neighbors barn has a roof that is caving in. It's about 40 x 80' and she is in the works to have it disassembled.

    I have a corn crib with oak boards that should or could be disassembled. There is a barn here that is older than that grainery with logs and beams. It's in great shape still.
    Oh great, another thread that makes me spend money.

  2. #22
    Boolit Grand Master bedbugbilly's Avatar
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    You are there so only you know the real condition of the sills, sill supports, etc. - so all we have to go by are photos - so all we can do is "arm chair quarterback". I have had similar situations on old buildings - especially on our farm with field stone foundations - post and be a, construction, construction like you building, tamarack pole rafters, etc.

    Looking at your first photo - obviously the sill needs replacing but if your sill is rotten, then the ends of the studs most likely have rot as well. It looks like the outer siding would have to be removed and you could probably stub in repairs stubs on the end of your studs to even them all off before putting a new sill/sill beam in - but I'm guessing that the supports for the bothm sill are not level so something would need to be done there as well. Dimensions of the lumber in the building are probably hit and miss as well.

    Wood only lasts so long - buildings settle over the years - I can understand your desire to save the building but you need to weigh the cost offing the repair right as opposed to tearing down and replacing with something else. If you are going to repair - then find some good building jacks - these are large screw type jacks that can be place underneath a beam straddling the floor joists underneath, etc. in order to gently raise things up just enough to be able to get the old sill/beam out and foundation supports repaired/leveled, ne sill/beam installed and repairs to studs that need it. Remember that when you "raise" an old building - even though it might be minimal, something else has to give which may create another problem somewhere else - and if the building is "wired" - raising can put strain on the wiring so after you are finished, that needs to be addressed to insure the wiring is still safe and something hasn't been pulled to creat arcing and a fire.''

    You will have to determine what to use for your new sill beam - based on span and weight supported. It may be that a treated beam could be used. If it were mine, I would check once I knew the dimensions of the needed support beam to see if there were a local saw mill who could cut a new beam out of white oak with will last many years and pretty much be rot resistant - but use white oak - not red oak.

    Good luck o you restoration if you decide it is worth it - if you want it to look "original" - you probably could find some center matched pattern 116 to replace the old siding apply it horizontally - if any mills are still producing it and it might have to be special ordered from a lumberyard - or - strip the outside wall wit 1 by material and screw metal siding to it.

    On any old building, just remember that it's likely that nothing is level or square.

  3. #23
    Boolit Master
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    I had a building in similar condition. I tried several times to shore it up and stabilize it but it just continued to deteriorate. A few years ago I made the decision to tear it down, salvage the good lumber, and eventually use it to build a new building. That is when I learned why none of my stabilizing tricks had ever been very successful. With the exception of the tin on the roof, absolutely none of the lumber was salvageable. It made a really good bonfire.

  4. #24
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    going by pictures only I would teardown and start over.. Salvage what you can and build better
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  5. #25
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    Where the floor sunk between the garage and the main structure, did only the floor sink or did the bearing wall sink also.
    you can see where the siding pulled away from the verticle trim.
    need pictures of the substructure at the corner where it sunk.
    https://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Water-Level
    If you have a 50 ft clear plastic tube or a wat to put 12" of clear tubing on the ends of a 50 ft hose you can make a water level by dilling the tube/hose with colored water to where it's 6" down from both ends when you hold the ends together. Make a reference mark at one corner at an easy height to see and have 1 person with one end of the hose stand at the reference mark and the other person go to one of the corners. [keep a finger over the end of the hose until both people have the hose/tube at approximately the same level. remove fingers from both ends then the person at the reference mark lines up the water with the mark. when the water is lined up then the second person marks the corner they are at. repeat this for all 4 corners. This will give you a level mark at all 4 corners. * the building may not have been level, to begin with*


    find out how far the floor at the corner of AB has dropped compared to the corner of BC
    how much did AB drop from back to front?

    did the floor joist/beams (A) come loose from wall AB

    what were the floor beams originally set on? what are they on now

  6. #26
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    Snap a line high enough to reach solid wood on the studs, cut across and build a box under them then reside to shed the rain. Done it many times including the back porch of my current house
    I Am Descended From Men Who Would Not Be Ruled

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  7. #27
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Petrol & Powder View Post
    I would suggest 5 gallons of diesel and a road flare.
    Tannerite will disassemble a barn in a hurry...

    The one in the video appears to be in better shape than the op's.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=edRbcTXAijY

  8. #28
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    If you blow it up you then must pick up the pieces.

    If you burn it down, you scrap the roof, run a magnet over the ashes to pick up the nails and rake up what's left.

    I've worked on those old buildings and the problems never stop. The more you fix, the more trouble you find. You reach a tipping point where the repairs cost so much in money and effort that you feel the only way to go is to keep fixing them even after it's clear you shouldn't have started.

    It's easy to look at them and see the good parts while saying, "this is still good and that is still good". However, you should look at them and say, "this needs to be totally replaced and that needs to be totally replaced".

    Don't get nostalgic over something that was an inexpensive, utilitarian agriculture building to start with.

  9. #29
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    im tellin ya, people pay stupid money for old barn wood. probably more than pay to rebuild new, and on some level footings to boot!

  10. #30
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    Also once you start be prepared for a money pit... you will keep finding bad timbers...

  11. #31
    Boolit Master pmer's Avatar
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    Conditor, I'm not sure when buildings A & C came about. I'd think they are newer than A. There are concrete slabs in the side sheds and they aren't the best either. There are some good points for tearing it down. Like when Petrol & Powder says look at parts from the point of view of needs replaced rather than what's good.

    I'm sure there is market for barn wood. Local Craigs List has barn wood for sale and couple barns to tear down and remove for free. Not to mention my neighbor wants her old barn removed too.

    Are tear downs done piece by piece?
    Oh great, another thread that makes me spend money.

  12. #32
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    While there is some market for old timbers, it takes more than just being old to make a piece of lumber valuable.

    Long, thick beams and floor boards may be valuable if they can be economically salvaged. It helps if they are made from desirable species of trees (Oak, hard maple, Chestnut, etc.) and are free from large notches, rot and hardware.

    However, just being old doesn't guarantee value.

    Farmers didn't earn a living for themselves and their families by dumping all of their profits into buildings. The notion that, "they made them right back in the day", is total hogwash. Most agricultural buildings were made to be functional and inexpensive to construct.

  13. #33
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    My advice is go to the nearest gas station and fill up a 5 gallon container. Walk into the shed open the container and begin dumping the contents on the floor and walls. Cap the container and place it 100 feet from the building. Walk back to the building and drop several lit matches on the gas soaked floor and run like hell.

  14. #34
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by 6bg6ga View Post
    My advice is go to the nearest gas station and fill up a 5 gallon container. Walk into the shed open the container and begin dumping the contents on the floor and walls. Cap the container and place it 100 feet from the building. Walk back to the building and drop several lit matches on the gas soaked floor and run like hell.
    Although I'm sure the above was said in jest, if you go this route use diesel, not gas---you use gas and you will not be able to outrun the blast----just saying.
    R.D.M.

  15. #35
    Boolit Master
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    Explosives. It's the only answer.
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  16. #36
    Boolit Master pmer's Avatar
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    I tried the imgur.. here is the corn crib. It had oak 1x4s.

    http://imgur.com/gallery/KyesnAg
    Last edited by pmer; 05-02-2019 at 11:31 PM.
    Oh great, another thread that makes me spend money.

  17. #37
    Boolit Grand Master Bazoo's Avatar
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    Personally, I vote repair it. But then I like old stuff, old guns, grandmas, vintage gear, old tools. Just like when folks buy an old farm house, gut the kitchen and turn it into a show room, then claim they love old farm houses because of all the charm.

  18. #38
    Boolit Master corbinace's Avatar
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    My vote is to repair as well. This is a relatively easy repair job for retaining the three building sections. You are not trying to make a living space, you just want to store stuff in the dry and not have it collapse on your stuff.

    The appropriate steps have already been outlined in the posts above, all you need to do is add labor and a bit of materials.

    Sure, you could get a piece of equipment and clean up the building and foundation in short order. But then you go to the County and find out what a building permit costs and then all of the inspections and headaches, only to have an eyesore of a pole barn in the yard.

    Oh yeah, in our area you can only have an outbuilding that is 900 square feet or 60% of your house size which ever is larger.

    That building is standing today and took probably 100 years to get in that shape. If you spend a bit of time this summer on it, it will still be standing after you are in the ground.

  19. #39
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    Corbinace, you're offering advice based on the building codes in your area. The OP is in Minnesota.

  20. #40
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    Repair it. There is way to many old buildings that are being tore down these days. Barns was the prize to the farmers that put them up. Shame people don't realize what these barns meant to the people. New medal buildings look ugly and have no soul to them.

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