Barn reclamation

[Tom Hammond]

Anyone on here ever take down an old barn and reclaim the materials for use? I have the chance to do just that this year. It's 24x36, post-and-beam construction with a slate roof, built in about 1890. Any advice would be appreciated. I've taken down garages with modern construction, but not post and beam. We're planning on removing all the covering materials first (slate and siding) then start dismantling the frame. There's little rot, and the frame seems stable enough. I had an engineer out, and he walked through in about 5 minutes and said, "Yeah... go ahead." There's only three of us working on it... which may be a worry.

Then... hmmmm... what do I do with the salvaged materials? My planer is 12" capacity and my band saw is 8" capacity.

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

I have done it with smaller barns.

What I do is nail up a couple cross braces on the inside of the barn. I then remove the outside siding boards.

I used to sand the boards to remove old paint and dirt then use a metal detector to remove all nails.

Now I just use a power washer this does a better job.

[Paul McGaha]

Tom,

As for milling the salvaged wood, If you think it's beyond the capacity of your current jointer and planer I would think your options would be to have a local lumber yard mill it for you or upgrade your machines.

PHM

[Neil Brooks]

Great that you asked this.

I keep thinking about these opportunities, and ... keeping an eye out for them.

One showed up, not far from my house, too:

http://fortcollins.craigslist.org/mat/1831060334.html







Obviously, you need to do a pretty fair job of understanding what the wood IS, and HOW it looks ... in addition to the whole "How do I keep this thing from collapsing on my head" piece

[Jeff Bartley]

If it were me I'd try to reuse the original frame. Timberframes can be disassembled and reused. I'd encourage you to investigate this option....don't let all that joinery go to waste!
Jeff

[Patrick Grady]

My 1906 house has reclaimed exterior barn-type vertical siding boards ranging from 12 to 16 inches wide installed as interior wall coverings in the living and sun rooms. The siding was reclaimed from a very old local schoolhouse undergoing demolition. It looks great and the sun-weathered grain is a welcomed break from boring drywall. Extra bonus is that eight inches of brackish 2003 hurricane flood water dried leaving no mildew and no water line. There are a number of websites dedicated to wood reclamation and there is a market for wood savvy builders and home owners who can negotiate local building codes. I hope the barn wood finds a new home.

[Lee Koepke]

Sounds like a wonderful opportunity. I would like to run across that, I have alot on my plate, but it would be very nice to have.

You dont happen to be near western georgia ??? HA