I'd like opinions on what to do about the walls on my old barn. I know many of you have built nice shop buildings.

Here are some requirements:

1. It is an 1849 stone and frame bank barn, burned during the civil war, rebuilt with federal money after the war (the owners were quakers, and neutral). It is kind of a landmark around here, and I want to retain the old-barn look.

2. It is currently sided with random width pine boards- large gaps between planks, and many are in need of replacement (rotting, warped like a ski-jump). Many, many pidegon and squirrel holes. Pidgeons roost in there and decorate everything.

3. Overall size is about 62' x 32'. About 38' of that is the original barn. The rest is a newer barn that was added on (same height and width).

4. It has large sliding doors on both sides on the original section. I want to keep these, as they are really handy for moving big stuff in and out, but they would not be able to seal well, if I try to heat it.

My goal is to:
1. At the very least, cover the gaps to keep snow, rain, wind, squirrels, pidgeons out.

2. If possible, retain a vertical siding look (perhaps board and batten). Horizontal siding may not be so bad, as long as it looked "old".

3. Create one room upstairs (at least) that is insulated and heated. My thinking is to build a 2nd story over the newer section, and seriously insulate this. I plan to put in some windows as well.

4. The rest of the upstairs will be lumber and project storage and will probably house the big sliding table saw and outfeed table, and maybe the other table saw as well. The other machines would go in the heated area.

5. If not insanely expensive, I'd like to put some sort of vapor barrier and insulation over the entire wall area- even if it was just tyvek and 1/2" foam panels.

6. When choosing siding, I'd love to use hardiplank. I will not use vinyl or aluminum. Wood siding would be ok, but I don't want to be replacing it for the next, oh, 50 years...

To see a pic, go to this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=18353

As mentioned in this earlier post, I'm currently fixing up the frame underneath. The newer section is to the left and has the single window. You can see the roofline disturbance where the 2 barns meet.