Trying to save an old barn - cheaper option for siding

[Dan Friedrichs]

I'm trying to come up with a way to save an old (1920s) barn. It's sided in cedar, and about 20% of the siding has blown off from years of neglect. It really needs a paint job to keep it more water resistant, but the missing siding needs to be addressed, before paint. It need about 900 linear feet of siding to fill in the missing pieces.

The siding is ~4" reveal, ~1/2" thick at the bottom, and beveled. I can buy a comparable product for ~$1.10/linft, but am having hard time justifying spending $1k on a building that is basically decorative.

I see there are some engineered word products that look similar (like this one), and they're half the price, but they aren't beveled, so I think they won't lay correctly under the existing, beveled, siding.

Any suggestions? This barn doesn't have another 50 years of life left, so I just can't see spending the money on cedar. Is there a press-board-type product that's beveled, or anything else to look into using?

[Von Bickley]

What is the barn being used for now?

[Dan Friedrichs]

Housing 3 chickens and 2 ducks. I suspect they are indifferent to the endeavor, and they are certainly not worth the expense of this project

It would be nice to save the barn for historical reasons and for future potential uses.

[Mel Fulks]

What factors/conditions make you think it would not last another 50 years?

[Dan Friedrichs]

The foundation has cracked fairly severely, resulting in some buckling of a wall, and it's had decades of deterioration due to a lack of siding and paint. The roof is newer (steel) and in excellent condition, so perhaps I'm being pessimistic - maybe siding repair and repaint will give it many more years. But given that it's not being used productively (and isn't likely to be used productively in the near future), I'm having a hard time justifying the expense of cedar siding.

[Wayne Lomman]

A different place admittedly but if I could get cedar siding for that price I would be falling over to get it. Otherwise, use corrugated sheeting. It's cheap and quick to fix and won't need much maintenance. Cheers

[Larry Edgerton]

Do not go for the cement board option Dan. They no way in hell live up their claims. I am seeing jobs that are 14 years old failing, siding just crumbling.

Don't know where you are but if you have locally milled cedar available buy it in 4"x1" and resaw it into two pieces of bevel siding yourself would be the cheapest.

[Rich Enders]

What is the old saying? If something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Maybe your barn is not worth saving, but if you think it is, start with the foundation, and proceed.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Interesting idea about resawing my own, Larry - I see I could get 5/4x6 deck boards for about the same price as the siding, so I could resaw those into two pieces and halve the cost. Almost enough money saved to buy a power feeder

[Keith Outten]

I did a rehab project on my 95 year old barn several years ago after contemplating tearing it down because it was in very bad shape.
I'm glad now that I decided to keep the barn, it cost less to repair it than to replace, not to mention the hassles dealing with the local building inspection department if I had built a new building.

In the end I decided to remove all of the old wooden siding a install barn red vinyl siding over plywood.

[Larry Edgerton]

Interesting idea about resawing my own, Larry - I see I could get 5/4x6 deck boards for about the same price as the siding, so I could resaw those into two pieces and halve the cost. Almost enough money saved to buy a power feeder

If you made it out of material that thick you could easily do Dolly Varden siding, a much better variation of bevel siding. Much less splitting when nailing off and as it ages. Its what I have on my house.

[Bill Bukovec]

Kieth, what's the horsepower on your tractor? I'm lookibg to buy one, maybe in the 20 - 25hp range.

[Keith Outten]

Bill,

It's a 40 HP diesel.

[Myk Rian]

There is a barn near us that the owners restored several years ago. They used T1-11 sheets on the vertical, painted red. It really does look nice.

[Rick Malakoff]

Dan, don't know where your located, I have used 5/8''x8''x6' ceder fence boards for siding but make sure the are dry before you use them. The cost down here was about 0.70$ LF.

Rick