The old barn across the street from us is getting re-roofed. I’m not sure when this barn was built, but I think sometime in the early 1900’s, as part of the Cedargreen (then, “Cedergren”) family homestead. I believe their original late 1800’s homestead had a different wood barn, so I think this brick-bottomed, fancy one came later.
It appears to be quite a project, I think they’ve been at it a couple of weeks already. Oddly, the roof had metal covering the south side, but the north side still had its original cedar shingles, from what I could tell. I assume somebody could only afford to re-roof half of it, so did the most exposed side, some time ago.
These guys have stripped it down to the purlins on both sides. It looked like they replaced a lot of purlins on the north side (in the below photo, you can see the bright new wood compared to the darkened old stuff). So, perhaps that side didn’t fare so well, having been neglected for too long. The south side that was under metal looks better, and they haven’t spent nearly as much time on it.
These are sheets of 4×8 plywood going on over the top of the purlins. From a distance, it looks like they are slowly papering the surface with postage-stamp sized sheets. It gives a sense of scale to the barn, it is huge.
The workers are using a hydraulic lift quite a bit, but I’ve also seen people walking around up there, roped-in, of course. Oh my, I cannot imagine being so high up, on such a steep slope! Pretty impressive work. Looking at it also makes me think of its original carpenters, who hand-drove every last nail in that baby, working only from wooden ladders. Hard core!
Lucky for this barn that it has a steward who both cares enough, and can afford to, repair and re-roof such a behemoth. Kudos to our neighbor D- for investing in it. Many other old barns near us are not so lucky, and are in some stage of decay or collapse; like our original 1902 barn was, beyond saving. From what I understand, sometimes there is county grant funding available to help save important historic barns. But, I think unfortunately not enough people know this, and most find it too cost-prohibitive to re-roof these amazing giants from the county’s first European homesteaders. I’m glad to see this one has a chance at standing another hundred years, it is such a beautiful old gem.
October 22, 2013 at 5:53 pm
WOW! What a monument to some old school craftsmen. DO run a photo of the finished result.
October 23, 2013 at 1:51 am
It is amazing, and great pictures, too.
October 23, 2013 at 3:02 am
Ross, I know! I was even more amazed yesterday to see roof jacks installed, and asphalt shingle bundles loaded up there! I thought for sure they would do metal, to reduce costs. I will probably miss daylight hours to take an in-progress photo during the work week, but will definitely catch one this weekend when it’s done!
November 2, 2013 at 6:09 pm
As the daughter of a farmer’s son whose farming antecedents go back centuries, I love reading your blog! I was just rereading my post called “Who will farm the farms?” and thinking about this post about someone building a working barn. Hooray for farmers, is all I can say!
http://theyearoflivingenglishly.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/who-will-farm-the-farms/
November 2, 2013 at 10:39 pm
Virginia- thanks, glad you enjoy it. Alas, the farm across the street is really no longer a farm, either. Though a few crops are still grown in someof the fields, it is now more of a hunting lodge and wedding venue, and much of the land lays fallow. But at least whatever commerce it serves is enough to pay to preserve the historic barn and home! That’s better than having them torn down and replaced with something else, I guess!