How Much Does Hay Weigh?

When we were planning the barn, I posed this question to every builder we interviewed: how do you know how to design the loft to be strong enough to support filling it with hay? I knew this was an important question. I’ve read and heard horror stories of people having barns collapse when loaded with hay.

 

Metal Siding and Decisions, Decisions

Here are some pictures of the barn metal siding going up. Now it’s really starting to look like a barn! We are in that inevitable stage that every building project hits- we are ready for it to be done. There are the early stages, where you oooh and ahhh over each little step- holes dug, poles in, roof taking shape, sides, windows, loft, stairs. And the first couple of panels of colored siding are certainly dramatic. But then, you crest over the edge of knowing what the whole thing is going to look like, there are no more visually dramatic steps left, just tedium of finishing this and that.

 

Honing in on a Finished Barn

Our barn is still progressing along, I’m just not keeping up in pictures! There is still a lot of planning overhead that’s taking up our evenings and weekends. Here is a view of it out one of our upstairs windows. The loft windows and big slider door were taking shape here.

 

View from the Barn Loft

Here are some views from inside our barn loft. It’s still only accessible via ladder, as the staircase won’t be finished until the concrete slab is poured.

 

Girts

The girts are going up on our barn this week, and they are starting to frame in some of the doors and windows. The girts are just 2×6 boards nailed to the outside of the posts. Some styles of pole building notch the posts so the girts are flush-mounted, but this design calls for them to be on the outside.