Barn takedown and hayshed repair

It might be possible to brace the hay barn well enough to remove one pole at a time and replace it. Maybe place a solid brace pole along side the rotten one, secure it to the barn, remove the rotten pole and rig the brace pole to lift and set your new pole.

But... I am sitting on a comfy couch 2000 miles away, looks like it should work from here:D
 
You are getting some decent input, Justin. I especially like the brace and start at the top offerings.

But here is something...
I know a fellow who does this sort of thing on the side, savage old farm buildings. And he has told me that he has done it one metal roofing panel, one siding board, one beam, and one post at a time...and he has done it with a big excavator pushing the structure over "gently" and then savaged what was useable from the pile left. He told me he thinks he lost less than 15% percent of the material and saved 50% of time and labor with the latter approach.

No experience myself, couldn't really say if he's right, but it might bear consideration.
 
I like the idea of re-use. Old barnwood is expensive to buy.

As for replacing the posts on the hay-shed, a floor jack and a long 4x4 would be plenty to lift up the roof. 1/8" should be enough to slide in the new post. I just put in a 12' glulam using the jack. What are the posts sitting on now?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #30
Ok. Thanks for all the input so far. This is what I was hoping for a bunch of ideas and hash it out some before taking the leap.

I have considered just pulling/pushing the old barn over in one fell swoop. But it seems like for almost certain the roofing tin would be doneski, which it isn't fantastic but I had planned to reuse it. Also seems like it would break a lot more of the siding. But if your friends real life experience has been otherwise ill definetly think on that some. To me it seems worthwhile to pull the roofing off with a lift as I'm going to rent one for a few other things I need to do around here too. I'll make it a weekend rental and have it from Saturday to Monday am. I also don't have easy access to a decent sized hoe, I'd be renting that too so I hope to pull it over probably with my f550 4x4 loaded up with sand which is about as heavy as I've got.

I'll definetly keep your friends experience in mind. Possibly it'll be to onerous and cause to much breakage regardless to try and remove the siding individually? Easier just to flop the building and then cleanup/process the material?

On the pole shed behind. They were power poles or possibly bridge/trestle poles. But they are large diameter similar to a power pole. I don't know how deep they go but they are just into the dirt which is mostly clay around there, some sandy spots. I'll have to poke around a bunch to know just how deep they go. I know it's hard to judge things in a single crappy pic but the hay shed is fairly tall, those poles are about 15' tall. I like the jacking ideas. I guess I need to dig the old pole out while it's jacked/braced and set a new pole in and probably cement the hole? I won't be able to brace to close to the old pole depending how deep they go because ground is soft around here, it'll cave in if there's any depth. I guess to start I'll need to measure and source poles, see what I'm looking at there. May not be an option this spring to try and renovate the pole shed. Just makes most sense to do it while there's no barn there I'm certain.

I'll poke around a bit more with this when things start to dry up. Our snow has turned to rain and now it's to wet to do much of anything around here.
 
I have not had good luck with cementing poles or posts in the ground. I know it is done a lot, but I have never seen the posts last that way.

A utility company has access to creosote wraps that go around the pole. These wraps prevent rot at the surface and extend the life of a used pole buy a long time.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #32
Excellent info, I was just assuming cement would be the way to go but that makes sense. There's a fairly large utility company in my nearby city, maybe I'll approach them about used poles and what they might recommend?
 
You make a big bloc of concrete in the ground, sink in it (or bolt) some strong steal like a small beam or two, and bolt on it (them) the pole with a small gap between the butt and the concrete.
The deal is to avoid the contact of soil and water/moisture for the wood pole, allowing the wood to dry quickly after a rain.

You can extend a little the concrete block above the ground like a small pillar ( maybe 14 to 20") to raise the pole over the mud splatter area. It should improve drastically the life's pole.
Wood chalets in the mountains are build on this principle (with stones instead of concrete) and they can last for centuries.

Just make the concrete top nicely flat or with a slight slope to avoid that the water stagnates there.
 
What about jacking the beam, cutting the post, and forming concrete under the floating post? Add a moisture barrier between the post bottom and concrete.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #38
Yah. Interesting thought. I'll have to check their overall condition. A couple atleast are pretty bad I think.
 
Just like a dead tree. They rot at the transition point first. I would avoid concrete but if you use it as a footing make sure it drains at the footing level. If you pour to above grade, this at least makes replacement easy.
 
I have not had good luck with cementing poles or posts in the ground. I know it is done a lot, but I have never seen the posts last that way.

A utility company has access to creosote wraps that go around the pole. These wraps prevent rot at the surface and extend the life of a used pole buy a long time.
Jim, good pressure treated poles will last a long time with or without concrete.
I butt wrapped a gazillion transmission poles as a grunt. The wrap we used was pretty nasty and would burn you bad if it made skin contact. I don't know what was in it, it was outlawed a couple of years later as a health hazard but it would sure keep stuff from rotting.
 
You make a big bloc of concrete in the ground, sink in it (or bolt) some strong steal like a small beam or two, and bolt on it (them) the pole with a small gap between the butt and the concrete.
The deal is to avoid the contact of soil and water/moisture for the wood pole, allowing the wood to dry quickly after a rain.

You can extend a little the concrete block above the ground like a small pillar ( maybe 14 to 20") to raise the pole over the mud splatter area. It should improve drastically the life's pole.
Wood chalets in the mountains are build on this principle (with stones instead of concrete) and they can last for centuries.

Just make the concrete top nicely flat or with a slight slope to avoid that the water stagnates there.

I agree with all this. Simpson Strong Tie will probably have the exact bracket you want to sink into a concrete pier.
 
Man, what do you do with waste oil besides pour it on your driveway?! Soak your poles in it and sink em ya leaf licker!
 
I don't see it would work well. I tried that
The parent's garage under the terrace had a massive leak through the multilayer concrete roof (never found where was the leak) and water was dripping in it all year long, like in a cave, with stalactites and a very high humidity level. Each time we went there for holidays, we found the tools in a bad shape, rusty and with spots of mold on all the handles. So I tried the waste oil coating on a fork.
Next time I saw it, the steel part was fine but the wood handle was completely covered by mold. The fungi greatly appreciated my trial !
So....
 
Haha, my gramps used to soak his Fence posts in used oil. But he sprayed hundreds of gallons of ddt as well
 
I drilled a long 18 mm hole into theo posts in my machine shed, frm a couple of inches above ground level and on a slant down into the part of the post under ground.
Fill them up with waste oil and copperoxide once a year and stick a wine cork in the hole.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #49
I won't be looking to pollute anything once a year. But I'm not saying it doesn't work.

1. I don't like to pollute.
2. I would never remember to do that.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #50
I find it kinda funny that Stigs two suggestions in this thread consist of insurance fraud and environmental disaster. Lol.
 
Back
Top