Wide Open Space 2

We hired a RATT (Rent A Team of Teens)  from the youth group Daniel attends, to help us move the lumber from upstairs to downstairs.   We are exceedingly grateful for their strong backs, cheerful attitudes and endless energy.  

Dave Conlee - the fearless, wonderful youth group leader

Daniel and Dave carefully, neatly stacking!

 Goin' out the big doors.... out and around 

Big, and dirty, space.

Daniel Winn, Lawrence Timmons,  Lucas Simpson

Sweeping, vacuuming and hammering down nails.

It is nearly impossible to capture this room with my little camera. 

Wide Open Space

We have successfully removed the grain bin/ramp form the barn loft, and moved the lumber downstairs.  I am going to let pictures tell the story.

 

                                                                                           Hundreds of nails to remove and pick up.                                                                                                                                     

Some beautiful 24 foot 2 x 12 boards!

  The inside of the grain bins      All the corners of the grain bins were lined with metal that came from the cans of linseed oil used to give the barn its first coat of paint.

Grain Bin Removal

It has become increasingly obvious to us that we need remove the grain bins upstairs in the barn to make it all one big open room.   Preston and Daniel have been working on it for a few months now, when they have time.  It is hard, tedious work.  We are accumulating quite a stack of nice lumber, which we are saving for some still to be determined project.   My contribution to this project to to take pictures documenting, not really the destruction, but how it was constructed.  It is bittersweet, to be sure, to be dismantling this bit of history. 

 

First remove the hay chute,"stairs" and the top layer of the decking.

 

94 years if dirt, chaff, and oil

Back breaking work

Taking out the nails, stacking up the lumber

 Now the second layer ... 1x6 shiplap

 

...and under that 2x12s, some of which are 24 feet long

Under neath all that is the grain bin structure,
for those of you who always wondered what it looks like:

 

Which feeds into these, downstairs

 

More to come ......

A Stairway

The next project on our list of things to do with the barn was a stairway to the upstairs.   Old ladders were the method of access to the  wonderful space there, or the big doors through which the haywagon would pull into the upstairs to unload its cargo.    Preston decided that his labor of love and hope Christmas gift to me would be STAIRS.   He used lumber taken from other parts of the barn (horse stalls...) which we have removed.   Much of this lumber is original barn construction Fir of amazing quality!  We would not be able to afford to purchase such lumber today.   I wonder if we would even be able to find it.
 
These stairs are along the south wall of the barn, on the dairy side.

 

Dad and Mom and Suzanne checked them out and pronounced them wonderful.   

Dad was particularly pleased with how easy they were to use.  

Then for Valentine's Day  he finished the project by putting up railings and hand rail.    All that remains to do is cleaning, some sanding to smooth the rough edges and maybe some stain to make the end cuts look old.

  I love this new addition to the barn.  It make the barn loft beautifully more accessible for work projects and events.  I deeply love Preston's willingness to work hard on these projects and ask me for my opinion on what would look best.