[tidy rabbit]

Hi all,

Well today I find myself very muscle sore and tired, and a little bummed that I still have more of this back breaking work ahead of me today, but I'm really happy with the result.

My old bank barn is almost done. We've got a few more things to do, finish the staining and put up the bars between the stalls.

We have another barn that is actually going to be the modern barn with all the bells and whistles, but I think this old bank barn will always be my favorite. It has 3 12x16 stalls and 1 16x16. It stays very cool in the summer and pretty warm in the winter.

Here's what we started with:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/11769...48495570rZeuKr
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/11769...48495570ZOWRkD
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/11769...48495570lbOpWM

Here's a couple pictures I took last night. We've still got a lot to do, but it's finally getting there!
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/28021...48495570hBcrun
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/22126...48495570pUcPxk

Let's see your remodels!

[MistyBlue]

Awesome job Tidy!!! I love old bank barns!

[pony grandma]

I love big old solid barns like that! They feel cozy to me. And I favor the extra size on the stalls, easier to keep clean and the horses like them too. enjoy!! I'm happy for you!

[tidy rabbit]

Thanks you guys, it's only taken us 4 years! LOL.

[Angela Freda]

OMG I am so jealous!

What a great barn!

[Quinn]

Beautiful barn and so worth the effort.

http://community.webshots.com/user/ballyduff

[TheOtherHorse]

Wow, it looks great! I love old converted barns.

[HuntJumpSC]

Your "new" barn looks snug, solid and cozy! Love it!

[gabz]

WOW. you've done way more work than I have. I left the "trees" that support the upper floors and the entire barn. Raw-hewn beams and thick tree columns, etc. Some still have the bark on them with white wash over the bark!! Even the narrow, t&g wood siding is nailed to half logs.

I had a round roof that was like a swaybacked horse and it had dropped down over the the interior ladders and punched holes in the roof. In Feb 2007, I hired the Amish to install 6:12 trusses every 2 feet, add OSB, and then remove the roof. ONce that was done, green steel and a center ridge skylight went on. I still have 2 HUGE stories in the upper part and 7' ceilings in the downstairs.

I also had the cow stanchions (only 8) removed but I can't open all of mine up until I take out the cement partial wall and level the cement where the cows stood above their manure trench. I JUST got a water line (and electric wire - still to be connected) to the barn. I only have 2 lightbulbs at this time (1 upstairs and 1 down) in my 55'x36' bank barn. Thick rock walls like your's.

My boys use the barn as a run-in. I have a large 12x12 stand-alone stall that divides one section - so I have a goat area and 2 "stalls" if necessary. I still have the old Draft Horse Team stalls - 2 BIG standing stalls for the Drafties, with monster hooks behind for their collars. Wood slatted hay manger with the drops from the upper floor, and sliding doors to the grain bins. : )

Great work on your's it looks wonderful. Is that hard packed dirt or concrete? Love the stalls... very nice!!! It is a lot of work... I wish I were able to do more of mine... but now with the structure sound... I can do work on the interior.

[subk]

We just finished building my "old barn." We built it with 8x8 and 8x12 oak timbers and we hope in a hundred years someone will love it because it's their old barn. It should still be around!

[pony grandma]

I'm sorry I can't help but chuckle What do city people have to talk about???

I love admiring your barn!

[tidy rabbit]

Great work on your's it looks wonderful. Is that hard packed dirt or concrete? Love the stalls... very nice!!!

The floor is packed limestone screenings, almost 20 tons of it. Its so hard I can sweep it. I think the trick to keeping it hard will be to make sure I water it every day.

Here's the final results....

http://pets.webshots.com/photo/23442...48495570nGZzxs
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/24669...48495570BMbhZo

[tidy rabbit]

I'm sorry I can't help but chuckle What do city people have to talk about???

I love admiring your barn!

City folk? I have no idea!

[gabz]

http://s456.photobucket.com/albums/q...view=slideshow

I'm not sure if this will work, but here's some photos of "my" old barn.
As you can see - it's no where NEAR a work of art like Tidy Rabbit's... I"ve been too busy fixing the structural!!

[MistyBlue]

Love the new roof Gabz....good Lordy your barn is HUGE! That's gonna take some time to refinish the whole thing but it'll be worth it!

[tidy rabbit]

gabz, that's wonderful old barn! I love seeing people restore these old barns, their so wonderful and it is very sad when people just let them fall down.

[gabz]

Technically, I'm not restoring it, but rehabbing it since I couldn't replace the original round roof - which still had cedar shingles on it beneath 2 layers of asphalt ones... that's what contributed to it's demise... all that weight and soaking rain... the first year I pulled the barn back together with thick cables and come-alongs and tried to cover the roof... I rented a 42' boom lift and we couldn't reach the peak!!! We tar papered about 2/3 of the west side of the roof where there was a huge hole and I put those pipe/tarp garages up INSIDE the barn to protect the hay! LOL...
I tarped all the upper floors and made drain holes/ pipes.. but much of the flooring is pretty weak from the previous years of roof leaks.

Yes, it is a VERY huge barn. Repairing it is MUCH cheaper than building new - since you have to figure 3 stories of 36 x 50... Repairing means no increase in taxes.

I like Tidy Rabbit's floor. That's a definite possibility for me as I have concrete... so taking much of the concrete and putting packed limestone in, is a great idea... (I have 1 dozen 3/4" stall mats in various areas right now.) I have packed limestone outside the 2 doorways - it's a wonderful thing!!

I'm having the Amish come back (they did my roof and gutters) and help me configure the NE corner - redoing the door that's there and fixing up the old draft stalls. The crews that I've used are just great folks - even if they DO run up my electric bill with all their rechargeable drill drivers!!
ONe of the Amish guys took the hay trolley for his old barn, and there was a small milking stool with a star cut out of the middle that the main contractor "bought" for one of his daughters (who I"ve met and she LOVES LOVES LOVES horses!! loL) ..many old things in that barn...

[chai]

I love those embankment barns, too. They are so cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Great job!

[SunnySideUp]

Ahhh so beautiful, Tidy and Gabz. Your barns make today's poll barns seem so....hollow....

[pony grandma]

Ahhh so beautiful, Tidy and Gabz. Your barns make today's poll barns seem so....hollow....

"hollow" - exactly the right word! Don't you just love those old timber beams.

T.G. some people are on this planet to save some things. I have seen so many subdividers (rapers and scrapers I call them) tear down these treasures when they could refurbish them into something very tasty and artful. My humble post war community growing up turned an old dairy barn into a community center, and they turned the old farmhouse into the offices for the local parks district, the fields into baseball diamonds, a walking path across one of the fields for the school children to "walk" to the elementary school the old-fashioned way (and across a lovely field), the old orchard is still there as a park and one of the parking lots gets turned into an outdoor skating rink every winter with the old tractor shed turned into a warming house for the skaters. It actually still looks like a farm.