After having been “weathered out” over that one weekend, we returned to remove the roof boards, rafters and finally down to the walls. That took three of us (Clyde, Cindy and me) the entire week. Most of the 12 foot or better roof boards were salvaged as were all the rafters (nicely notched), the beams, and the headers. Most of the boards on the walls were in pretty sad shape.

We were able to save several of the studs. Now, all this lumber is the “old stuff” meaning if it’s a 2 x 4, it really is 2 inches by 4 inches as opposed to today’s wood that is 1 1/2 by 3 1/4 for a “2×4″. All the bigger stuff is rough sawn, too.

Once we had the walls off, it was time to go to work on the floor. The top floor was a “lap style” rather than tongue and groove, so once we figured out where to start, it came apart quite nicely. We saved quite a bit of it. The sub-floor was laid diagonnaly and is “yellow pine” of quite poor quality. We saved what we could, but will most likely use it for firewood.

Now, about those railroad ties…

This barn is 12′ x 16′ and the ties are stacked 9 high. We agreed to split the number of ties with Clyde as his payment. Besides he’s the one who was in the cellar taking them apart and lifting them out. I was on the “nail removal” crew, as they were way too heavy for me. Believe me, they had plenty of nails, some very large and others smaller.

Things wouldn’t have been too bad, except for the one morning being about 25 degrees with a 15-20 mph North wind. My nose wanted to run down the street! It was cold and miserable and every time I bent over, the cold took my breath… not to mention my nose wanted to run away.

The second day of tie removal was better… NO WIND. Still cold, if not colder, but no wind.

By Thursday, we had the entire barn apart and some of it ready to come home. We’d been kind of sorting the lumber as we were dismantling. There are piles of “firewood” with nails, clean boards to be saved, studs and rafters to be saved that still have nails, and of course… the railroad ties. All told there were better than 50 8′ ties and maybe 20 or so “shorties”. Those are generally about 4′ long.

When you have to buy railroad ties, they cost at least $15 a piece and more than likely you’ll pay $20-25 each, so those have all been hauled home and safely stored. Friday, we took both the old Ford and the Avalanche, while Clyde and Amber brought their pickup and a trailer. Our original plans had gotten a little fouled up when another neighbor had to make a quick trip to Calilfornia with his 16′ flatbed trailer. We had been promised that trailer, but understand there are emergencies.

This next week we still have to haul the rest of the wood home. I think we’ll bring home wood with nails and work on it here (at our leisure), as well as all the other stuff. Bev wants to get started on the addition to the chicken coop while we still have good weather.

Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.

Tags: barn, Enterprise, wood

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Shari Thomas

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