admin
A couple weeks ago, Bev and Cindy saw a “Free to a good home” sign… it was “you tear it down and you can have all the wood, for free” deal…
So, we’re tearing down a small old barn, complete with a small loafing shed and a full “root cellar” lined with old railroad ties.
We began by asking our neighbor, Clyde, for his expertise. Last thing we want is an accident, like pulling the wrong boards first. He agreed to join us this past week to help get us started.
First, we “rescued” anything that was salvageable inside the barn. That included three old doors, two of which are solid wood and beveled glass 36″ exterior doors. We also found a lot of junk which we loaded onto the pickup for a trip to the dump. We also found 10 dresser drawers which we can use for things like “nest boxes” for the chickens. In the mean time, they’ll be great for storing the old cedar shakes… aka “fire starter”.
Then, it was time to start demolition. We started by removing the tin roof. It was in pretty bad shape, but we think some of the tin will work on our horse stable.
We were able to remove all the side boards from the loafing shed before letting the rest of that structure collapse. It was held by only a couple of nails, so we had to be pretty careful, as the neighbor’s chain-link fence was only about a foot away. Using ropes to pull, Cindy, Bev and I applied pressure away from the fence as Clyde pried the loafing shed from the barn. Within just a minute, we had the rest of the roof (cedar shakes and roof boards) on the ground.
Later in the week, Clyde started on the roof, removing several layers of asphalt shingles. Bev and Cindy got there in time to remove their share, and pile all of it up. Another neighbor will be filling in the hole later, so we’re stacking the shingles to be dumped into the hole.
This past weekend, we got weathered out, experiencing about 1 inch (10% of our total rainfall) in just 24 hours. Fortunately, we’ve brought home the drawers (loaded with all the cedar shakes) and the usable side boards and doors.
Oh, while we were at the dump, we saw a fellow dumping half sheets of OBS plywood. After a quick chat, they were diverted onto our truck, and we were off to his place to round up more plywood. In all, we salvaged about $150 worth of plywood that’s good enough to use on the addition to the chicken coop and shelves in the basement.
But wait… we’re not done yet!
Clyde and Amber put a bug in our ear about FREE POTATOES. Yeah… it’s a “gleaning operation”. The big potato farmer has mechanically harvested his potatoes and the field is now available to all the “locals” to hand pick the leftover potatoes. Bev and Cindy stopped by today and gathered up about 30 pounds. Friday we’re all going back for more as the farmer still has two more fields to harvest. Sure helps on the grocery bill!
| 3.2 |
