Author Topic: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..  (Read 3718 times)

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Offline ironglow

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...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« on: September 21, 2021, 04:04:33 AM »
.
   Barn/garage that my son and myself share on our corner "compound" was likely built in the 1890s, and had little done to it since then, other than putting some asphalt shingles on the exteriors, and adding a couple garage doors ..along with a very ugly ell which was added.

  We considered an entire replacement, but the old barn was very solid and square yet, and matched the victorian lines of the big house..  So we figured take out the old floors, half of which were wood and half broken concrete
  Then remove the ell and and install plenty of new, large windows.
 
  Install a new metal roof and side the barn with board & batten, cut from local hemlock.

 So we checked around and took a bid from a local Amish contractor.  He came in at about half of what we estimated the job would be.
 
  Tis contractor is working as I speak.  The crew consists of Lester and his two sons of about 18-19 years of age and an "English" guy who works with them, and furnishes a truck.

  I tell you..they came into the job last Wednesday ..and hit the ground running!  Old floors pulled, interior gutted, windows in , Roof on, gravel filled..ready for concrete.  They are right now, putting the hemlock siding in place.

  So far, first class workmanship, and a very congenial crew.  great folks !
If you don't want the truth, don't ask me.  If you want something sugar coated...go eat a donut !  (anon)

Offline Ranger99

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2021, 06:20:40 AM »
That's great
If amish folks are working on it,
it'll be there a couple of hundred years
from now
18 MINUTES.  . . . . . .

Offline ironglow

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2021, 06:46:42 AM »
That's great
If amish folks are working on it,
it'll be there a couple of hundred years
from now

  Wrong !  As I said, they arrived on the job, on past Wednesday  since then  Barn reframed to add 5 large windows and 2 man-doors.  Wooden plank floors removed, broken concrete floor removed, used as fill. 
  Interior non-supporting wall removed, entire roof installed with underlay on Friday.

   Saturday they had a wedding, so didn't work.

  Yesterday installed al 5 large windows, moved and piled some earth for later use, and did some landscaping  and today they have already installed most of the board & batten siding, probably will finish siding today, including framing all windows and doors.  put gravel down, ready for concrete coverage.

  BTW: This is a 2-story barn, originally used for horses, buggy park and second story hay storage.  Expect the job to be wrapped up yet this week....

  Actually, we are pleasantly surprised at the speed and efficiency at which they operate.

 
If you don't want the truth, don't ask me.  If you want something sugar coated...go eat a donut !  (anon)

Offline Ranger99

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2021, 08:48:21 AM »
Why would the barn not be there
many years from now ?
18 MINUTES.  . . . . . .

Offline Graybeard

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2021, 12:04:43 PM »
I think he misread the comment and took it to mean the Amish would take that long to do the job. Just a guess.


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Offline BUGEYE

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2021, 01:33:15 PM »
Most of the luxury motorhome manufacturers now use Amish built cabinets.
Give me liberty, or give me death
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Offline ironglow

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2021, 02:06:39 PM »
.
  My apologies Ranger...  As Bill pointed out, I misunderstood what you posted...sorry..

   Yes, their work seems to be first rate.  And it is a known fact , thatone should get wood that was grown
    as close to home as possible.

 Here, the preferred wood for lasting quality, is local Hemlock.  There are barns around her that are 100 years old, never painted and still standing tall !

  Actually, Larch may even last a bit longer, but it more difficult to find in large quantity and is full of slivers ..one does not even want to brush up against it !
If you don't want the truth, don't ask me.  If you want something sugar coated...go eat a donut !  (anon)

Online Lloyd Smale

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2021, 10:19:34 PM »
just got a log table and chair set from the Amish. It is absolutely beautiful.
blue lives matter

Offline neckisred

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #8 on: September 22, 2021, 02:06:35 AM »
My better half employs an Amish crew to do repairs on her rental properties. They put the local contractors to shame and for about half the price. Real nice guys too.

Offline jedman

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2021, 02:47:27 PM »
 I actually know over a dozen Amish men and a lot of their family’s from OH . Almost all of them are in construction or work with wood and a few raise fish and sheep. They are amazing at the speed in which they work and like has been said usually at a lower cost than others that do the same work.
I just spent the 3 day Labor Day weekend down in Holmes county OH with friends and many of the Amish I spoke of, my wife and I were invited to dinner with one of the Amish families and it was great food and later sitting around a fire with the men.

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Offline ironglow

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #10 on: December 27, 2023, 05:43:54 AM »
I actually know over a dozen Amish men and a lot of their family’s from OH . Almost all of them are in construction or work with wood and a few raise fish and sheep. They are amazing at the speed in which they work and like has been said usually at a lower cost than others that do the same work.
I just spent the 3 day Labor Day weekend down in Holmes county OH with friends and many of the Amish I spoke of, my wife and I were invited to dinner with one of the Amish families and it was great food and later sitting around a fire with the men.

jedman

   Perhaps because there are no unions involved !   ;)  ;D
If you don't want the truth, don't ask me.  If you want something sugar coated...go eat a donut !  (anon)

Offline Bob Riebe

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #11 on: December 27, 2023, 07:30:28 AM »
My Father, when he bought the house that my brother and I inherited , it had a genuine Red horse barn on it.

He, both grandparents, the neighbor across the alley and to the North (maybe more but those are the ones I remember) cut the top down and made a two stall car garage out of it.

Shoveled the dirt floor into the garden ( I even now I will still on rare occasion find a chunk of fuel coal from the old coal bin) did not take the very slight lean out of it, and put a foundation under it.
Two big 10 by 10s hold the middle up, just as they did before the work was done.

The haymow is still on one side but the loading door the neighbor kid and I used to jump out of , on a dare, is gone as is dads little work shop which went away when two garage doors replaced the old sliding barn door.

That and remodeling the house all took place 60 years ago, this past summer.
I wonder if, even in small towns, 6,740 back then, neighbors ever get together like that any more and help each other.

The cement floor is now cracking badly on one side and dropping (same side where the sand spike fawcet was) but then IF I was real, real lazy, I could just drop the oil there when I change oil and it would drain into the dirt under the cement.

I hope to finally get it repainted this next summer, too hot , too often last summer.
I am glad I bought paint two years ago as what was 400 dollars in oil paint,  would now cost me 700 dollars.
When I am up in the haymow, brings back a lot of child hood memories. :'(

Offline ironglow

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #12 on: December 27, 2023, 07:52:25 AM »
  Pardon me , but what ius a genuine red horse barn?  Is it brand of pre cut barn, or a horse barn painted red?

  I did enjoy your story though...it brought back memories of barns and tasks in my own recollections.
If you don't want the truth, don't ask me.  If you want something sugar coated...go eat a donut !  (anon)

Offline Bob Riebe

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #13 on: December 27, 2023, 09:12:49 AM »
A Horse Barn painted red.

My neighborhood in town, had a lot of genuine large barns, most for horses but waaaay back a few had stall/s for bovine creatures.

One had a chicken coop also in use into the late sixties.
Last one came down approx. 10 years ago, but some of the larger century old garages, were once small barns too as they have hay mow doors also.

Back when my neighborhood had a lot of empty lots, the owners would use the whole lot as a garden, with a gent who lived close to my one Grandfather's farm literally on the edge of town, coming in each spring to plough the garden with horses.
Dad ploughed ours waaay back before the barn was turned into a garage, with with Grandpa's Ford 9N tractor.
Three blocks to the South, across the highway, was a genuine dairy farm, you could smell it with wind from the South. ;D

How I miss the late fifties-early sixties. :'(

Offline ironglow

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Re: ...Reconditioning our barn/garage..
« Reply #14 on: December 27, 2023, 10:08:14 AM »
Our main barn, when I was a teenager, was 100 ft long had stanchions for Cows all along one side..  a walkway that we could back a 75 bushel spreader along, to clean the gutters..  Cows faced toward the center...5 hores stalls across one end..except for the side devoted to cows.

  Originally, before we owned the farm, it seemed self sufficient in many ways. Although we never used it, there was a small concrete building where
    somehow, carbide was mixed with water to furnish acetylene gas for lights and heat.. Long before we lived there.

   Maple products had been a source of income, but the folks before us cut down the Maple grove.
If you don't want the truth, don't ask me.  If you want something sugar coated...go eat a donut !  (anon)