Post by dan on Dec 31, 2011 17:34:54 GMT -4
we my father and I have been working on the barn on and off for the last 6 or 8 years now, trying to get it straightened out, leveled out some, fix the leaks, make it stand on it's own again, ya know, the usual.
the barn is 108 years old, so it was due for a revamping long ago. we started wayyy back with pulling the floors out, and the non-support walls. the ground was cleaned up and we filled things in with class-A gravel until we had a flat (dirt) floor.
the upstairs was next. everything up there (all junk) was removed, and we started pulling the floor boards, then tied the back and front walls together with a come-along, some chains, and some cables.
the upstairs joists were removed, and we had a completely open building. then we had some full-dimension rough-cut joists cut, and started putting a new floor frame in. once the joists were all in, we put down spruce boards for a floor.
we didn't have any support beams underneath the top level at the time, so we put in a *temporary* one made of old joists from the barn, bolted together, with two support posts along the length of the barn.
this was only suppost to stay for a short while, but that turned into several years.
In the spring, we walked in to grab some tools, to discover one of the posts had kicked out and the upstairs floor, with literally tonnes of parts and junk, was hanging down about 18" at one end of the building.
we decided it would be best to look after the problem sooner than later, so Dad called up some people, and eventually ended up with a 36'3" 8" I-beam, and a 10'-long glued-wood-stuff- support post for the middle of it.
we built a support wall at the end of the barn where it had collapsed leaving it about 2' off center so the beam could slide in place. we had another post near the other end that supported that side.
Today was the day we gathered up the gumption to do the job. pushed the beam in with the M38-A1 plow Jeep, and slid it around, used chain falls and come-alongs, and got it in place, then lifted one end, followed by the other. lots of other things happened in between, but we had no mishaps, and everything went relatively smoothely, until I had to stop and get cleaned up so the Wife and I can go out tonight with some friends.
Now I'll let the photos do the talking.
and here is our tool area right now.....
hopefully tomorrow we will have the beam fully in place with the jack posts and supports under and around it, and the support post under and in place. after that, we have concrete floor to prepare for. we will probably be laying styrofoam and Pex with Rebar, and concrete from Work. that's for another weekend though.
the barn is 108 years old, so it was due for a revamping long ago. we started wayyy back with pulling the floors out, and the non-support walls. the ground was cleaned up and we filled things in with class-A gravel until we had a flat (dirt) floor.
the upstairs was next. everything up there (all junk) was removed, and we started pulling the floor boards, then tied the back and front walls together with a come-along, some chains, and some cables.
the upstairs joists were removed, and we had a completely open building. then we had some full-dimension rough-cut joists cut, and started putting a new floor frame in. once the joists were all in, we put down spruce boards for a floor.
we didn't have any support beams underneath the top level at the time, so we put in a *temporary* one made of old joists from the barn, bolted together, with two support posts along the length of the barn.
this was only suppost to stay for a short while, but that turned into several years.
In the spring, we walked in to grab some tools, to discover one of the posts had kicked out and the upstairs floor, with literally tonnes of parts and junk, was hanging down about 18" at one end of the building.
we decided it would be best to look after the problem sooner than later, so Dad called up some people, and eventually ended up with a 36'3" 8" I-beam, and a 10'-long glued-wood-stuff- support post for the middle of it.
we built a support wall at the end of the barn where it had collapsed leaving it about 2' off center so the beam could slide in place. we had another post near the other end that supported that side.
Today was the day we gathered up the gumption to do the job. pushed the beam in with the M38-A1 plow Jeep, and slid it around, used chain falls and come-alongs, and got it in place, then lifted one end, followed by the other. lots of other things happened in between, but we had no mishaps, and everything went relatively smoothely, until I had to stop and get cleaned up so the Wife and I can go out tonight with some friends.
Now I'll let the photos do the talking.
and here is our tool area right now.....
hopefully tomorrow we will have the beam fully in place with the jack posts and supports under and around it, and the support post under and in place. after that, we have concrete floor to prepare for. we will probably be laying styrofoam and Pex with Rebar, and concrete from Work. that's for another weekend though.