Going up….

At long last, the day we have been waiting for has arrived- the jacking of our barn has begun! 

The first thing they did was set a laser level up in the loft to map out how out of plumb the barn truly was, as they want to get the top of the posts, and the top plate, level with one another. The roughly 12-14 outside points that need to be level were off by 14″ overall. Once they had a map of where they wanted to take the barn, they began setting small bases of timbers underneath, topped with a post. They would use these to actually jack each point. They also set up “cribs” (stacks of beams- imagine a ginormous Jenga game) so that the barn could “rest” on these points, and to catch the barn in the event a beam gave way during the process. Here are some photos illustrating the process, as well as a video of a granite sill block being dropped out….

Using large hydraulic jacks at several locations, depending on the section being jacked, they would slowly raise the barn off its foundation, leveling as they go along. The back bay of the barn had roughly a 9″ drop over a 10′ span, but they were able to take out the slope, and the floor of the barn is now, for the most part, more level than it’s been in a century or so. It was a bit unsettling working in the barn during this days-long process (we’re doing a LOT of cleaning) as the barn was snapping and booming as it was being leveled. We can already tell some doors will need to be reset, some metal roof panels will need to be taken off and relaid, and some floorboards will need to be taken up and un-gapped, as the barn as a whole needs to be set to its new level stance. 

Next up is the foundation/drainage guy, who is supposed to begin on Wednesday, so we’re pretty excited to get that underway. The ferns you see in the images above will be taken out, along with that soil embankment, and when the stone is restacked, it will be left exposed. This is mostly due to the new drainage system, but it will also alleviate the pressures of the soil heaving into the foundation in the winter.

While all of this was going on, Jenny and I were cleaning out the barn. We are removing the hay loft on the north side of the barn (to the left when you’re standing in the doorway looking inside). In the images below, the first three bays will be completely open, outside of the vertical posts at each bent. All of the horizontal structure will be removed once the barn is back on its feet. This will make the barn much more open, allow us to utilize that wall to highlight the barn’s structure, and to display all the artifacts that have been found around the property. We have more than enough space in the ell and barn, so the loft space won’t be missed. We also spent some time cleaning and organizing the workbench room. Yes, we have a cow skull on our workbench, but we’re not sure why.

By the way, the area behind the flag in the image above, where the storage shelf is currently residing, will become a “porch” of sorts. The back wall is above the back barn shed roof, so when opened up, and windows/screens added, will provide an incredible view, hopefully of the Wapack range to the southeast. After the barn is back on its new foundation, and we take care of some internal structural work, we will rework the current windows, and add some new ones, before wrapping the barn in new plank siding. This will be a lovely place to sit and watch the sunrise as well.

Jenny spent hours in the lower shed addition this week (the “back barn”) removing all the old animal pens, which were mostly made up of pallets and scrap boards, and scooping out yards and yards of bedding material (wood shavings) soaked in animal urine and other “organic matter”. In doing so, it really showed us how much work will be needed in the back barn flooring. The floors are full of loose or “spongy” patch boards, trap doors that are no longer being held together by anything, and most of what is left is very worn down by many hooves walking on it over the centuries. 

The lower back barn, once cleaned and fixed up, will become our garden shed, as it has direct outside access to the back yard where our garden will be. The upper level of the back barn will be, and is currently, our woodshop. It’s where we have our table saw, miter saw, etc. We also have a large supply of boards that we can use for patching, rebuilding, or creating something new.

So you can see it’s been pretty busy here on the farm, and will continue to be a little crazy for a couple more weeks. Stay tuned for the “after” story!