Red pine for cribbing?

[Dave Shepard]

I need to saw out a bunch of cribbing for a barn I am going to be jacking up. I have a ton of red pine that hasn't proved very useful and I was wondering if it would work to crib up a barn? I have found no other use for this stuff so far.


Dave

[Ron Wenrich]

I think I would want something a little better than that.  I saw 5½x6 for cribbing under houses that are jacked up and moved.  It has to be either oak or hickory.  They won't take anything else. 

[Dave Shepard]

Jim Rogers originally suggested white pine, I figured that the red would be stronger than the white. Problem is, I have to saw the cribbing from trees I have, and it's either white or red pine. What little oak we have is destined for other uses. I guess I could try and figure out how much compressive load red pine will take and use more pieces of cribbing per layer if needed. I could also use more stacks as well. If I make sure to remove any bark and keep the cribbing dry, will it last, or is it going to rot in two weeks like it does if you leave it in log form? ;D


Dave

[beenthere]

Red pine (clear wood) has about half the compressive strength perpendicular to the grain as N. red oak  (at 12%, 600 psi to 1010 psi).
If you double the area in compression, and don't use the red pine in bending like a beam, then you should be good to go. Just keep that in mind when jacking up the barn.    Put twice as many cribs in, or increase the dimension of the wood to get twice the area.

It will last if kept dry, and not in ground contact. Lay in some crushed rock or gravel.
How long will the barn be up on cribbing?

[Dave Shepard]

Thanks beenthere. I don't know how long it will be on cribbing. The plan is to get it level first, and then figure out how I am going to fix it. I want to repair it without having to tear it down and reraise it, but that is going to take some long hard consideration. The other option is to build some steel columns to hold up that side of the barn.


Dave

[Dave Shepard]

As you can see, the barn is in sad shape:





The posts on the road side are in good shape, and go all the way to the ground. The posts on the field side are the worst, and the last two on the right in the second picture are missing altogether. Jim Rogers was out to visit in June and gave me some excellent advice for stabilizing the barn.


Dave