How to tear down a 34' by 48' barn?

[LeeB]

Hmm, maybe I can learn :D

[witterbound]

LeeB, you're over there real close to Arkansawyer. 

[LeeB]

Yea, I go see him every now and then and he sends a few custom cutomers my way every once and a while. I try not to hang out with him too much, afraid he'll put me to work. :D :D

[witterbound]

What kind of custom work do you do?

[LeeB]

I got an LT40 Super and pick up a little custom sawing every now and then when I'm home from my real job.

[Clovis]

Well tomorrow is the day! My buddy has already got the barn empty and all the hay out of the loft. He has about half of the siding off but I warned him to not go much farther until the roof is off. Its missing some braces and I figure that the siding is helping to hold it up. I'm taking a weeks vacation to pull the timbers off. I have a guy lined up with a 70' boom and bucket to knock out pins and pull off the beams. ($50 per hour was reasonable and thats with the operator) I have not been out to his place since he started to take it apart but he says that the outside beams look pretty good, just have the nails from the siding. I'll post some photos as soon as I get them. Clovis

[Ironwood]

Clovis,
You will learn to use the crane quickly and then send him off on his way, the roof and associated parts is where I would use him most. Pins NEVER seem to come out easy, they're usually in a "bind" so keep your saw handy to WHACK them off and keep the operators handle moving the levers!!!

Ironwood

[rbhunter]

The original post said a team of percheron draft horses. That looks like a team of sorrel Belgians. Nice looking team.

[beenthere]

Rbhunter
Are you referring to Reply #1? ??

[rbhunter]

Yes that is the one I was referring to.

[Clovis]

Ok, who's idea was this? Oh yea mine. 7 solid hours of swinging a sledge hammer and a 3' pry bar takes its toll on a guy. Well we do have the frame fully exposed and 25% of the roof is off. The guy with the jib was to busy today to come out, he had to go out of town to look at skidoo's!!!!! I don't know if I should hold my breath but he is supposed to show up tomorrow morning. :

Hey Ironwood I tried a couple of pins and you were right they don't like to come out to easy do they. I think that they expand in the hole when you are puching them back out. The pins do not have a blunt end they are pointy and they mushroom and then jam about 1.5" out of the hole. I bought a sawsall this morning just in case you were right. Thanks again for the advice guys this place is a lot of help. Clovis

[beenthere]

Might it work to drill out the pins?  ...at least to maybe give a flat, blunt end....and then a smaller diam. bit to remove the inside core of the pin. ??  just a wonderin...

[Furby]

Not on the ones I've done Beenthere.

[Clovis]

Here are some pics of that barn.... I can't figure out how to get the pic's here but they are in my gallery. To dam tired to think and my sweet heart has had enough of my playing. If ya know what I mean boys. So good night to ya all! Clovis

[Clovis]

Going back at that barn today. Nothing done yesterday winds were 40 - 50 MPH here. Being up on a tin roof not the best place to be in that wind. Let alone trying to run a jib.

[Clovis]

Well the barn, except for a few rafters, are at my shop and under tarps. Here are a few facts for someone to concider if they are going to do this themselves.

1) Total weight of the beams is around 16000 to 17000 pounds.
2) About 230 man hours not including cement removal (3-5 men at various times)
3) 3 cases of beer and 1 60oz. bottle of Gibsons wiskey. ($160 Canadian for the booze)
4) $500 for the jib crane (10 hours including travel)
5) Equipment used- 1 log skidder, 1 JD tractor to remove beams once on ground, JD backhoe with forks attached to bucket, stake truck with a 22' bed to move the beams to my site, a generator and various power and hand tools, chains and straps, 2 chain saws with 4 chains and 2 large dump trailers for the siding and the roof (about 12 loads).
6) 1 week of my vaction time.
7) 3 large tarps and more needed.
8 2 hundred bucks in gas for my truck to travel back and fourth to the barn site.
9) Total money out of my pocket is about $860
10) It cost me about 5.38 cents per pound for the timbers.

I have seen adds in different publications for free or paid barn removal. I have no idea how anyone could do this if they had to pay or own all this equipment and pay workers to do it and still make money. If it was not for my friends and their help and equipment I could not have done this.

If anyone knows of someone being paid or was paid for this service I'd like to hear about it.

I almost forgot, no one was hurt and no equipment was broken. Wear harneses, eye protection and safety boots, always work safely.

[Sprucegum]

  8) Good job - good education - good whiskey - what more can a man ask  ;)

[Ironwood]

Yes, you are right the math on this "FREE" barn, or "BUY MY BARN AND REMOVE IT" doesnt work. It is gorilla work. There is the barn up from the street from me. The developer who owns it wants to "sell" it for good money because on one general contracting job "he spent $78,000 for used barn wood" . Well, I can tell you it is a LOOOOONG way from here (barn standing) to there. The quantity he bought was ALOT (several buildings worth) and premium quality. This kind of reminds me of the threads about million dollar walnut trees.

Glad everyone got out safe, and now you have a nice body of knowlege IF you want to do it again.

        Ironwood

[Woodcarver]

Three guys stopped by and offered me $500 for our old dairy barn last summer.  They said that was all they could pay because they had no use for the lap siding on the lower part of the barn.  They said they would get rid of the roof metal and leave anything they couldn't use in a pile I could burn.

I didn't take them up on the offer.  I have some things stored in the barn I have to find a place for.  They left a calling card with their phone number.  Whether they will still be in business if I do get around to calling them is an open question.

[Clovis]

Woodcarver; $500 in your pocket? The only thing that was not owned by the guys with the barn was the jib crane and the 22' stake truck. All other equipment and fuel was supplied by the barn owners. I put in about 44 hours of my time and that included travel of 2 1/2 hours per day. I would do it again though. I learned sooo much that I could never learn in a book. I just love this stuff. When your ready take the 500 and run but barter for a couple of pieces to carve up :D

Ironwood' gorilla work yes, yes and yes. Funny thing is that is close to what I was called during the removal process. The guys kept calling me a monkey because I had no fear of moving around up in the rafters and beams removing pegs or cutting tenons that had pegs in tension. (next time I bring a chain fall and come along, to pull joints in tension tight, to remove pegs)

Like I said above I would do this again. Well guess what, I paid the guy with the jib crane today, he has a job coming up to tear down a BARN! Its a little bigger than this one. He was going to use his excavator to dig a hole and burn it after he crunched it down. Ouch! He suggested that we can work some thing out and he can use a little finesse to take it apart. Things that make you go HMMMMM! I told him I don't want a barn thats ready to fall down and the roof is gone so all the beams are rotted. Of course he said the roof is only a year old and that the owners have too many barns. This one has a lean so this is the one that comes down. I'm going to take a look next week. I'll post some pic's of it.

I telling ya I don't know how I get myself into this stuff! I'm very lucky to have a great girl.

Another thing, in my area timber frames and saving old barns are unheard of. Tell someone that you are doing this and they look at you like you are nuts. Log your own lumber out of your bush is even worse. I get asked "can't you just buy lumber at the store like every one else?

They just don't get it! :D

[Woodcarver]

I was surprised they offered what they did.  The barn is in poor shape.  The ground isn't level where it was built.  The sill is at ground level on one end.  It and the ends of some of the posts have decayed.  Some of the beams on the lower level are bent.
I didn't think they would be able to salvage enough from to make it worth their while to tear it down, let alone offer some cash for it.

They tore down a barn on farm a couple of miles away.  I saw their pick-ups and a trailer or two there while they were working on it, but never saw any other equipment.  I think they must have cut the bracing and pulled the frame over after they removed the siding.

 

[routestep]

For stuck pegs I use a 3/4" rebar piece and a smaller diameter piece (maybe 1/2 inch) to unstick the 3/4 rebar when it gets stuck. I need to get a piece that will just fit a 1 inch peg hole though. I never had to use them in the air, just for trial fit-up. I guess three hands or a good monkey tail would be about right on a ladder.

[Clovis]

routestep; I just had an epiphany; I was reading your post and I saw "use them in the air" and I thought "AIR" thats it, no more swinging a hammer for me. I have an AIR hammer and one of the bits are broken. I'm going to make a new bit with a 1" bar welded to it to remove pegs. I tried 1/2" and 5/8" bars and they jammed in the mushier and 'in tension' pegs. I switched to a 1" bar and things went a lot better. I also smacked my hand a couple of times with the hammer when I got tired. I think an air hammer will work great. Up on a ladder or on the ground it should be pretty easy to do it that way. I should only need my small air compressor and run it off of the generator.

The smaller bars seemed to flair the end of the peg just enough to make life miserable.

Anyone try this before? Clovis

[routestep]

Go for it and report back. I might have a good reason to get a new tool.

[Dave Shepard]

I have heard of using a slide hammer that pulls on a long (4"-6"?) Timberlok screw. I haven't tried it yet, but I have a nice heavy slide hammer to convert. Draw-bore is often destroyed when driving the pegs out, especially with size on size punches.


Dave