Lots of Vertical Space

Peter Rideout

Member
Messages
1,662
Location
Nova Scotia, 45°N 64°W
We are making steady but slow progress on the barn roof repairs and the weather has been mostly fine, although we are conscious of winter looming.
Shayne has removed the worst boards, some of which weren’t all that great when the guys put them up there in 1915. It’s a contrast to how well constructed all the other aspects of the structure were.
We are using local, rough (full 1 inch) eastern hemlock for the re-boarding.

Some might notice our little milling station setup in the barn floor area for preparing the roof boards, which includes a nice little Rockwell Beaver table saw and homemade bench I got for $50!!! It was a pain during phase 1 last fall to try and maneuver long boards into the shop for ripping.

You'll also see the Cowan bandsaw frame. It’s not a stalled project, just delayed while we get this beast weather tight!

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Peter, what a mammoth project! That man lift has to be your best investment on this project. Safety is paramount and that man lift has to be a 100% increase in safety over crawling up and down ladders. Please keep us informed on this, kudos to you my friend!
I was thinking the same thing. I'm sure the man lift has paid huge dividends in production as well as safety. Great project, Peter!
 
Jonathan, Vaughn, Tom

Thanks for your comments and encouragement.

Our son Shayne is doing the real work on this project. I keep the materials coming, run for fasteners, blades, coffee and whatever and put my harness on and go up if needed. He’s thirty, smart, fit and handy with lots of practical skills.

The lift makes it all possible and although it’s expensive to rent, there are major savings and a better job in doing it ourselves. This unit is a real beast, 80’ reach, on board 6000 watt generator, built in air lines to the work platform and lots of power. Sounds like a big diesel tugboat when he fires it up! We took advantage of the labour savings by buying some good tools to make the job easier and save time.

We’re covered up for rain and wind today, but continuing to work in the shop on those trim boards, and get some rest. Next week’s weather looks good.
 
Peter, you guys are solid sheeting (with boards) the entire roof? Then covering with steel? Here it is common to attach the steel panels to "furrowing" strips of 1x4 or 1x6. Just wondering.
 
Peter, you guys are solid sheeting (with boards) the entire roof? Then covering with steel? Here it is common to attach the steel panels to "furrowing" strips of 1x4 or 1x6. Just wondering.
No, we are using the laminated “architectural” shingles, Jon. We looked at steel, but the curved roof presented a problem. We even talked to a company in Montreal that would custom bend it, but it would have been much more expensive.
We were very cautious about asphalt shingles of any kind, due to the terrible quality they’ve shown over the past twenty years or so and worthless warranty claims.

But, after talking to many friends in the building trades, we achieved a level of confidence in these new shingles. Shayne is being very particular with installation too. Every nail has tar applied on top of it, which also sticks the next course.
 
That's a helluva of project, specially if you are doing it on your own! I wish I had such a barn to turn it into a workshop! Please keep us posted!
Thanks Tony! It’s great to hear from you.

We all know that any barn you were connected with would look like something Sam Maloof built, lots of beautiful hand carving inside and out!😀
 
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This is fabulous! My concentration in college was in historic preservation - did you take advantage of barn restoration grants and tax credits? I grew up in a rural area and I hate to watch barns deteriorate. Without barns in a community, you are really losing part of the connection to the land as well as a great place to build homecoming floats. ;) But seriously - a barn is a great place to assemble larger works.
 
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