Tearing down an old barn

[3_lb_trigger]

Much to my dismay, a tree split, falling on, and caving in the roof on my old barn which added so much charm and character to my property. Now it's a delapitated eyesore! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif The roof is touching the ground in the center, while the sides are still attached to the tops of the walls which are now leaning inward. My question is, Is there any certain technique I should use to finish it off? I was thinking of just pushing the walls in at the top with the FEL. Anyone have experience / horror stories about this?



Oops! posted this in attachments, will move to projects. Sorry.

 

[bczoom]

Sorry to hear about your barn.

If you do decide to disassemble, exercise extreme caution! The barn's structural integrity has been comprimised and you don't really know what's going to happen.
My Dad's best friend tried to disassemble a barn that was in good shape. He died in the process when a portion collapsed on him.

Try your fire department. They may be willing to burn it for you (if you don't want to salvage the wood).

Brian

 

[MarlandS]

Is there any danger of the walls "kicking" back when pushing with the FEL? If so, I'd try a longish log chain and pull the bottoms out. Sure, your pile wouldn't be as compact but it might lend itself to salvaging some of the wood in a more safe manner or a lower fire should you just burn it.

 

[RonR]

I have an Uncle who had a barn that the roof was good, but the sides were rotting out. (Roof had been rebuilt earlier).

He went inside and put some telephone poles lengthwise at the base of the studs on each side. Attached to the poles, he hooked LONG log chains and cable to get far away from the barn. Then he chainsawed from the outside most of the studs on both sides of the barn.

Attaching four big tractors to the log chains (one at each corner of the barn), he pulled the side walls out which alowed the roof to settle to ground level. I think he also rigged cross wires at the base of the roof in many places to keep it structurally together as it came down.

Then he salvaged the wood sides, raised the roof enough to put telephone poles under it as kind of foundation, and used it to store hay in for many years. It looked weird, but was functional.

That was in the 80's. It, as well as the whole farmsted, is gone now.

Ron

 

[Cowboyjg]

Awefully sorry you are so far away. I'd be happy to take it down for the lumber. You might try that as an alternative to trying to take it down yourself. An ad in the paper or a referral from someone you know might be the way to go. I'm sorry for the loss of your barn. I understand the character aspect and the effect of the loss. if you do take it down, pulling the bottoms, if that's an option(posts buried), is what you should do. If not, make sure anything High is down and then take what you can and save it. You'll be glad you did. Obviously some pics wold help.


Best of luck


John

 

[3_lb_trigger]

I tried to post a picture of the barn but the site won't let me. Even when I try to resize, it won't take it. The lowest setting on my digital camera is 1 megapixel, so I guess I can't make the file small enough. I had the same problem when I tried to use a picture of my AR15 with a copy of the U.S. constitution in the background for my member picture, so I just got the picture of the confederate flag off the internet instead.

 

[3_lb_trigger]

I tried to post a picture of the barn but the site won't let me. Even when I try to resize, it won't take it. The lowest setting on my digital camera is 1 megapixel, so I guess I can't make the file small enough.

 

[Cowboyjg]

I use Photobucket for my pictures. I upload there and then provide links to my pictures. Eliminates having to use the site. Try that.

 

[DocHeb]

You can also post larger pics in the Photos Section, and then link to the pictures there.

 

[3_lb_trigger]

Here's a picture of the barn.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2199/size/big/sort/1/cat/500
Hopfully , the link works.

 

[Cowboyjg]

Well...after having seen the picture it appears like it's time for a little tractor action. I don't see any reason why you can't just work your way around the perimeter of the barn pushing the sides in to get it down. Keep in mind that some of your posts appear to be buried but the age of the barn looks like you'll be able to take every thing down and then cut the posts at ground level if you don't want to remove them.

 

[allpontiac]

I had an old barn with a loft that had partially collapsed. I rented a skid steer, started pushing it down around the edges and then ran over it a few times to crush and compact it and pushed it up. Hauled it to a deep gulley and buried it.

 

[EddieWalker]

When I bought my land I found an old barn in the trees. They had grown up around it over the years and there's no telling how old it was or what it was used for.

It was 100 ft long by 40 feet wide with 14 ft walls. To say it was pretty big is an understatement. At first I thought I'd try and rebuild it, but one day a large oak branch fell through the roof and caved just about the entire roof in. That's when I decided it was too dangerous to mess with.

I first tried to push it down with my FEL, but it wouldn't budge. I have a full size 555E backhoe, so I switched directions and tried with the hoe stick.

I had to hit the walls near the top to get any results. Allot of those poles were still solid and ended up snapping way up high. A few times I had splinters of wood fly by my head close enough to scare me pretty good.

Wear a hard hat and saftey goggles!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another pucker factor would occur when I'd get a hold of a section of wall. I'd be pusing on it and it would be falling apart, only to hit a solid part. Then my hoe stick would lift the backend of my tractor up into the air. This is particular scarry when I was at an angle to the wall.

Then there was the few times I used my FEL to try pushing over sections of the wall. I was relying on brute force and probably was going about it all wrong, but I'd drive up to a section with the FEL up fairly high with the intention of pushing it down. Same thing would happen. It would start to collapse, then catch on a strong timber or something. This would lift me in the air and if I was at a bad angle, it would scare me fairly good.

Of course, that barn was on the side of a hill and sourounded by large oaks making access tricky.

Whatever you do, go at it real slow and just nibble away at it. I was too aggressive and put myself in too many situations that caution and intellegence should have avoided.

Good luck and be careful,
Eddie

 

[cmhyland]

This looks like a couple hour job for an excavader with a thumb on it.

I had a small barn taken down to build a new one.
The excavader knocked it down, broke it up and loaded in into roll-offs.

I would dig a hole next to it and knock it down into the hole.
Burn it in the hole and cover up after the ash cools completely.

This way there isn't the settling problems with the soil.

Regards,
Chris

 

[JimMorrissey]

I was thinking the same thing......would be a pretty fun "project" too /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Just make sure to get a real excavator and not try to skimp with one of those little trenching units.

 

[JimR]

You should have no problem knocking that stucture down with a FEL. Anyone trying to take down a two story post and beam barn with a FEL is nuts. The easiest way to do them is by knocking out a few pins, attaching a longgggg chain to a lower post and pulling the barn apart. A better way is to call the local fire dept and ask if they are interested in a real life barn burning training sessions.