# Barn Renovation!!



## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Whoo hoo! I am so excited!!

In the middle of the trauma and drama surrounding trailering Boojum to NE Equine, and my frustration with DH for his uncompromising attitudes and openly expressed, well, anger, with my involvement in horses, he suddenly decided that a stable re-do was in order. 

He has a lot of stuff lying about the dooryard, including two Coast Guard rescue boats. These he sold to a guy from the backside of the island. Well, that guy came back to see if he could buy two ginormous aquaculture tanks that DH has, each one big enough to scuba dive in. [DH was going to fiberglass them together and bury them on our little island (called Kester Island, in the middle of Poo Lagoon) to make a scuba diving pool]. The guy also wanted DH's old propane powered bus... 

The guy didn't have a ton of money, so instead of selling them, DH traded him those items for a barn renovation. 

So now, the barn is getting siding on it to hopefully make it waterproof. Last year the entire barn floor was covered in 3" of water and ice. I had to salt the ice and then sprinkle shavings on top to make footing for Boojum.

In addition to siding the wrapping and siding the exterior, we are putting in an exterior human door... wait, I'll draw it out. That will be less wordy. Next post...


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I'm happy that your hubby is finally being supportive of you and your goals. A barn remodel is exciting! Use some of your wonderful photography skills during the process and share them with us please.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Oh wow! A barn renovation!! How exciting :loveshower:

Please, do post before, during and after photos for us!!


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Things have not gone exactly to plan regarding the barn remodelling project. 

Originally, DH was going to trade two aquaculture tanks and a bus for a partial barn renovation. Both tanks are gone, but the bus is still here:









The trade was only for renovating one room of the barn~ a 6x12 foot section that we want insulated and heated (YEA!!) We were going to do the rest ourselves. But the renovating guy suggested that we hire his son to do the outside sheathing and siding of the barn. The son was looking for work hiring him seemed like it would help everyone out. So we did.

That kind of went a little bit south, as the son is a pretty undependable sort of guy, and only works when you are right there. He still charges pretty good, but if you walk away, all progress grinds to a halt. And his girlfriend comes EVERY DAY and sits in her car, in the driveway, with the engine running for hours. Once she ran out of gas so we had to get her a few gallons, and once her battery died and we had to jump start her car. she just sits there: it's kinda creepy.

One day he called and said he couldn't come here because he had to organize his shop - and charged us $200.00 the next day because he said he organized it to accommodate us. For me, that was outrageous, but DH said to pay him, so I did.

The son has only been here about five or six days, all told, because no more siding can be done until some windows we ordered are delivered. So DH has taken the whole project over. He doesn't trust the son to do a good job (rightly so) and the dad was supposed to start on the room January 2nd, but we haven't heard a word. 

So DH is just doing it all.

The first thing DH and I did was dig trenches, lay down drain pipe, and back fill with gravel to try and keep water out of the paddock. This trench brings the excess water between the house and the barn and takes it into the pond. This is before we put in the drain pipe or gravel.









The son sided three outer walls of the barn, and put in a human door into one wall. This is DH bringing the door over with the tractor.









Partly sided wall:









This is the front of the barn with Typar but no siding, waiting for the windows to arrive:









This is where Boojum peeled the Typar back off of the front of the barn:









I had to fence it off with dog gates...

The barn is 24x24 with two 12x12 stalls in the back ~ here is a stall:









...and the other stall with all my horsey okay-to-freeze horsey possessions:









Right now, we close off the stalls using these metal farm gates and secure them with chains. It is awkward and loud, so I am considering using stall-guards instead, like these:









Not a great picture, I know, but they hook across the stalls. The webbing on these is fairly solid, but I wonder how safe they are. Gotta think about this.

The front party of the 24x24 barn consists of one center 12x12 open shelter / stall flanked on either side by 6x12 rooms. So if you are standing at the barn entrance, a 12 foot opening, and... no, I can't quite describe it. I will have to do a drawing after all. But one 6x12 foot room will stay unheated, and will hold grain and stuff that can freeze, and the other 6x12 foot room will be heated and will hold saddles, bridles, and stuff that can't or shouldn't freeze. DH is making the heated room have a 'cathedral' ceiling... 

More in the next post...


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

I don’t know why your DH did an about-180 regarding the barn but he has really dug in to get the job done

That’s quite a story regarding the guy who wants the money to renovate your barn but doesn’t want to work for it. His girlfriend sounds like a loser too. Maybe she came every day because they are living in that car? Either way those two need a lot more than financial help. Those kind of people don’t need to come in your home to use the bathroom either —— gives them a chance to look around for things they might want to take and sell ——

Your barn looks pretty good now - it will look terrific when it’s done


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Nice! Keep updating with pics!

Yeah, I can't believe you guys paid the son 200$ for rearranging his shop. Wow. Your husband is a patient guy. Probably a good thing that you've taken over the job. 

Having a heated room is a nice luxury. I can't justify it in our barn so everything that freezes comes into the basement. Tack is left out, for better of for worse. But what is the logic of putting a cathedral ceiling in the heated room? All the heat will rise to the top. I'd put a low ceiling in there myself. 

I use the webbed stall guards as a safety feature on the outside back door of my barn if I'm working in there and opening and closing stall doors or if I want to leave the back door open for air flow. I've had the horses escape a couple of times because I hadn't properly shut a stall door. I double check them, but still, it makes me feel better to know there is an additional barrier with the stall guard in place so if they get out of the stalls, they can't get out of the barn. I put three very large, very solid eyelet screws on each side of the door to attached the stall guard, and I can push against it as hard as I want and it feels very solid. They have never tested it. I wouldn't just rely on it to keep them in, but I do feel it's quite strong and would probably hold, at least for a while. The key part is to make sure you hook into into solid hardware that's attached to a solid piece of wood. 

Can't wait to see the finished barn! Some people like to look at house renovation magazines - I love a nice-looking barn!


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Acadianartist said:


> Yeah, I can't believe you guys paid the son 200$ for rearranging his shop. Wow. Your husband is a patient guy. Probably a good thing that you've taken over the job.


The son is still doing the siding, but DH took over installing the windows and some other stuff we originally thought the son could do. I like the dad, but not the son. He called a few times to check on things, clearly inebriated. Once he was complaining about not having money for Christmas and being unable to buy his two year old daughter a nice gift. In an uncharitable moment I thought, "Use the booze money for your kid, mister!" but honestly, the guy is a woodworker with a freshly cleaned shop. There are a gazillion things a woodworker with a nice, clean shop can make for a two year old for Christmas! No pity here, bud. 



Acadianartist said:


> But what is the logic of putting a cathedral ceiling in the heated room? All the heat will rise to the top. I'd put a low ceiling in there myself.


That was my thought also, but DH was so excited about it, and I am so excited to have a heated room, that whatever he wants to do is okay with me!



Acadianartist said:


> 've had the horses escape a couple of times because I hadn't properly shut a stall door.


So glad that I am not the only one!

More pics:

The hay loft with the first part of the cathedral ceiling wall up:









This is the soon to be heated room. My nephew os on the ladder, and that is where I used to have a ladder to the hay loft. Now it will be on the other side, and will be stairs. Originally, DH was thinking a spiral staircase, but that seemed expensive and dangerous to me, so now we are going to build a ship's ladder, similar to the one we have in the house.

Here is the cold room (Feed Room) with a temporary ladder going up.









Here is the ship's ladder we have in the house. DH dove it up off of a sunken boat that nobody knows about. He dove it all by himself up using air bags, cleaned it up at the car wash, I finished cleaning it at home, and installed he installed it all in one day. 

Here it is when he dove it up. The orange thing is part of the air bag:









And here it is in our house:









I think it will be easy and inexpensive to build, and I like it! Handrails are built in!

I tried to get some pictures of Boojum, but he was uncooperative...


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Your barn and home are both so charming and beautiful!! Love seeing the progress and must say super pictures of Boojum!!! He is such a cutie  

So, if I understand this right, the dad has already received some property, tanks, but has not returned to do any work...

The son has come (with weird tag-along but do nothing GF) and done some work, but is often drunk and unable to do all he promised. 

DH has stepped up and is working hard on the barn renovation project. 

Keep DH! He deserves a gold metal (or at least a few really nice dinners) for his support and hard work

For the cathedral ceiling in heated room, (heat - YAY) you could install a ceiling fan to blow the warmth back down, and be cool in the summer...


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

AnitaAnne said:


> Your barn and home are both so charming and beautiful!! Love seeing the progress and must say super pictures of Boojum!!! He is such a cutie
> 
> So, if I understand this right, the dad has already received some property, tanks, but has not returned to do any work...
> 
> ...


Thank you, and yes! DH totally came through in splendid style. I can't cook him any dinners, as he is totally the Chef here, and I am the Doer of Dishes, but I can make him a coupon book with promises of help in his shop (he is also slowly renovating that!) and things such as that.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

LOVE that hayloft! 

I have a similar staircase going up to my loft. We didn't have much space either so it had to be steep. It works well, but I did put a handrail on it for safety. 

I agree - hubby deserves a gold star!


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Ohg brrr! I am still shivering from working in the barn today. Negative 12 with the wind chill, and even with winter clothes on it was freezing! Tomorrow is gonna be negative 15 and I just talked DH out of going diving for scallops tomorrow. I mean, c'mon! That kind of weather just isn't fit!

However, talking him out of scalloping means that instead of working in the warm house tomorrow, I will be back with him in the barn. Why are we doing this in winter?

We didn't start until 9:00 this morning because we people coming over to buy scallops, so DH was walking around the house with our parrot, Kraken, on his shoulder. 

This is Kraken.









DH leant down to pet Elver, our Newfoundland, and quick as a wink, Kraken raced down DH's arm and bit Elver on the nose. 

This is Elver (and Nori) and his nose.









And it is a temptingly big and juicy nose, but that was a first. Elver said, "Yip!", shook his head, and flung Kraken across the room. Happy to say, both dog and parrot were okay, no blood or broken bones or feathers. 

Then, toward the end of the day when we were working in the barn, and Boojum was locked out...

...this is Boojum locked out...









...using a farm gate. 

He got impatient, pawed the gate, and got his front foot stuck in the gate. I couldn't lift his foot out, so ran for a knife to cut the rope holding the gate, but before I got back, DH had freed him. I am not a fan of farm gates/round pen panels, even though that is what I use for fencing. I heard about one horse getting his head stuck and perishing. Next year - better fencing!

But we made progress on the barn. Alas, we mismeasured our door opening, so when the door arrived it was too big to fit. We had to take down a beam brace, take off the massive sliding door, and rip down part of the barn wall that we had just built to accommodate it. 

Back at it tomorrow: negative -15!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

We also have a barn renovation project this year. My hubby built me this barn in 1982. It has a couple of rotten posts and could really use four new exterior stall doors and a paint job. I'd love to wash down the interior plywood walls, level the floors and lay down mats but I don't think we'll get that far. Of course we're not the spring chickens we were 38 years ago! LOL!



We're looking at some pre-cast post "stubs" to fix the posts, but not yet sure if we can get them, or how much they'll cost. Made in Idaho and we're in W. Oregon.


Best of luck with your barn!


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Boojum is so adorable! That face says it all :smile: 

Good to hear he did not hurt himself getting that hoof caught...horses can get into trouble so easy!


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Our barn project, like all of our projects, was interrupted by other projects. We started in December, I think, and then got interrupted by a working vac to the Azores. 

Home from the Azores, worked on the barn again, got a diagnosis and treatment plan for Boojum, then off to Florida for a working working vacation. Lots of work on that one. 

Home again, back at the barn project, back at Boo's rehab program, and I sort of forgot some details of his treatment. How many times do I rotate his left leg? How far do I stretch his right leg? And what in the world constitutes two stride lengths between ground poles? I have them set at 69" and hope that is correct for him.

The warm room (tack room) is almost done. All I need now are racks for saddles, bridles, halters, pads and blankets. And whips, lunge lines, lead ropes, boots, brushing boots... hmmm.

Today hung a new feed bin and Boo's automatic feeder, organized the shampoos, grooming aids, first-aid stuff, meds, tack cleaning stuff... and I got a bit of a shock. 









Where did all these treats come from? My horse is on a diet! I do not remember buying these at all.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

:rofl: Those aren't treats, those are vitamins :rofl:


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

The remodeled tack & feed rooms are nearly done... still puzzling over how to handle drying blankets, when DH came up with this:









This is the four rack one, but they also have five and six pole models. Since we built a "cathedral ceiling" in the tack room, we could heist the blankets right up and overhead to dry.


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

Very fancy! I just have hooks along the top of the wall and hang mine down straight from the neck area. Works ok.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

I love the blanket hanger! What are those metal braces? I would love something like that in my barn!!


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

carshon said:


> I love the blanket hanger! What are those metal braces? I would love something like that in my barn!!


Right? I want one in the laundry/dog room! They are called Clothes Airers and we got the one in the picture from "Pully Maid" in the UK. We got it without the poles (for obvious shipping reasons) but it just takes 1" or so poles, so that will be easy. We got the extra pully and line, and the whole thing, including shipping, was just over $100.00.


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Boojum is such a cutie...as well as the dogs & parrot. Looks like you have plenty of helpers...or creepers, making sure you're doing a good job! :lol:

That blanket hanger looks so fancy. LOL I just hang ours on the fence! And you can never have enough treats! :rofl:


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## Captain Evil (Apr 18, 2012)

Well, the barn is still not done!! But it is a lot closer...

The hay loft shorty wall is done, so this is what it now looks like on the inside: 









..so, not a whole lot different.

But DE cut out the doors to load hay









...of course, photographing the cut-outs can be challenging with a horse like Boojum.

Then he made the doors, and installed them:









And then it was time for the Fish! We have two 16' long fish which were supposed to go on our old boat for advertising, but then the boat crashed...:









..in 2008, so the Fish have just been hanging around stacked up in the dooryard. So today, we cleaned up one Fish and heisted it onto the barn.









Here it is it's new home.









The second Fish will go on DH's boat shop.

The best part, though, is the warm room. Unbelievable to have a 6x12 heated room for meds, shampoos, saddles... 

Whoo hoo!


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

When you guys get out of the diving business you can go into the barn building business. You all are doing a beautiful job!


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

That Barn is beautiful!! Such craftmanship! Pictures with Boojum are always better :smile:


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Wow, yes, love it. Given that every room in my house (really, ever single one) has a renovation plan, we'll probably be doing that for the next 5 years. But some magical day in the future, I can't wait to give our barn some TLC too. Loved seeing the transformation. Looks like the primary resident approves too :grin:


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## PoptartShop (Jul 25, 2010)

Wow, that is GORGEOUS!!! I love it! & of course, Boojum is the best photo bomber ever. :lol:

That looks amazing, so cool to see it. I love it. Great job!! Love that aqua color!


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

JCnGrace said:


> When you guys get out of the diving business you can go into the barn building business. You all are doing a beautiful job!


This^^^^

Horse people are probably the only ones who would call your barn Stunning, but it ist:smile: 

What craftsmanship :clap::clap:


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