theKelleyFam

There are a few things that are finally getting completed around here. A small bedroom is about ready to be moved into. The basement wall is being poured tomorrow after they worked a few hours yesterday pulling the old fieldstone out. The barn’s completion seems to be getting further away despite my thinking about it a lot. Working out the steps to get there is a lot different than doing it. Is it any wonder the intellectual life is so inviting; one never actually needs to “do” anything. The  thinking is turning out to be the easy part. I am appreciating again the gulf between architects and carpenters and the difference between both of them and a craftsman. 

The plan for the barn to is get sills under it, a double 2×6 so it can be moved. After the sills are under it, it might be possible to level it out to brace it so the thing doesn’t crumble when we jack it up and roll it away. The second floor will come out it, as well as the first floor boards (2″ thick, 10″ wide, 16′ long). They are just sitting on skids of timbers, probably locust since it’s been sitting there about 100 years and only beginning to rot where humus has been piled against it. When we get a price for the slab, we will proceed with that.

The second major issue is racking it back to plumb or square or not leaning. everyone I talk to has an opinion about how to do that. Which means it’s a nice challenge. And they are all just good guesses that will work more or less. First suggestion back in October was to have a backhoe push it back, gently. Last week a guy said that two nudges with a hoe would send it to a pile of sticks. I was going to lash the thing to a tree and with a couple of come-alongs massage it back to close to plumb. Then someone offered the use of turnbuckles the size of my arm. That’ll do. We’ll see if the barn is standing in a week.

It’s debatable whether this thing is worth this trouble. Cue the comment: it’s about the journey, not the destination. Those people can go sip mineral water with the architects.