Is This Hip Roof Barn Worth Saving HELP

daynee

Member
The barn has a steel roof which is one of the reasons I would like to keep it and store stuff in it, about 90% of the woood is good, and the foundation is average but still not to bad. needs a paint job , lol , but here"s the part which is kina making me wonder if I should keep it, the whole barn has a lean on it, the lean is going from the front to the back, NOT SIDE TO SIDE, not a huge lean but would need to get fixed , has anyone every tried to fix a lean or seen someone do it on an old hip roof barn

any help would be great

Thanks

Daynee
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I straightened out a small barn with a steel cable and chain hoist. You need to be careful as a warped old beam will not bend back, but crack. If the lean is due to lose joints, it is much easier to straighten it out then bolt or brace them solid again. I have saved all the buildings on our place and am very happy I did. It is alot of work and sometimes seems harder than starting all over, but it also gives alot of satisfaction. In our case, it saved money as we replaced roofs with new metal and generally used old lumber for the wood repairs. Here in the east, a barn is doomed if the roof starts leaking. So, we did the roofs first and worked down. We saved 4 buildings on our place and taxes stayed the same. We put up a new pole barn and taxes went up immediately. You decide.
 
I would for sure try to save it. I hate seeing beautiful old barns neglected. I have never done it but think the basic gist is you bury 2 railroad ties 6 or 8' down perpendicular to the barn and hook cables to them. that is called a deadman or anchor. the farther out the better. run the cables into the barn and tie them into the frame. tighten up turnbuckles a little at a time over the next few years to bring it back to something close to straight. this needs to be done slowly. not all at once. the timber frame is the bones of the structure (unlike a modern stick frame structure that relies on the siding of osb or planks for stability) so go through and resecure or fishplate the gussets and it should be stable again.
 
Definitely! Get a heavy cable and a large turnbuckle. Run cable on an angle(like the hypotenuse of a triangle) from top of wall on the end closest to the power pole to the bottom of the wall at the opposite end. Would be best to do this on both eave walls. Depending on the cause of the lean, you may be able to straighten it fairly quickly. You can fix a lean caused by loose joints faster than you can adjust a lean caused by warped timbers/framing.
 
We moved an old barn a mile and straightened the "leaner" barn back in 1947 and turned it into a grainary. It was not all that practical; could have built a new building of a better design for the same money.
 
You can argue all day but my dad always called your gambrel barn a "hip" roof.

From Wikipedia

An earlier reference from the Dictionary of Americanisms, published in 1848, defines gambrel as "A hipped roof of a house, so called from the resemblance to the hind leg of a horse which by farriers is termed the gambrel."[7] Websters Dictionary also confusingly used the term hip in the definition of this roof.
 
Yes,that is what I would do. I wouldn't get in a big toot about getting it perfect but at least stop or slow it from getting worse. You could spend a pile of money on it but I don't think you need to. Just a little maintenance will help keep it standing a long time.
 

I vote SAVE IT! They stopped building those authentic post and beam barns a hundred and fifty years ago. Mine had a lean. Like Northvale I got a chain come-a-long, I got some cable from a utility construction company, and bought a big turn buckle. As Northvale says stay away from center point of posts. You will need to pull on all three post rows at the same time. have fun and be safe!
 
My Dad calls gambrel roofs hip roofs as well.
If you have a use for it, yes, save it! It's not too far gone.
Kind of funny coincidence that you post about saving an old barn, just a couple days after I heard a neighbor lady is going to have one burned. Her's IS too far gone to save. It's been unused (and not maintained) since she and her (now ex) husband bought the place about 35 years ago. They had some of the PO's machinery stored on it. Horse-dràwn stuff converted to be used behind a tractor. Mower, side rake, binder, hay loader.... I'm not sure what else was pulled out of that barn and the other sheds. All still usable when it was parked. ..
 
Everyone that doesn't have to foot the bill wants people to save old barns and houses.Unless you have some emotional attachment to the old barn I about guarantee you can build a nice metal building with equal storage for less $$$ and have exactly what you want and a building that won't burn down and not have to always be working on.
 
Not knowing everything about the building
But if it were mine I'd make the attempt to
save..
(BECAUSE)
1. it appears to be Straight & Square

2. You stated 90% of the wood is good.

3. In Pa. if you replace it, the Tax's on a
new build that size will kill you.

4. Just about anything you build now, won't
be a strong or last as long.

This is My 2.2 Cents worth...
 
I'm not picky about what you called your roof. I always thought it was a dutch style, but what do I know? Our old barn looked like dad's old dairy barn.

As for how to you straighten up the barn, I did it once. Much smaller structure. I used #9 wire, many turn buckles, and slowly pulled at an angle. Once I got it straighteded up, I then used boards to angle brace it. It was only a 16x20 building. A little scary. You would need many turn buckles, many angle braces, many hours. I see you have some angle bracing to keep the barn from leaning sideways, but not long ways

I did it only to prove I could do it. By the time I was done with my small project I had to replace the roof, siding, put in a garage door. It would have been cheaper and faster to put up a new building that is more functional.

Good luck. Let us know what you finally do.
George
 

I would contact a company that salvages those old posts and beams. Sell it to them, and then erect a new pole building. The cost of straightening that old barn, plus the cost of repairs you aren't even aware of yet will quickly add up to the cost of a new building.
 
Around here your barn IS NOT a hip roof, I do not know a name for that style BUT it IS NOT a hip roof. The posters is.
 
For decades a local lumber yard had a crew that did nothing but straighten old barns across this State, and likely beyond. Now they"re old, retired, dead. It was amazing what they could do. Probably a lost art now, but worth looking in to, to find a crew with experience. If on your own, I think slow and easy is key.
 
been like that a long time?
yes..
put a new/repair roof on it, add some braces here and there so it doesn't go further. make sure the foundation is ok.
done.

I have one ancient shed that was tilted when I bought my place 35 years ago. years later a big tree leaned against it when going over and tilted it more. Checked it out, all looked ok, good old time red colored wood, very hard.
It has had 2 new roofs over my years here, still standing fine.
I just tell people to tilt their head when they look at it if they mention it.............
 
One of our neighbors back in the 1940's had a barn that had large diameter steel rods and turn buckles on an angle that came to an X on both ends and the sides not covering the doors. No idea if it had been straightened at one time or if it was built that way. Thinking back at the way it was held square would be a way to hold it in place once it was pulled back square. I would think cables and a winch or hydraulic porta power something like the body shops use to pull car body shops back square. It would seem that both sides or ends would need pulled at the same time.
 
The correct police always show up in these cases. Growing up and living where most all barns were built with (gambrel)roofs every one called them (hip roofs). When looking at many pictures of barns to decide how I wanted mine to look 10 years ago I was surprised when all the pictures called the hip roof I wanted to build was called a gambrel roof. I went back to my Grandfather's how to build a barn book to see what the roofs were called in the 1800's so I could prove all the gambrel roof callers wrong only to find that it was called gambrel then as well. I guess hip has less letters and easier to say. Probly much like creek and crick. Just how us uneducated flyover people talk. :)^D
 
Not only do I see a lean, but the roof is sagging in the middle too.

Boy I dunno... I might be tempted to put a heavy cable and turnbuckle diagonally along each wall, and see if it will pull back straight.

My neighbor down the road has been working for the past few months to stabilize a barn like that. He can't tear it down and build something of equivalent size because it's in a residential neighborhood on a 3/4 acre lot, so it's either fix it or lose all that space.

The nice thing is you can work on it a little at a time, as time and finances allow. It doesn't appear to be going anywhere immediately, so you can get it straight, then work on replacing rotted wood.
 
I have straightened a barn and a house that were that bad or worse by drilling a couple of holes up as high as possible under the eave on each end and running cable through the hole, then clamp the cable to a piece of 2 7/8'' or larger pipe that is approximately the same width as the building, then hook the free end of the cables to a heavy tractor and pull the pipe up against the end of the building and pull a little more, just until you hear timbers groan a little, set the brakes and let the building settle over night then repeat as many days as required until you have the building back up where you want it plus a little more. After the building is up where you want it brace the inner walls on the previously sagging end with something substantial like 2'' X 12'' diagonals and 3/4'' marine plywood, screwed with plenty of 3 1/2'' deck screws, not nailed, do the same in the loft if it has one and check the foundation to be sure it does not need shoring up on the previously leaning end, repair the foundation if required then slowly release the tractor load and the building should relax slightly but mostly stay in place.
 
If you dont fix it up, and it does end up falling over, you'll need to ask yourself one question:

Where is your mother in law gonna stay when she comes to visit?
 
I straightened one years ago, hooked cable on far end of top plate so pull would be on all studs used winch pulled wall slow over center,started at far end at bottom cut 2x6 on angle nailed between studs worked to top (like wind bracing) released winch still straight been 40 yrs.
 
daynee, Save this old Darlin! I grew up with a Gambrel Barn like that here in Central Texas. We could stack right at 1000 sm sq bales in the Loft. On the lower side it had 3 big grain bins on one side. on the other one sm bin, a Stationary Letz Feed grinder, and two other stalls.
The Money it will take to put up in Shape to last another 100yrs is but a fraction of "To build a new one". But the Character! Oh the Character of and old Barn can not be duplicated. Please save it!
Clean it out, straighten it up, fix the foundation, any structural damage, the Roof, then Paint that is my vote.
I Know there are companies that do this kind of work. You may need to get some guidance but it should be pretty straight forward. Git-R-Dun!
Show Pics of progress...Please!
Later,
John A.
 
That barn can be brought back but it won't be cheap and it can't be done in a week,a month or maybe even a year.It took a long time to get out of kilter and it will take a long time to straighten it back up.The turnbuckels can only be tightened a little at a time.
There is an outfit in New York state called old barns or something like that.They're really good at what they do but as said,not cheap.






 
(quoted from post at 08:14:48 09/18/14) One of our neighbors back in the 1940's had a barn that had large diameter steel rods and turn buckles on an angle that came to an X on both ends and the sides not covering the doors. No idea if it had been straightened at one time or if it was built that way.........
ay have been built from green lumber and those were put in to prevent movement from the lumber warping as it dried and to pull them back into shape. An iron worker bought a place down the road from me that had burned. He repaired the basement walls, and is building a timber frame (supported on the posts rather than old basement walls). He has built some for people before and one of the things he did is install cables he can tighten or loosen to adjust for warping as the green lumber dries. He is planning on this being his home when finished, but only being able to work on it in spare time it is taking a while.
 
Yes, it is salvageable. I'll try and post some before and after pictures of our 1900 era barn that was redone last year. It was not cheap, as mentioned, but I'm really glad we did it. It took a 4 man professional crew a month to do the job. It is still not "perfect", but is much, much better than it was. It should last as long as I'll ever live, so it was worth it to me.
 
Quite save-able! It can get a bit expensive, but the more elbow grease you can put into it, the more money you will save. Be smart about it, take your time. I have two barns & a pump house that need quite a bit of work & that's the first thing I learned. That.... & as bad as it looks, it usually isn't going to fall down tomorrow.

I do wonder, with the roof being so-so, how's the frame? Any rot?

Mike
 
My brother and I fixed a leaning barn by running cables on each wall from the high outward leaning corners to the opposite bottom corners--used turn buckles and come alongs to assist---took about a week- then nailed diagonal comer braces at each corner on the inside and then re nailed all of the siding.
 
It very well could have been the reason. Being I was a kid it never came to me to ask why. I just now was remembering it being that way.
 
Looks very similar to the barn out and the old farm place. Problem with this one though is foundation is completely shot. I have ten cut off high line poles inside supporting the outer ends of the beams, joists, what ever they are called. I keep a lot of stuff in there but am always worried about it coming down.
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I'm not too concerned what people call them.
But here is what Wikipedia has to say on a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambrel" target="_blank">Gambrel Roof</a> versus a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_roof" target="_blank">Hip Roof.</a>
 
It looks like it was originally a horse barn, about 30 feet wide by 50 or 60 feet long? The roof does look like it is sagging in the center, likely from a sagging foundation. There are a lot of big corner braces under the loft floor. Are they original, or was the barn straightened side to side at a later date?

Think about how you will use the building and draw up any changes you would like to make: more and bigger doors, stairs to loft, loft doors, add a lean to (spelling), etc. All those columns under the loft floor prevent driving any wide machinery inside. When you have to hand carry and then stack everything you move in and out that will get old fast.

To me, it would make a great livestock barn again or a woodworking shop. It would not be good for storing machinery or vehicles, it might be fair for storing smaller items if you don't mind carrying things some distance.
 
That's basically what I did. I even pulled diagonally to get my corners plumb in both directions.
 


My Dad always called that a hip roof barn. He straightened ours, or his, up by running cables in an X on each side with turn buckles. His were only 3/8 inch cables
 
(quoted from post at 12:16:11 09/18/14)
I vote SAVE IT! They stopped building those authentic post and beam barns a hundred and fifty years ago... quote]

Well.... not quite. My 60 x 40 post and beam barn was built in 1902 (East Central Ohio). Beams were all sawn and pegged together, and it has t&amp;g vertical barn siding, just like the modern stuff. A 1951 60 x 40 addition on the rear was built just like it, but they wanted it to be more clear span. They had too big a span on the two main wood beams that had to be replaced with steel, but still sitting on big wood posts. They just cut them down to allow the steel to be placed. The lower part of it is ceramic block, the upper is the same barn siding as the older part.
 
been called hip roof since the early 1900's here. I don't know where you are, the State of Iowa has an organization that helps restore old barns. You might check into it.
 

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