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Tool Talk Discussion Forum

Moisture against barn beams

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Quebec Bob

08-28-2006 11:56:06




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I am creating a workshop and machinery shed in one end of my barn. It's a 100 year old post and beam barn with large beams, doweled joints and is still square and level. The sills are hemlock (I believe) beams. I am going to pour some concrete and place some gravel up against those sills to make a new floor since they are at a good level to use as forms for the cement pour and to bring the gravel to grade.(Concrete in the shop part, gravel in the machinery end.) What is the best thing to put between the sills and the concrete or gravel so that the sills are not rotted out by the additional moisture? 6 mil poly? Styrofoam? Other? I'd really appreciate the advice. Thanks

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Don L C

08-29-2006 14:16:26




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 Re: Moisture against barn beams in reply to Quebec Bob, 08-28-2006 11:56:06  
Bob, if I was going to do it for myself....I would box in the old beam with presure treated wood and spray the old beam with termite killer first also spray good and heavy the gravel or dirt before pouring.....



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Stan in Oly, WA

08-28-2006 14:04:26




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 Re: Moisture against barn beams in reply to Quebec Bob, 08-28-2006 11:56:06  
Hi Bob,

About thirty years ago I bought a house in King County, just few blocks outside the Seattle city limits. The lending bank's pest control inspector okayed a situation where the seller had put corrugated fiberglass against the house to berm up the landscaping soil above the top of the concrete foundation. (I thought it was bogus and later added three courses of concrete block to the top of the foundation, but that's neither here nor there.)

Another time, when I should have known better, I framed several walls in a basement without using pressure treated lumber for the sole plates. The Seattle building inspector must have had a soft spot for hard working fools because he told me that I didn't have to tear it out and do it right if I could get galvanized flashing metal under it. Using house jacks and wedges, my Vietnamese foster son and I got metal under the walls at only about three times the effort of doing it over. There was a happy ending though. That and a few other of my labor intensive projects convinced my foster son to get a good education so he would never have to do that kind of work. He went on to become an aeronautical engineer. So metal is a possibility.

I'd say you'd want a bit of standoff like you'd get from corrugated fiberglass or corrugated galvanized metal, or something with at least a small amount of insulative value to reduce the likelihood of a condensation problem. I don't know what the current code is for concrete slabs under living space but years ago it used to call for a certain R value of insulative foam beneath the pour. So foam is another material you might use, except that most foams are subject to insect damage; even if you could cover the exposed top edge, the foam against the sills wouldn't be likely to be insect proof.

Another type of product I've used in somewhat similar circumstances is asphalt impregnated material, leftover three tab roofing in one case, but 90# rolled roofing or shake felt would work too.

Best of luck, Stan

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Fred Gwynne

08-28-2006 14:12:18




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 Re: Moisture against barn beams in reply to Stan in Oly, WA, 08-28-2006 14:04:26  
Why not just use expansion joint?



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