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Tractor Talk Discussion Forum

Re-Roofing the Barn

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Blue3992

10-05-2006 13:44:16




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Any suggestions on the best way to get the roof fixed on this barn without having to go into the poor house?

Right now, I think its got 2 or 3 layers of shingles on it; I think the last layer was added sometime in the mid-1980’s. It’s got three pretty big holes in it (each hole maybe 8 ft x 10 ft) and a bunch of smaller holes here and there.

I’ve talked to two contractors so far about re-roofing it, both suggested to put metal roofing over the existing shingles. I think the preferred method is to put 2x4’s and 2x6’s across the roof, and nail the metal roofing to the 2x4’s and 2x6’s.

So far, it looks to be at least $20,000 for all-new metal roofing. That’s a lot of money to spend on a building I really have no use for. I’ve looked a little bit into grants and what-not to preserve historic barns, but as far as I know the barn doesn’t have any real historic value.

Any suggestions on how to get it done cheaper? The farm is located in Northern Illinois. third party image
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Blue3992

10-06-2006 08:41:09




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Tnaks for all the replies. Sounds like my first job is going to be figuring out how many layers of shingles are up there.

What do you think, how many layers are too many if I'm going to put steel over it? Is one layer too many? Should I rip the shingles off no matter what?



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PhilcaseinWPa

10-06-2006 07:03:36




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
My barn in W PA has athe original slate roof. I've often thought that with all the money I've put into slate repairs the last 20+ years I could of had a new shingle roof. Of course if I would have put shingles on 20+ years ago I'd probably be looking at repacing them soon. A few years ago I found a slater from Ohio and his work seems to be holding up much better than the work of the former roofer. Our barn, house and wagonshed are all slate roofs, all over 100 years old. My machine shed is a metal roof about 30 years old and leaks like a seive and did from the get go. You can't beat slate for longevity but it is expensive and hard to get someone who knows what they are doing.

Phil

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farmallman

10-06-2006 05:22:42




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
We had the same thing a few years ago. We had an old poll barn that was falling apart and we wern't sure what to do. The barn was too far from our house to be very useful, so we ended up tearing it down. We had cut all the cross beams to weaken it, than hooked chains/cables inside and a looong chain to a tractor and pulled, and pulled, snap a chain, go get another cable, and pulled, and than it fell. I have a few pics somewhere that I might be able to scrounge up if any of ya are interested. we saved the brick, some wood went to a local guy who wanted to build a counter in his store and we sold whatever we could. It was sad to see it go, but economics/usefulness overpowered looks/historic value.

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Craig in MO

10-06-2006 01:43:32




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Find a way to save the barn. You can't build that barn for $50k today. I like the Amish idea. Good Luck



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mile0001

10-05-2006 21:05:53




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Save the barn, it's worth it. But $20,000 is too much. Buy used tin at sales (there's lots of other barns coming down) and then hire a couple of young guys to get up there and tear off the old one, and put up the new one. Don't have to have experience, they will learn as they go.



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monomechanical

10-05-2006 19:30:03




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Don't know how close they might be to you, but get an estimate from the Amish. They re-roofed our barn, at a little more than one-half the lowest contractor bid. They RETURNED some money to my neighbor, because they finished the job under their original estimate. Of course, not all quality is the same, among the Amish, but they've always done a good job for us, in Western P.A. They would probably need a lift to your place, though, and would want to use your (electrical) tools.

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37 chief

10-05-2006 19:17:38




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
You could install plywood sheeting, and rolled roofing. Not very attractive, but will keep the area dry. Stan



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Dave Sherburne NY

10-05-2006 19:08:16




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Do it right the first time Take it all off right
down to the rafters put on new purlins, then a metal roof. Got any Mennonite or Amish construction
crews in you area.



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jdemaris

10-05-2006 18:17:29




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
I wonder what the cost of materials was in that estimate? My son bought my old farm house and then proceeded to get a price for a steel roof. Cheapest estimate he got was $19,000 and highest was $24,000. I figured up the materials cost and it was $4600. Now, two good roofers could of had the job done in five days, easy. So, two guys - times 40 hours = 80 hours. Take the low esitmate of $19,000 - minus $4600 material = $14,400. Divide that by 80 hours = $180 per hour. Hmmm - might be cheaper to get a lawyer to do the roof. So, we did it - took us six days - but I'm getting old - and my son is not a roofer. On the subject of historic barn-grants. I applied for two of my barns here in New York. Once is a circa 1820 and the other 1850. But - to be accepted - you can't use certain modern building materials. I couldn't use any plywood anywhere and no steel roofing with exposed fasteners is allowed. By the way, as someone else mentioned - three old asphalt roof layers is way too much weight to be adding to. It needs to be stripped.

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Dan-IA

10-05-2006 15:52:14




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
We covered our barn in sheet steel a couple years ago. 48x96, hired it done, about $7k. But only one layer of shingles. Yes, contractor hauled in two loads of 2x4s and nailed them on over the existing shingles, but I was always told if a building has 3 layers of covering on the roof, it's too much weight to add a 4th, so you need to get up there with a potato fork and rip 'em all off and start clean. (What a mess! We did it on the house.)

So, if you think it's worth it, I don't think $7k is that bad a price if your barn is as big as ours. Don't know what to make of that silo through the lower roof, though. Probably lots of fancy cutting and then sealing it up with blackjack (tar).

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mjbrown

10-05-2006 17:36:33




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Dan-IA, 10-05-2006 15:52:14  
If you put tin on that roof it will never have the snow weight it has experienced and survived with those shingles.



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cj3b_jeep

10-05-2006 15:43:14




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Cool truck, '53 dodge?



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Jim Joanie

10-05-2006 15:29:42




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Wondering if your reroofing all the areas you show in the picture or just the main barn, and what the dimensions for the barn are?
Reason I am asking is a I am at the same point for my barn in SW Wisconsin, a smaller old dairy barn that has been converted to a horse barn. I figure even if it costs the same as a new pole barn I have a much better built structure that adds to the charm and beauty of the farm. Jim

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PaulW_NJ

10-05-2006 15:09:30




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
For my garage building I went to a company that erects metal buildings, and was able to buy siding sheets (don"t recall size exactly - maybe 3 ft x 5 ft)at very reasonable prices. They had lots of odd lots of leftovers from buildings they had completed (different colors, etc). Steel siding looks the same on the roof from my view. Used double sided stick foam tape between section edges, and screwed the pieces into 2x4"s run horizontally across the roof.

On my 30x40 barn, I removed 5 layers of roll roofing, replaced the old dried out and partly rotted T&G boards with plywood, and put on strip shingles. Just getting all of the weight off of the roof sure is good assurance every time it snows.

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glennster

10-05-2006 14:56:36




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
see if you can find a pole barn on a farm that is sold for houses. i am in norther illinois too, a couple years ago i bought a 60 X120 morton building and 3 bins for 5K from a farmer that sold out to a developer and retired. we took the building down with all the tin, lumber, and poles. took 2 weeks with 3 guys a couple of hours each nite and weekends. its a lot of work, but it was a lot easier on the pocket book.

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Michael Soldan

10-05-2006 14:30:38




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Blue3992, as has been suggested, try to find used steel. I covered a 40x20 shed with steel I got used.(walls and ends) It cost me $220 for the steel and the strapping(1x4), took me about three days to put it all up. The steel was decent and white in colour, even if you have to lay it out and give it a fresh coat of paint with a thick roller you are still money ahead. Good luck and I hopr you can preserve your barn...Mike in Exeter Ontario

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burnetma

10-05-2006 14:11:03




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Could you lease out the barn to a local farmer to store square bales? If you can't get cash, maybe an exchange for some labor and use of his tax exempt number for the materials. Might be able to get a deal on materials too.



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Brian in NY

10-05-2006 14:05:30




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Does your township or county have a historical society? They might assist you in finding grant money and writing the grant.

I agree that at this point, steel roof would be the way to go, but if it's too much clink, I don't blame you there. I can't think of any other alternative.



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Glenn F.

10-05-2006 14:00:56




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
That's exactly why America's beautiful turn of the century barns are disappearing. I don't know the dimensions of your barn, but $20,000 sure won't buy much of a building these days. We tore down an old horse barn/granary which was attached to our dairy barn as the foundation was giving out, etc. Ten years later as I look at the pole structure that replaced it, I kinda wish we had reworked the old one. 100 years from now that pole shed probably won't even be a memory. I'd sure try to scrape up the cash and re-roof the old barn. You will have a GOOD building when you're done.

Glenn F.

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Terry Marshall

10-05-2006 13:52:02




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Blue3992, 10-05-2006 13:44:16  
Go to the sales and buy all the used tin you can get. Thats what I did and got some realy good deals. ironman



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KRUSS

10-05-2006 15:16:19




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 Re: Re-Roofing the Barn in reply to Terry Marshall, 10-05-2006 13:52:02  
I have the same dilemma. My barn is on the family farm. tin roofing is the way to go. The question is "how useful is the building" ? Mine will never get used for much (all wrong with dimensions, door sizes, location, etc.) Eventually I suppose mine will be levelled and a piece of history lost. Of course by then I'll be levelled as well.



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