The roof replacement has been completed on the barn.  The project began with a local roofer bidding the job to tear off the existing shingles.  He arrived on Friday with ten Guys.  "We  plan to work till dark and have it completed by then", he said.  Twelve hours later they had one side complete and he said they would be back Monday to do the other side.  So, much for the one day job.  Monday they returned with eight guys, worked eight hours and only got half way on the back side.  Tuesday, with eight guys again they finished the tear off.  Needless to say they lost there butts on this one.  That's where bidding a job can get you in trouble.

On Monday my friend Jeff arrived with six guys to start getting measurements and tearing off rotted 2x6's. He is a concrete man by trade but I trust him with any construction there is.  Jeff had agreed to replace the roof using a group of our mutual friends and paying them by the hour (old barn raisings aren't what they used to be).  Knowing Jeff's integrity as I do, I knew every man he brought would not lay down on the job.

These guys tore off any remaining rotted wood (a lot) and replaced it with new two by's and plywood (a lot of that too).  I assisted with the ground work since heights and I no longer agree. These guys all worked after their normal hours which made things pretty easy.  At the end of each day Jeff would tell me what he needed and I picked it up in the morning so it was there when they started at four.  Since I was on vacation this arrangement worked well.  At the beginning of each shift I always had a cooler of water and another cooler full of beer.  No one touched the beer until quitting time at eight each day.

Every day Jeff added or deleted guys as needed, depending on what was scheduled.  At the peek period when we were doing the tear off on the back and sheeting on the front we had ten guys working at a time.  all in all we had over 300 man hours just in replacing wood and putting on the new steel roofing.

Not one minute of good old American technology was

wasted by using Illegal aliens on this job!

Many of the 2x6 rafters had to be replaced.  We had thought about replacing all of them, but it turned out that a lot of the old ones still had a lot of life left to them.

The back side was a mess.  There was more here to replace than we first thought.
 

The backside portion as seen from the inside gives a good idea of what we were up against.

A lot of the front was rotted.  This was expected since holes in the shingles were very obvious.

Sheeting the back side.  this entire job was a lot easier with the bucket lifts.

The generator from the motor home provided all the electric we needed to run the saws and the compressor for the nailer.

We made sure the lightening rod and cable was saved so it could be reused.  The fire department thanked me for that.

Finishing up the front sheeting.  Although we thought this was the worse side, we were in for a surprise when we started the back.  A lot of the rafters were rotted where they could not be seen from the floor

Once the sheeting was done and the roof stablized we had to get the flag flying for the Memorial Day weekend.  You can't tell it by the picture, but the flag pole is actually twenty feet tall.

Getting started with the metal roof went a lot better than we thought it would.

It didn't take long to put the metal down on the back side either.  The locals sure liked what they saw.  One guy stopped and tried to hire Jeff to do his barn down the road which was in worse shape.  He said he didn't want any more like this one. 

I painted the first air vent silver.  We realized later that once they were in place they would not stand out well with the gray roof.  The next day I painted it and the other two a nice bright red.  The neighbors say they can sure see them now.

The tag on the vents said they were made by Thomas Lee & Son Co. Cincinnati, Ohio.  There is no longer a listing for them in the phone book.

Getting the vents back in place was pretty easy when you have the right equipment.  They only weighed about a hundred pounds but their shape made them awkward to handle.

Jeff puts a vent in place.  Yep, they're red alright.  Maybe I should add a big IH logo to them. They were pretty easy to move around once they were on the roof.

The completed front.
 

The completed back.

A long look from one end to the other.  That curve you see in the ridge is the lightening rod cabling.

Now that the metal is on we will add gutters and trim.  In the mean time we decided to start on some of the siding.  I ordered a load of 7/8x10" rough sawn poplar for this.  One load will cover about 100 feet wide by 9 feet high.  I could get more in a load but this is about enough to keep me busy for a while.  The barn is 112 by 40 and 18 feet  high at the gutter line.  It's gonna take some time for me to get this part done.

I added a door on this end because I park my 30 foot long enclosed trailer on this end (zoning says it has to be inside).  There is an area about 16x40 that I can't get to when the trailer is parked.  The end door addition as well as ramp up to it will let me use this space better.  A good spot to park a few tractors maybe?

Its a start.

Building the door frame.

Adding the door skin.

At 250 lbs each, the doors needed the lift to put them in place.

The door is a bit shorter than the sides to allow for the ramp that will be added.  It wasn't a miscalculation.

Melissa, Flash & Sarge check out Dad's work.

A view of part of the back yard.  Looks like a good spot for a future Cub Fest.

Another load of siding arrived in March, 2008.  I guess I better get busy again now that spring is here.