Posted By Dan From Clayton MI
Hello,
We just recently acquired an old farm house complete with a large, beautiful barn that has sadly seen neglect as many unfortunate Michigan barns have.
Really, the only part that is an immediate hurry in terms of saving it is the roof. The poor soul has only been roofed twice in its entire life and now is facing holes in the ceiling and rotted joists.
Now, my question is, is there any way that we can just purchase the roof parts of a kit?
Or do you have any other recommendations on a way to repair it without losing our new house to financial ruin?
Thank you,
Dan
Hi Dan,
What a great question!
Your right, sadly a lot of old barns have been sorely neglected. Your situation is one that I see all the time. This is part of the reason that we started making the post and beam barn kits.
You can use some of the materials that go into our kits for repairing your barn in an economical way.
For example, you have a tie beam that has rotted and broken in two. The constant water running in from a leaky roof has deteriorated that beam and weakened it.
We have a solution for that. With a few of our T plates and a replacement beam you can make the repairs yourself.
Or at least a good contractor can. No need to hire a timber frame specialist. A local carpenter can handle the job just fine.
We can also supply you with replacement rafters and roof sheathing boards. They are authentic materials (all rough cut full dimension) so you don’t have to wonder if the boards and beams are going to fit properly.
But what about the roof material itself?
I searched and searched for a good economical roofing material that could go on old barns without having to do a lot of reinforcement to support the extra weight.
Steel roofing is perfect for an old barn restoration because it is lightweight. You won’t have to restructure your barn to accommodate another layer of heavy shingles.
It can go over most any old roofing. So there is no need to dispose of the old shingles. This saves you money and keeps waste out of the landfills.
It should last a lifetime with minimal maintenance so you shouldn’t have to worry about climbing up on that tall barn roof again.
You can get corrugated steel so it has that authentic old barn look to it.
Thank You
Aaron Esch
The Barn Geek