Adrianne
We recently bought a historic ranch with beautiful 100 year old barns! They are structurally sound but very drafty, to the point snow drifts in. We’re in Colorado near a mountain peak at 8500ft elevation, so we get blizzards and a lot of wind. We would like to insulate them better and make them more weatherproof before housing livestock and storing hay – what’s the best way to do that while maintaining their historic appearance?
What did you decide to do? How did the project turn out?
Probably the best solution would be to carefully remove the old siding sell the old siding and replace it with new rough cut board and batten siding. It will weather back to the grey color in a handful of years, or you could spray it with a ferrous sulfate solution to speed up the graying process, to months instead of years. Mix one tablespoon with a gallon of water and apply with a paint brush.