The Barn – Part I

30 – Nov – 2013

Its time to work on the barn. As I have mentioned before, it’s in bad need of a roof. In order to replace the roof, the existing roof needs to come off and the new one put on. You can actually put a tin or metal roof over the existing shake shingle roof, but that never looks right. The unevenness of the old shake shingles never lets to metal roof sit flat, leading to lumps and bumps. Not something you want on your roof.

Just for giggles, Sandy had the replacement barn roof quoted by a roofer. $18,000 +/- Ouch ! That is a large sum of money for just a barn roof. Looking at the quote, not much of it was really for the roof or roofing materials. It was mainly tearing off the old roof, repairing the underneath structure of the barn and just getting the roof in a condition where it can actually accept a new roof. After tearing off some of the roof, I really see where the cost come into play.

All the rafter tails need to be replaced. All of the leading roof deck needs to be replaced. Several of the dry rotted deck ribs need to be replaced. The fascia on both gable ends needs the be replaced.  The drip-edge needs to be replaced…well not really, since there wasn’t a drip-edge to begin with,  lets just say “added”. So, is all this worth $18,000. Not really. Not to me. Just the makings of a really good project.

So …you know whats coming next…more math. Yea !!

The barn roof deck is 82ft x 14ft per side. The metal roof panels are 3ft X14ft so I need 28 panels per side or 56 panels. Most metal roofing panels are a standard 3ft wide, but check the manufacturer. With the panels you will need the ridge cap, gable end caps, and some spongy stuff called inner and outer closures. These sit on or under the panels and follows the contour of the roof, preventing pests from going between the panels. There are some odds and ends that are needed, but the total cost of the replacement roofing materials are $3200 +/-.

After getting a few estimates, I got several quotes online and a few from local sources. Did you know you could get a complete metal roof delivered, on-site, from Michigan for $3200 ? The only issue with this quote was that I was going to need to off-load the roof from the delivery truck myself. No forklift !!?? Deal breaker.

The other quote I got was from Bob at Wine Country Ranch Supplies. Bob..that name might sound familiar. Yep, its the same Bob as the Highland Cattle owner, the one from the “Went Shopping” post.  Bob sells anything and everything. For the right money I am certain I could have him get me a Highland Cow, a bridge troll or even a Hobbit. (Just attempting to be topical since the next installation of The Hobbit will be out in the next few day) Best of all, Bob will off-load the roof next to the barn for me. Bonus !

I have the roof on order, now its time to purchase some lumber, $375 worth of it, to replace some of the dry-rot. As mentioned before, you first need to take off the existing roof. Since I plan to replace the roof in sections, I need to see how long it would take to take off and replace a section in a weekend.

It took me 1 hours to rip off a 6 ft section of the existing shingles, which also included removing the hundred + nails from the existing roof deck. It should take me about 3+ hours to remove a 20ft section, the amount of roof I should be able to complete in a weekend. Really want to minimize the potential exposure to rain if by chance I can’t complete a section over a weekend. The big unknown factor is the number of metal roofing panels I can install in a weekend…The plan is to do 6 or 7 a weekend, but that’s the unknown.

Also cutting into my plan is the replacement of the dry-rotted roof decking boards. This should be pretty straight forward…but its not. The main problem is this barn was built in the 40’s, when men were men and lumber was the correct size.. Hu, What ?  Just in case you did not know, lumber 2×4’s are not really 2×4, they are actually 1.5×3.5 in. Since the barn was built prior to the Scottsdale agreement of 1961, it actually uses lumber that is a true 2x4in. If you wish to repair or replace boards, your only options are;

1. Find old barn wood and scavenge it from there.
2. Find a mill that will cut you some true 2×4 boards, make sure you bring along a fat wallet.
3. Get some furring strips and add them to the dimensional lumber, making them level with the existing true dimension lumber used on the roof.

The #3 option is not the best, but is the most expedient. Option #1 is the best, but finding a good supply of true dimension lumber in some areas of the country can be difficult. Not here. Option #2 is the last resort. This is not a heritage site and is definitely not in the budget.

Replacement tails in place

As mentioned earlier, all of the rafter tails need to be replaced…all 82 of them….41 per side. A rafter tail is the thing that sticks out from under the roof, usually pointed downward, diagonally, hence the “rafter tail” name. Not overly difficult to replace, but very time consuming. The job is made easier if you create a blank or a template. Using the template to cut out several copies of the replacement tails is great, unless the original barn builder did something “special” to the other rafters and now you end up with a few dozen wasted pieces of wood. In my case, so far so good.

So far so good

With 20 rafter tails in, a major section of the rotted roof deck replaced, all I have left is to wait for the roof to arrive. Come on Bob !!