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I have a 100+ year old barn on my property that is way beyond repair. I would like to use the barn flooring which are oak with widths up to 36″ wide in my family room. The room has a 3/4″ plywood subfloor over a dirt crawlspace. The room is 24’X32 I know I can’t keep those widths, so my real questions are;
1. min widths of boards?
2. how much do I plane off each side?
3. do I tounge and groove each board or just joint both edges and face nail?
Thanks in advance
stan
Replies
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What a wonderfull find! You are so lucky. I wish you could ship them to me.
I would first plane them to somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4. The thicker the better, but the condition of the wood will dictate. Of course, make them consistent.
Next, I'd rip them to about 2 and 1/2". Its a nice size, and won't cup much.
I would then mill the sides with a T&G set up.
Incidently, depending on your time and budget, I would consider having a local milling shop due the bulk of the work for you. We just got through with a 4,000 home which had barn board on the walls, ceiling, and floors (over 20,000 feet) and the job was just too much. We started out with one guy with a throw away cheapie Ryobi planer and a Sears router, who spent a month doing nothing but planing, ripping, and edging the stuff. I finally gave up, and had the mill shop pick it up and do it in house. They did the works for a $1 a foot. It was a steal.
Anyway, thats one way of doing it.
*Stan, I would seriously reconsider using this old barn wood as interior floor. And kindly disregard what Scooter said about your "wonderful find". I mean it.What you really, really need, nay, must do, is send the wood to me for further analysis. Of course, you'll have to send the entire lot; one cant' be too sure with just one or two boards. But don't worry, I'll pick up the shipping costs.One more thing: did you say 36" wide boards? Check for grain run-out at the edges of the boards, if not present, you absolutely must dump this stuff in a hurry. Expecting your call any day now,Rich
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actually I tried to give this old barn away, but noone would take it done for the wood so I decided to do it myself, I have a dozer and trac-hoe coming to finish my pond this spring and they are going to pull it over.
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Stan,
You are indeed lucky to have this material. There are a lot of people getting fat tearing down old barns, factories, commercial buildings etc., reclaiming the lumber and selling the lumber for big dollars.
Don't even think about milling this material yourself. Find someone with a Profomat moulding machine or equal ( one that mills all 4 sides at once.) They can mill wood up to 8 inch widths. If the grain is vertical on the ends of the boards, width is not as much a problem as with plainsawn. Take note of the cups in the boards before milling and this will give you a pretty good idea of the max. width you can have. You may want random width planks for your floor. I have seen beautiful plank floors with widths as wide as you describe just milled S4S, screewed and plugged. Be sure the mill shop you choose has a lot of experience and and a good reputation. Ask their advice on how to mill the wood.
Be absoutley sure your floor is insulated and that the crawl floor is completely covered with a properly installed, quality vapor barrier.
I'm green with envy!
*RUN MAN RUN!!! I just heard that Norm bought a new pistol and is heading your way with a flat bed trailer. I think he means business. We can stash the wood at my place until the whole thing blows over. He'll never think of looking here.Pete Draganic
*About ten barns fell this past month. Heaviest snow accumulations in years. It is interesting, because the people that wouldn't give them away standing, empty, and unused now have to pay to get them cleaned up. Sadly, other than for myself, there is a lot of work to salvaging these beams such that resale looms over my head. Unless you make this your business, and go national I think selling this material to your next remodel or new build would be tough. In one situation the people are coming to you looking for it. In the other it's your burden to move it and you have to find people. Now if you are building furniture maybe you could get it.Scooter - Why would you take this material, mill off all the patina, rip it into tiny strips (increased scrap) and make it look like the tarkett material at home depot?-Rob
*I have been wondering if the wood is stable enough to be brought inside.I would think that the width of the boards is its greatest value.Maybe just some strategically placed v-grooves would be enough to allow for movement? I dont know.
*In my experience, these boards have seen the worst in the barn. Large swings in humidity, loading, etc. Plus they were laid green. If they ain't moved yet they ain't gonna! I have a few 30" wide boards I have been saving for something - haven't figured out what yet. The growth rings are nearly flat with over 70 per inch!!-Rob
*Rob, I agree that nice wide boards should stay wide for furniture and paneling, but the original post was a question on flooring, so you may be confused. I recommended this treatment for the following reasons:1. Ripping to 2-3". This stuff is going to be nailed to a sub floor. Heck, I have enough problems making the profit I want to make without callbacks for cupping. Anything over 3" will probably cup. I wouldn't recommend this for any homeowner.2. T & G treatment. Under no circumstances would I ever install flooring with a but joint. After a year the homeowner would want to lynch me.3. Planing and Sanding. Yes, I would, without question want to plane and sand the flooring. I don't think the homeowner would want his tootsies on a 100 year old splintered board. After the homeowners lawyers got through with me, I would be in bankruptcy.As I said, I just got through with a custom house, and used full truck load of the stuff. I can tell you that most homeowners will want nice "new" looking wood, for flooring, trim, and ceilings. The home I got through with did have one casual rumpus room with diagonal old boards as paneling, but that was the exception. This is an architects decision not mine. I don't design them, I just build them. If it was for me personally, I'd use the stuff for furniture.
*All you guys need to move to Iowa...we could tear down a barn a week. Maybe we should restore the really old cool ones though. And Stan, when you come, make sure you bring that wood with you!!Dave
*Don't get your hopes up on that one creature. I hav tried that route about six times. It seems that most of the people that own old falling down barns are too proud to let them go for a reasonable price. They are also so worried that you may damage their other falling down barns that they want insurance that costs ten times the worth of the wood. Sadly most of the wood I have has been stolen from barns that I let "cool off" for two or three years after they collapsed.-Rob
*You are right..it is hard to get past nostalgia for a truck load of good lumber. Im a supporter of saving the old barns, if they are worth saving. Unfortunatly most are well beyond even being considered safe to stand next to!! People around here tend to burn'em before someone can get in and get the old wood. Nothing will bring a tear to your eye quicker than seeing a barn fire when you know it was framed with huge oak beams. But, if you are lucky you can usually offer to take them down for the wood. We've done only one and it is alot of work.
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Believe me tearing down this 40X60 barn will bring a tear to my eye, But as a rough estimate of about $10k to refurbish the barn(the foundation stones are collapsed) my only alternitives is demo I'll gladly share the wood with anybody that wants to come to Ohio and help there are several 10X10 oak beams that are at least 25' long, the floor trusses are true 2X10 that look like they were intalled just yesterday. My original plan for the flooring was to just plane one side so I had a true base to run over the shaper table, for the T&G then install the flooring over 20# felt paper then sand the floor just enough to remove rough edges then apply a poly or varnish.
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Stan...where in Ohio..Im driving through tomorrow on my way to PA. Probably wont stop to haul beams but maybe I could get a peak at the place.
Dave
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Carroll county, its about 75 miles southeast of cleveland
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Well son of a gun!! I live in Cleveland. Are you near Cambridge or Stubenville ? Maybe New philadelphia or Millersburg?
Let me know. Email is [email protected]
Pete Draganic
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Atwood Lake lake actually about 12 miles east of new Philidelphia
*Stan: I've redone many rooms with wide planks. I usually save the widest for tables, then either T&G or spline the rest, over a real vapor barrier, then nail them if they are under 16" or let them float if they are wider. In this case a wide, 1-1.5: inch spline works well. I never plane patinated boards unless the sawmarks are really deep. Try hand-planing with a bullnose plane if you have some energy to burn off.
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Maybe it's an income thing, but I would give my eye teeth to make a 40 x 60 building usable again for $10,000. If the place is still square and the roof is good you can't build new for 10k.
-Rob
*That's only $4.17 per square foot. CHEAP if you have any use for the space. Or maybe neighbors will pay you to store equipment or boats or whatever there. Why break your heart if you can make it work?
*I think some of the responses have missed that this is your own home so there are no profit, call back, maybe they wnat it shiny new issues. So surface planing is your preference. May depend on how irregular they are.I'd say you do want square and parallel edges. I'd also guess that they are pretty stable after all these years. I've done oak as wide as 12" with no cupping (nailed through tongue and screwed and plugged at intervals). I think the really wide planks are a great look and if that's what you want and can tolerate some imperfection, why not?Not sure you mentioned thickness. There is a weight and handling issue especially with the wide ones. You could edge on a table saw or if they are too heavy rig some kind of guides for a circular saw. As to T&G if a commercial mill is a problem ($, location, can't handle widths) and especially if they are too heavy to move easily, you could plane and groove the edges with a router. (Yes a lot of work, but doable). Plane with a straight or flush trim bit. Groove with a 3-wing slot cutter, regulate depth with a guide bearing. Use double width tongue material called "slip tongue" available from flooring suppliers. You can T&G the butts that way too!Or there are T&G router bit sets. That might be a better option for nailing through the tongues.Why bother with the work and expense at all if it will wind up looking like a HD floor anyway?
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what roof!!!!!!!! they tore a third of the slate off the barn to repair the house roof prior to our purchase of the farm, so for 10k i'm looking at a new 24x40 barn with only 10 foot ceilings -vs- this guargantuion barn that I'll keep having to repair and upkeep, let alone on the backside of the barn is almost 50' from roof to the bank.
*what roof!!!!!!!! they tore a third of the slate off the barn to repair the house roof prior to our purchase of the farm, so for 10k i'm looking at a new 24x40 barn with only 10 foot ceilings -vs- this guargantuion barn that I'll keep having to repair and upkeep, let alone on the backside of the barn is almost 50' from roof to the bank.
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When you said "gargantuan barn" my eyes glazed over for a minute. My barn is tiny 16 x 22, gambrel roof for second floor now with a big dormer. I can only pull the dodge in until the windshield hits the door track, then I put a towel on the hood and open it until it hits the floor joists.... back to reality.
Here's an idea, a guy did this a few years ago. Jack the barn, cut the bottom of the sidewalls off (where most of the rot is) at the desired heght. Build new frost walls and set'er down.
A super I worked with 4 years ago summed it up best. "It's like someone giving you a factory, and all you have to do is maintain it." I guess you have my permission to level it. 8-)
-Rob
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There are many things we admire but just are not worth the trouble of ownership. Drink a beer, say a prayer for those who went before and light a match.
*let us know when it comes down so we can come by and help ourselves
*Beware of ticks!!!!!About 25 years ago my Dad salvaged some old barn flooring and installed it in our home. Even after staining and finishing the little devils emerged from the wood and infested the house.
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I have a 100+ year old barn on my property that is way beyond repair. I would like to use the barn flooring which are oak with widths up to 36" wide in my family room. The room has a 3/4" plywood subfloor over a dirt crawlspace. The room is 24'X32 I know I can't keep those widths, so my real questions are;
1. min widths of boards?
2. how much do I plane off each side?
3. do I tounge and groove each board or just joint both edges and face nail?
Thanks in advance
stan