Today wasn’t much better interwebz wise but I did spent a chunk of the morning doing some film work for an Amish friend. They were moving an old barn on a property they just bought and placing it on a new foundation to create a “bank barn”. The engineering it took to move a barn is pretty impressive.
They got it in place today, then raised it up. This is how they left it for the day after building four Jenga towers to hold it up. I wasn’t going to walk under there.
Tomorrow they will slide it over onto the new concrete walls to the left, you can sort of see it from this photo that is un-zoomed.
Maybe not earth-shattering blogging material but I thought it was kind of cool
It is pretty cool.
So many ways to go wrong, and yet such a good job.
I've always wondered about that. I guess it makes more sense to move rather than build new? The few barns I've been in (on family land) have been in such a state that I'm shocked a strong wind hasn't blown them over. I can't imagine moving one of those – nothing solid enough on them to jack up. The last one my Dad had built before he passed was metal pole barn, consisting of a welded frame with a few wooden boards onto which corrugated sheet metal was tacked. That'll probably last forever. He should have sprung for a concrete pad though. If we ever pour one, we'd probably just do it in place. I've seen that happen before. Farm work is fun to look at, not so much to do.
What's a bank barn?
A bank barn usually has a sloping "bank" that leads up to the main barn with a space underneath, in this case the old barn will sit on a floor that will be used for hay while underneath they will have space for horse stalls. I'll take a picture of it from the bank so it makes more sense
They made it look pretty easy
I like that they saved the old wooden barn, most of the barns they put up are pole barns and those lack any character. One guy built a hugely expensive wooden barn last year, they had a special Amish crew from Pennsylvania out to build it
The Amish A-Team?
I'm not the person who asked the question, but I visualize what you described.