Hi. I have been visiting off and on for awhile now. My husband and I live in central Maine. We keep goats in a 200 year old barn that is slowly caving in. We considered repairing the barn and got estimates from several carpenter friends of ours on what we would need to do. (We would do the work ourselves) The lowest estimate was around $5,000. It would involve work that we were not capable of doing, i.e. lifting the barn and putting a new foundation under it. We decided that we could build a new barn for the money it would take to repair the old one. (We built a 20 x16 foot workshop, fully insulated, drywall, electric for around $5,000)

We also built a 32 x16 foot greenhouse for around $400 that we use to grow greens, carrots and onions in year round. Since money is always an issue we have been wondering if we could build another greenhouse and use it as a barn for the goats. The greenhouse is a wooden frame covered with greenhouse plastic. It is very strong. (It stood up to the New England ice storm a couple of years ago. It had a 4 inch thick coating of ice on the whole thing that sounded like a train wreck when it came off.) We know venting would be critical.

The question is, what would you guys think of our idea?

Thanks, Mary

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), January 01, 2001

Answers

Some people near us have done that as temp. housing during kidding season. We are in Michigan. I am wondering about how hot it would be in the summer. Also, how sturdy is the green house plastic. Goats might be a little hard on it.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 01, 2001.

Mary, I'd be very leery of any material that goats could potentially eat, even a thick plastic wouldn't be safe w/my goats! I also wonder how high the summer temperatures would be in the greenhouse.

I plan on using strawbales when we build our barn. It is very inexpensive, easy to build, and has a great R-factor warm/winter, cool/summer. If interested, check http://www.strawbuilding.org These buildings have lasted hundreds of years in Europe and if properly built, can withstand hurricane-force winds.

-- Marsha (CaprisMaa@aol.com), January 01, 2001.

New England ice storms have got nothing on inquizitive goats! And plastic of anykind ingested can kill a goat. A good barn is a roof, spend the money on the roof, and then cheap the sides and particians, maybe even gleaned off the old barn. Then when you can free up some money replace the sides and particians, and pour yourself a concrete footing and concrete milking area. Your old barn stood because of its roof, if it had been repaired or replaced it would still be standing, so don't skimp on your new barns roof! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), January 01, 2001.

Mary, If your carpenter friends say the barn is sturdy enough to raise it and put a new foundation under it there must be plenty of good sturdy lumber in it. In the old New England Barns I have seen they used lots of heavy posts and wide long growth lumber. Why not dismantle the barn and salvage the lumber. You could run the lumber through a planer to smooth and straighten it out. Cut off any rotten ends as even the shorter pieces are wanted for cabnit making. You may possible be able to sell the lumber to someone, it is hard to find them old wide planks nowadays. Be sure to save any old hinges or hardware in the barn as they are also sought after by old home restorers.

-- Mark in NC Fla (deadgoatman@webtv.net), January 01, 2001.

I am kind of thinking like Mark. Most of that old wood was super solid and just can't be beat with today's wood. Of course, I am not looking at it and don't know the condition of the wood, but if the 5k would be mostly in flooring and shoring, I would probably at least dismantle and salvage.

have to second Vicki and Diane on the goats. They will put their feet up on any and everything and taste anything as well. No plastic is a good idea around them at all.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), January 01, 2001.

Countryside carried an article a while back by the pastured poultry guy (Joel ???) that showed a multiuse plastic covered hoop house containing chickens, rabbits and pigs. All were contained inside their own pens/cages to keep them away from the plastic. However, if you want something permanent, salvaging materials from the old barn and rebuilding sound like the best idea. There was a book in the 1970s called Woodbutcher's Guide, by Nancy Bubel and her husband, that talked about how they collected lumber and other materials by tearing down old sheds and barns and then built their own, quite extensive barn for pennies. Remove all the lumber, boards and beams possible from the sides and floors of the old barn, then attach a logging chain to the frame and pull it over with the tractor. (Might have to chainsaw a corner post or two to help it along.)

Shame to see those old barns disappear from the Maine landscape. There's a woman in Jackson who's trying to organize a campaign to save them, but the movement seems to have faded away lately. I remember that every farm worth the name in my childhood country town in 1950s Maine had a big old post-and-beam barn. Out of the seven in my old neighborhood, only one remains today, and that one is on the way down soon. If the rickety foundations didn't cave in, the carpenter ants and the dry rot got them after the owners quit farming for a living.

-- Cash (cash@andcarry.com), January 01, 2001.

Here is something to take a look at regarding salvaging old barns that have historical merit.Check out this site: www.barnagain.org.

-- Tammy S.South in Western KY (w-feather40@webtv.net), January 01, 2001.

I may be off base on this. We just had to rebuild a newer barn due to non-conforming local regulations, and did most of the demolition/salvage ourselves to save on costs. It was mostly done by women and girls with sledgehammers and pry bars, and it took a while, but we got it done without any major damage to ourselves or the boards. Now we're rebuilding the barn with the salvaged lumber in a different configuration, one that the housing code approves. The carpenter work cost a whale of a lot more, but it was a 20-stall barn with indoor arena that we had to retrofit. I'd think if you could make a workshop like you describe, it wouldn't be hard to rebuild with the lumber into a goat shed.

I see a lot of little local greenhouses around here made out of old windows that were removed at construction jobs and discarded. If you advertise that you will come and pick them up, most sites will give them to you free, so they don't have to pay disposal charges. Or talk to whoever runs your local landfill about it. The guys at ours are always calling us that someone threw out a good piece of carpeting, or some damaged floor model chairs, a working microwave, etc. and we furnished the barn lounge with them. They might save windows for you.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 05, 2001.

Another thought that came to mind...if the structure is sturdy enough, and you want to retrofit it later as a goat shed, perhaps you could remove the plastic and replace it was off-cut slabs from a local sawmill? Our sawmills (little ones) sell off the irregular slabs left from cutting the dimensional lumber for cheap prices as kindling, altho they are board length in many cases. Some friends of mine used it (their own sawmill) to build a ship-lap sided shed (and roof) of a run-in shed for their 4 horses. It's pretty rustic looking, but it really cuts the wind and keeps them dry. It's maybe a stop-gap method, but worth considering too. Venting was *not* a problem...

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), January 05, 2001.

Hi Mary! I'm in Central Maine as well, near Newport. I agree that goats would eat the plastic. We have a lumber mill down the road that gives slabs away for free, all our riding rings are made of it on this road:) I know someone making a barn for her horses out if it as well. email me if you like.

-- Epona (crystalepona2000@yahoo.com), January 07, 2001.

5k is a lot of money to spend on the farmstead,if it were me and the structure is sound ecept for the foundationi would see if i could find a local handyman and try to atleast slow the deterioration if the roof and uper structure is still usable cables and large turnbucles can be used to pull the walls slowly back into place if they are spreading.and get a few large house jacks (they are cheep and always handy) crib up and place a sturdy scab to a post to be raised ans slowly give it a few turns a day if the bottom of the post is rotted off cut it level into good wood and rais it up into place building a pillar under it /or set a large post/pole beside it and when it is raised in place large bolts can be used to conect them together . you can do a lot more than you think if you take your time and be carful the building has settled into its present shape over time and you will need to giv it some time to go back into shape . i have lifted our buildings back into shape after they were neglected and the back sill on one knocked off the foundation with a loader i have seen some real wrecks held together with cables and one old tobbaco barn stood for 20 years like the leaning tower of piza with several phone pole size post at a 45 degree angle set into the ground it would probably still be there but was razed for developement. i have salvaged a number of old barns that were being removed ,i think the old brns lend character to the landscape and need to be preserved if possible it makes me sick to see them with the roof deterioating and then the inevitable will happen the structure will collapse from a few $ in repairs neglected

-- george darby (windwillow@fuse.net), January 08, 2001.