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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: b.glass on December 31, 2011, 01:31:00 PM
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We have an old barn that needs to come down. It has hewn log beams in it with wooden pegs holding it together. I would like to save what can be saved to possibly build a hunting lodge/cabin. My husband wants to push it down and burn it.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the smallest cabin dimensions that would still be roomy enough for say two hunters for a few days at a time. Also any other suggestions for how to convince my husband to try to salvage what we can would be great.
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I'd say it kind of depends on how much stuff you want to have with you. My wife and I (and good-sized dog) lived out of a 14 x 14' cabin in the Yukon for 6 mos. quite comfortably. But it definitely made us very selective about what we really needed, and didn't.
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you might want to look into selling it. If the beams are of good quality and some of the lumber is still in good condition there are buyers out there. My father makes his living doing this but I dont think he travels that far. Check around with local antiques dealers and they may be able to help you.. You might want to post it on that c@@@@@ list sight too. good luck!
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some old trappers cabins where just 12X8. I guess it depends no how much room You need. Those old barns where built to last so You should get enuff wood to built a 2 or even 3 room cabin.
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I'm bett'n them old hand hewn beams are WORMY CHESTNUT. That old wood is beautiful and would be a sin to just burn it. That wood has alot of history. I've had turkey box calls made and some of the chestnut was 100 yr old from cabins. The sound was excellent.
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Some of the beams are huge and I've thought that anything very small might look odd with such large beams. I don't know.
Even if I don't get to use them for a cabin it would be nice if someone could use them. I also thought someone might like to buy them. He would be more apt to try and save them if someone would buy them.
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Whatever you have is probably more than enough, if you aren't claustrophobic. I helped a friend take down and reassemble a hewn log tobacco barn for the same purpose. I'm guessing it wasn't more than 15' x 15', but we added a loft for sleeping and 3 or 4 could hunt out of it quite comfortably. The only drawback was our woodstove was way oversized and would run you out of that loft. One of the small sheepherder type stoves made for wall tents would have probably been about right. Once we chinked in the logs that place held heat like there was no tomorrow!
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It would be a sin to burn it. If your beams are too big dimesionally they can be cut down and make 2,3 or 4 new beams depending on how large they currently are. A local saw mill or carpenter shop can do it for you. All that old barn wood would make a beautiful hunting cabin, especially useing beam and post, pegged construction. A 15 x 15 or 15 x 20 would be spacious. I would love to have an opportunity like you have!
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You have to get a professional opinion about that wood. People are definitely making money selling old barn wood. Sorry I can't offer any advice on cabin dimensions. I hope you turn those hand hewn beams into a pile of loot or use them to build yourself a dream cabin!
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My son and I have a 16X24 cabin that sleeps 4 comfortably. 1 set of bunks and 2 single beds;table for 4.We can also store about 2 single cords of wood inside as well as lots of room to dry wet clothes.We have had 3 people all over 200lbs.staying at one time the 4th. bed was for storage.Hope this helps.What I did was measure all the furniture that was going in and drew up a scale drawing with everything we needed;then built the cabin to suit.
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Those huge timbers are worth a lot of money if sold, but worst case they could be sawed into lumber for a new cabin.
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http://www.amazon.com/Cabin-Inspiration-Classic-American-Getaway/dp/1561586447/ref=pd_sim_b_1/190-7881221-8396150
Her's a decent coffe table type of book with good ideas. All them under 1000 sg foot.
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Last fall , I stayed in a friend's cabin, with an other friend, the cabin is just under 12x14, and we stayed 7 days in october for moose hunting, and it was plenty big a nought!! If you take your time on the layout, and that you have a nought selling hight to have bunk beds, a folding table. small wood stove. it was a great size for two hunter that past most of the day out hunting!!
Keep us posted on the progress!!
p.s. I would love to find an old building like yours to reuse!!
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For goodness sakes Bona, don't let he wreak that barn. If you don't make cabin with them they could easily bring several hundred dollars or more.
Troy
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If it's a really old barn and the wood is in decent shape you might see if it has any value to luthiers / guitar makers. These folks go bonkers for old wood.
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Do you have dimension, size of the barn as now, size of the beams, thickness, width, length?
I'll try to dig out some pics of the one I was in, and post them!
If you can't use the wood, sale it and use the money to build your self a dream hunting cabin!!
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I will try to get some measurements. I have two nights of deer season left so I won't get to it until Mon. probably.
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You might even make a Adirondack style lean to from the wood. They can be any size you want and provide great shelter for 2-4 hunters. Look really neat also!
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Ours is 25' x 20' with 2 bedrooms and one main room kitchen/living room with storage loft.
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The largest beams are 9 3/4 x 7 1/2. I will get some more dimensions soon.
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I would think there wouldn't be any problem finding buyers for the frame and siding wood if you decided to not use it. I know those folks have been buying them right and left in PA. We just got three huge cupolas from a barn that was carefully disassembled and trucked off in south central PA.
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My boss two years ago bought an old barn from Maine and had it taken down and used the wood for his den. He had it all finished and shipped to south Jersey and assembled.Old barns and the wood are worth a ton of cash.
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(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/BonaGlass/April2011181.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/BonaGlass/April2011182.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/BonaGlass/April2011183.jpg)
The large beams are about 45 ft long.
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OHHH MAN!!!!
Im Sad to Hear its commin down.Those old Barns hold a soft spot in my heart.
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I didn't relize you meant a BARN barn! It'd be great to get someone who knows what they're doing (and you could trust) to salvage the timber that could be reused to build your lodge and then sell the rest to help finance it. Surely there are reputable folks that could at least estimate such an undertaking.
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Don't see to many old barns standing these days. If there's no changing his mind, I would definitely try to do somthing with the wood. You would be surprised how much money you could get for the lumber. Good luck in whatever decision you make.
Jason
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I went to a business in a nearby town that does these things and the gentleman is going to give us an estimate.
My husbands biggest problem with it is that we need a new barn pretty quick and he doesn't want to wait very long to get this one down and a new one up.
I hate it has to come down at all. My Grandpa may have helped build it for all I know. My grandparents lived on the opposite corner. I moved to this place almost 30 years ago!
I asked my husband, "What's a few extra weeks when we've waited this long?"
He seemed interested when I told him I talked to someone today.
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Those old barns are priceless........I hate to see them go away. But if you could make a cabin....that would be cool!
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Wow! You could build one heck of a cabin with that. Looking at that hay makes my back hurt. Every now and then I miss putting up square bails. I come to my senses pretty quick. :D
I would have a barn demo/hog roast.
Rob
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I would suggest that you contact some of the Amish community members. Often times they will dissassemble a barn for a fee or in exchange for the wood. We have doe this before with great success and it was done very quickly.
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There are very few free lunches, barns demo included. We took one down this spring I doubt we would do it again. Taking it down piece by piece,removing nails cleaning stacking hauling and properly caring for the end product could take two people with no equipment 300 plus hours. You likely wouldnt save any money on erection of new cabin when you have to retofit new vs old. However if its your burning passion and you have the time ,go for it.Youll pay for the amish in our area to take it down plus they keep the wood.
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Had 3 of us use a couple different 10x12 cabins on Kodiak Island during nov/dec. Weather was awful as is normal but snug in the cabin. I would opt for 12x14 as optimum.
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Some outfit came in and documented/tagged every beam in my neighbors old barn and farm house. They were taken down piece by piece, hauled from here in PA to CA, and were used in a new restaurant construction.
I hated to see the barn come down. It was a great place to shoot pigeons with the longbow. :)
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I love those old hand hewn beams! Most of them I have seen around here are poplar and from the looks I would bet those are to. Those shouldn't be burned there's a good market for them and if there wasn't there still to cool to burn. I made the fireplace mantel in my house from similar beams!
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"too cool to burn", I agree. I'm too sentimental to do such a thing to such a beautiful old barn. I think the beams would be neat to use as the main frame and the siding for, well, the siding. It would be awsome to have a fireplace too.
Thanks for all your input.
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The size of the beams are not that big, long but not really big, I would use them to make a post and beam structure, that you can see the beams when finish from the inside! Just my two cents!
You are so lucky!!
keep us posted!
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6 years ago I built a cabin from scratch using cedar, spruce and hemlock from the U.P. of Michigan. It is 12x16 with a 12/12 roof. It has a 6ft. porch in the front and a loft that extends over that porch and 3ft. into the cabin. It easily sleeps 4 in the loft and you could sleep 3 or 4 on the main floor in cots in a pinch. For 3 or 4 it is ideal. I heat it with the mid size Cylinder Stove which seems perfect.
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I built a 12' by 16' bunkhouse with a 6' porch on the front about three years ago and its been working out great. With 3 people it works great, 4 is ok, 5 is crowded, and 6 well ill let you know if we ever try :knothead:
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And you got to love the view in the fall :thumbsup:
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Good luck with your barn........ya hate to see somthing that has served you so well for so many years just burn............I absolutly love to use recycled wood for new projects!! Whatever you make all ready has some MOJO built into it!!!!!
Ben
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Vesty, You got any pics of your cabin? Sure would like to see it.
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(http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv313/Northener/cabin-getaway.jpg)
Sell the barn, build new, this is 13x15
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We built one for a friend years ago. 18X30 with a covered concrete front porch running the full length. It originally had an outhouse but has since been upgraded to a real bathroom with shower. If you opened up the floor plan, you could sleep 6. Very comfortable. Electric baseboard heat, electric on demand point of use hot water. Small kitchen area on one end wall, dining/living area in the middle, sleeping/bath at other end.
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Northerner and Vesty, Those are pretty sweet cabins! :thumbsup:
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Get a 12 x 14 to a 16 x 20 wall tent and stay in it a few weekends to try the size,build your cabin to fit your needs,then sell the tent.
The bigger beams on small cabins adds character in my opinion.
I bet you will build a few feet bigger than you thought you needed.
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We have a 12' x 18' cabin with a 6' porch and we spend many family (2 adults, 2 kids and a dog) and hunting weekends there each year. It's the best thing we ever did, I don't think you'll regret it if you do it.
-Jay
(http://i848.photobucket.com/albums/ab47/jabjorkl_bucket/Cabin-TroutWeekend2007-12.jpg)
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Wow! Those are some nice looking cabins. I would definitely want a porch on it.
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23feetupandhappy that is a darn good lookin hunting cabin..