Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late.

FAQs

Your trusty barn deserves an annual inspection to keep it safe and avoid costly future large repairs. As with most buildings, focus on the foundation and the roof and the rest of the structure will have a much better life. If your barn has reached the point of relatively major repairs, or you don’t know what to look for - we can help.

Which areas do you serve?

We are based in Galesburg, Illinois and consider the US from the eastern side of the Rockies to the Atlantic as our “back yard”. Our core team of professional carpenters and preservation experts works on the road quite a bit, and we have a wide network of colleagues that assist us on special projects further afield. We also have a standing presence in the Caribbean standing new timber frames for custom resorts and homes. It is not uncommon for our expertise to be tapped for an international assignment.

How do I know when it’s time to call an expert?

This kind of falls into the “walks like a duck, quacks like a duck” category - if your barn looks tired, worn out, leaning, has open wounds then its time for an assessment. We find that most barn reaching that state have quite a lot of internal, costly damage if they start to show it to the world. Catching problems before that will save you lots of hassles and expense to keep your barn in good nick. We look at hundreds of barns every year and can’t provide a free review for everyone that asks, so our assessment is in response to a pre-paid stipend to cover costs and time.

How much will this cost?

Maintenance costs a lot less than repairs, so we encourage every barn steward to give your barn annual attention (see below for maintenance ideas). If your barn is showing wear and tear, the repairs are often sadly deep and more than a simple patch or roofing repair. Of course, it is impossible to predict the cost here because every barn is unique and each owner has a different goal for long-term barn use. When our crew mobilizes to site, we bring a lot of specialized gear, supplies, and equipment. The easiest way to describe our costs is to say that our typical 4 person crew gets a lot more done in a week than you will expect, and its pretty common for our crew to be on a barn for 2-4 weeks. Our assessment process will define costs very accurately for you before you need to commit to the project.

What is the recommended maintenance?

Your historic barn has probably already had a great life, you may not know its full history. Often we can tell you a lot about who made, how it was made, how many renovations its already had, and what its main pains are now. If you can give your barn a day or two of attention it will really help extend its live for your family. Here are the simple things everyone can do:

- walk all around the barn and take photos of its current condition, look for straight eave lines and ridge lines which is a big indicator of barn health.

- remove all brush, trees, trash, dirt piles and other debris from the immediate perimeter of the barn to let it breath and dry out.

- look carefully (from the ground, NO Ladders) at the entire roof and identify any missing roofing, holes, bumps, or other that looks out of place.

- purge the unwanted contents of your barn when you can so it can be closely evaluated for structural integrity, our assessment will need to get to every timber and post foot so clearing the area is important.

- note any animal or organic collections in the barn, its probably not a good thing; dig out old manure piles and plug holes if you’ve got critter.

- look for water marks, streamlets running through and other rot issues as these are always a sign of looming trouble.