Raisin' The Roof!

The barn is being renovated! They’re tearing the roof off and laying down new lath as they go, so they have secure footing even as they remove the old tin. Two power lifts, one with a scaffold, air hoses, power hammers, nail bandoliers, and pre-sawn 2x4s are a far cry from the tools used when the barn was first raised in the 1800s.

The metal pinch bars, flannel shirts, and denim pants may be the only things the original Krise family would recognize at the work site today. Imagine hand hewing and sawing the wood back then! You’d be lucky to have a couple of guys on the ground cutting and hoisting so you and a buddy could set pieces in place. Without friends or neighbors, you’d be on the ground to measure and cut a few lengths, and then climb back up the ladder to pound hand forged nails. Then, as hard as you worked during the day, as many times as you you had been up and down the ladder, you had to stop before dark so you could milk the cows and feed ‘em some hay. I bet they didn’t join the gym, do yoga, or Pilates!

The barn needs some care. The old tin roof has been patched and repaired over the years, but it’s friable and leaks in the rain. One section of the main cross beam has some rot as does the main diagonal brace for that section. Rain snuck in over time in and ran across the beam and down the brace. Slowly, imperceptibly, the water rotted the spine, and was working its way toward the vines that grew up from the foundation, one working to weaken it, the other to pull it down. Nature doesn’t like verticals, but this old barn has stood proudly against sun, rain, wind, and snow. The men in their flannels and denim would be as proud.

More to come!