Wilder Barn Restoration: Part 2 of 2

Text and photos by Martha Wilder (arranged and edited by Jim Campbell)

Continued from Wilder Barn Restoration Part 1

… we knew we’d have to make a decision about the barn.  A good windstorm and Mother Nature would have probably taken her back within a couple of years.  

My husband and I knew that we couldn’t let that happen, so we set a budget, blew the budget, and addressed the foundation, the outside “skin” and put a new 2” hemlock floor within the ‘upper’ barn.

We shored up the foundation with shotcrete (Rob Sangers out of Kingston).  The bank side was the worst in terms of condition, so it was sprayed from the inside—it was a winter or two away from caving in; very solid now. Spraying the shotcrete on the inside of the barn helped to preserve the look of the stone foundation.  Rob’s two trained masons tuck-pointed much of the stonework as well.  

The “skin” of the barn was done by Paul Linkie from Brighton.  

Jonathan Brohm from the Roblin/Kingston area replaced the upper barn floor with 2” hemlock.  It was previously the “loose board” design of many barns of the era — really a death trap when the hay wasn’t in — now it’s about 4,000 square feet of levelled floor. (in one area, there was a 16” discrepancy in level!)  

Jonathan sourced the wood from a local mill.  He also built new doors for us on the lower barn — he is a real artisan and does great work.  There was no fanfare, just got to it and got the job done to our satisfaction.

I had the “floor” of the silo filled with crushed stone to grade level — I have some young grandchildren and didn’t want anyone falling into the pit.  The top is off the silo and at some point, I would like to replace it when I can find someone — it is a very specific ask as I understand it.  

We will put in new electrical in the upper barn and the lower barn still needs some attention, but mostly in “clean up grunt work”—old timbers, wood, the dairy cattle stanchions and manure track, and decades worth of old hay that fell through from the upper barn when we did the floor.

We couldn’t be happier with our decision to restore this old barn — I’m sure the locals think we are crazy — but every time I go in and look at the broad axe and adze marks on huge old growth logs, I know we made the right decision.

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