A client decided to build a barn home in New England. We were contacted by their builder to locate a quality barn frame of substantial dimensions. Our search encompassed over seven states in the Northeast to no avail. We completed our search when we located this spectacular 40' x 80' dairy barn through a close friend and business associate in Canada.

The deconstructed barn has been carefully labeled and shipped to America waiting for it’s new life and will serve as a new home to be located on top of a hill with river views and marshlands.

Timbers were hand-hewn from pine, elm, and ash trees. True mortise and tenon joints fastened with wooden pegs and one-piece timbers as long as 44' made dismantling this barn a challenge. The original ladders to the hay mow were preserved and will be incorporated in the new barn home plan.

A member of the dismantling crew is removing the last of the weathered barn siding at this corner. We pride ourselves on preserving the rich brown tones of timbers that have not seen much light of the day. The half-round white cedar rafters were hand-hewn flat on the top surface to accept the roof boards.

This image shows the quality of craftsmanship of this barn.

Driving out the old wooden pegs that were installed approximately 150 years ago can also be a challenge and sometimes require drilling out.

 

Even smaller frame members used mortise and tenon joinery.

 

Power washing three tractor trailer units of barn beams was a task into itself. Once washed and air-dry ed, they were moved into dry storage at our modern Connecticut facility.

 

The next step was to go through each part of the barn and write a report on the condition of each piece. This image clearly shows that repairs will be necessary in some areas on the large tenon ends.

 

Highly visible number tags are installed for quick verification of every timber of the barn.

 

Stacks of hand-hewn beams waiting to be re-assembled.

 

Our 12-ton overhead tram rail crane can do the work of four men. Heavy timbers must be constantly moved throughout the process.

 

Many modern power tools are used in the work but there comes a time that hand tools are necessary.

 

Sixteen inch power saws are used to re-create this tenon that was damaged.

 

Once the power saw work is complete, tenon's must be hand-craved to exact tolerances using antique tools of the barn builder.

 

Critical layout lines must be maintained to ensure a good fitting joint.

 

This near completed tenon is ready to chamfer and test fit into its mortise location.

 

Each mortise and tenon of the large timbers must be test fit a number of times before it is considered a good joint.

 

This large wood hammer known as a commander is used to assemble and disassemble barn frames.