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Prepping the base for the next phase

The process of adding plumbing to the project became a little more daunting when it was realized how much actual material needed to be excavated in order to accommodate the pipes, fill material, foam insulation and 4 inches of concrete.

The long laborious task made us think of how prisoners of war worked tirelessly to dig escape tunnels. They used spoons and fingers and filled up pockets and slowly removed the spoils to remote locations.

The shear volume of rock removed spawned a secondary project in the form of a meandering rock wall starting from the farm stand and snaking up toward the schoolhouse following the path of the seasonal creek.

Cement walls and trimmed windows

 reclaimed and reclaimed  

(after the first job was finished with the reclaimed wood we acquired the cull)

re-milled Hemlock for the high divider wall from an old NY factory 

Douglas fir from old beams and pieces of black walnut trim the windows 

the main walls are cement

Cement Walls

Mud and trowel

Troweling thin set as wall coating

We want it to look like concrete walls so we are trying our hand at a technique we have not seen utilized! 

 Spring has come and gone and Fall is now at hand. The fields have been put to rest after a tortuously difficult season of dry and hot. The late harvest of green became the best yields of the year as cooler moister air was much kinder to the vegetation. Now is the time to return again to the project at hand.

Feeld like I am working on a chain gang

Breaking up is hard to do..but vintage concrete is an even greater challenge! The contest of man over slab continues!

Time to remove the old concrete slab for the plumbing and a new floor!

Once again the project resumes thanks to a major shift in the weather pattern. With beneficial rain moving an opportunistic window has been provided to get back to the kitchen. Progress has been steady, slow but steady. The time has arisen to excavate the concrete floor and remove the old concrete slab. This task has been put off as long as possible as it is going to be a back breaker.

The concrete slab was poured 70 plus years ago over a layer of field rocks and has reached maximum hardness. It is solid and lopsided and needs to go. The process of removal is laborious employing a sledge, shovel and wheel barrow. Slowly the slab is turned to rubble and the spoils removed outside for use as back fill on a later aspect of the project.

Bubbles against cold wind and rain

 The inside is progressing ..the walls are concrete board and we have added radiant insulation to the ceiling before we moved on.

Pine boards stained slate for part of  the ceiling

Installing the ship lap pine all stained and sealed

locating a unique texture was key

check out the patina

Vintage zinc panels

reclaimed panels ready to be scrubbed and sealed

Rough but solid zinc would add texture

beautifully rough

An old local barn had some roofing with a really nice patina

pretty cool

Winter fades and work resumes!

Winter, well as much as we have had this seasons is fading and with the warm weather the work resumes on the interior of the kitchen!

Holiday break

The need to repair the floor under a toilet in the house has resulted in a temporary break from the kitchen project. The winter snow and cold are not to blame as I have taken possession of a kerosene heater abandoned at the local recycling center waiting for a needy soul to rescue it. Once it was cleaned up a bit it appeared it had never been used and upon fueling it worked like a champ. Now that the holidays are over it will be time to refocus energy on the kitchen. Spring will be upon us before we know it........

Now it's time to turn to the inside!

As wonderful as this warm cooperative Fall has been reality is we need to work on the inside in order to be ready for Spring and the harvest that will follow! Insulation, walls, floors, trim and more......

Adding an entrance to the rear!

Continued good fortune with unseasonable weather has allowed us to keep working on the exterior. Soon, as the weather inevitably deteriorates, the interior will become our only focus......

Adding more detail

Sky Blue Sky

Finally borrowed a long enough ladder to gain access to the tip top , add a sky blue day, no real wind and the ridge cap is installed. The roof is buttoned up against the elements. Now on to the siding the rear and installing a door!

New light from old windows

In our efforts not to simply create a utilitarian building but an arts and crafts style structure we opted to add some re-claimed windows to add additional natural light as well as some additional design elements. The bottom portion of the barn is sided  and the windows are trimmed in more of the re-claimed barn board we rescued. 

To some the project may seem to be dragging along, but to us it is critical that the structure be more then just a pole barn. as it is situated adjacent to the historic schoolhouse and deserves a little more attention then most people would give it.

Things continue to progress with the sunny November days!

A little weather protection is being applied while it is still warm enough to do so

The footers and piers have been all completed and now the ground can be re leveled 

Leveled and rock free...we built a wall by the creek with the rocks we dug up

                                       Next we will begin to focus on what is going on inside!

Two by Two and one at a time

Digging down the required 4 feet and erecting concrete piers under the old barn to support it for another 100 years is not as fun a task as it sound. The process is tedious and has resulted in numerous bumps to the head and even a black eye! Slowly one at a time in the process continues and the transformation and reconfiguration of the old barn takes place.  

Moving forward as Fall colors begin to fade

progress continues high and low

Slowly it takes shape!

Slow and steady the Agri-Kitchen takes shape

Boards heading to a new location

siding part of the building with the reclaimed pieces in an effort to re-purpose useful seasoned materials