Saving the Barn 2005

In 2004 we needed to save the barn from falling down. The structure was tilting about two feet to the east and about one foot to the south. Built into a hillside, it was sliding off its 1911 poured concrete foundation, which was crumbling and falling off in chunks onto the lower level dirt floor.
The family had been adding support to the slowly collapsing barn since the 1950s. A large angle beam within the wall of the hog yard pressed against the barn’s northeast corner, cribs of railroad tie timbers supported the second floor beams, and adjustable steel lally columns in the lower level pressed westward in a futile attempt to prevent the structure’s eastward collapse off the crumbling hillside foundation wall.
That same year, we decided to get married.
We would save the barn and get married in it.
2005 was going to be a busy year!

We hired a house mover (Big Ray Taylor from Selah) to lift the barn structure off its crumbling foundation, just high enough to allow an excavator to remove the old foundation.


“Just put this rickety, old, tilted barn down on a level foundation,
and we’ll take it from there!“


The barn was lifted in January and held aloft on timber cribs and steel beams, hanging in the air above a huge gaping hole. New foundation walls were poured in February, the barn structure was lowered and anchored to the level concrete, new water and electrical service was brought in, and the hole was backfilled against the new foundation.
We spent that spring slowly jacking the structure back to plumb, using long lally column jacks pressed high against the east and south walls, extending the jacks a few turns every week until the walls and corners were perfectly plumb. When the structure was where we wanted it, we added diagonal shear bracing throughout the interior walls to lock them in place. Friends helped us throughout this process, excavating and leveling the ground floor, repairing and replacing siding and windows, and cleaning up the work site.

The barn-saving process is best explained in the photos below.

The northwest corner of the barn as the first steel beam was installed below the floor joists. Note the lally column pressed against the crumbling foundation.
Inside the northeast corner, you can see the wall studs warped and bent from 50 years of pressure.
From outside the northeast corner, you can see the degree of eastward shift that had progressed over the previous half century. Note the angled shed roof, beam, and lally column pressing against the corner of the falling barn.
To support the barn so it could be lifted, steel beams criss-crossed the interior, sitting on timber cribs, where hydraulic jacks (not seen in this photo) lifted the structure from four points simultaneously.
Intersection of beams near the northeast corner, held firm with a jack and chains.
Additional timber bracing was added to stabilize the structure while inserting steel beams through the barn’s vast, open south end.
The north end of the barn as steel beams were inserted through the structure.
A serious beam!
Beams at the southeast corner of the barn in the winter morning light.
We were fortunate to have little snow in 2005!
On Valentine’s Day, Peg surprised Andy when he returned from work.
She climbed high into the hayloft to hang a Valentine’s Day banner where it could be seen from the road. The workers were wary to climb into the hayloft and warned her of the dangers, but Buddy “the Brown Dog” was an eager accomplice.
Peg and her uncle Jim feeling safe below the newly supported structure.
Uncle Jim inspects the work.
The south structure hangs inches above the old foundation.
Uncle Jim piloted the excavator and expertly removed the old foundation from under the hanging barn.
The south end hangs in the air. A few last chunks of old foundation remain.
The northwest corner. The lower west wall (to the right) would receive a new foundation wall in the hillside. The lower north wall would be rebuilt with new posts and wall framing.
The west side of the barn (against the hillside) looks pretty scary!
Castle in the air!
The southwest corner.
The floating barn.
Concrete is pumped for the new foundation.
The new west foundation against the hillside. The twisted structure was not yet fully lowered.
A French drain was added before backfill.
A crooked old barn sits on a new foundation.
Note the lally column jacks at the lower corner and right (south) end.
The north end, still tilted, awaits new posts and wall structure.
The barn, held upright with lally columns, sits in an empty landscape.
New structural support under the northwest floor joists.
Note the new water line and conduit for electric service through the foundation wall.
Additional support added under the norteast floor joists.
New wall structure and shear bracing at the northeast corner.
New framing and structure on the lower north wall.

…summer was almost over, and our wedding date was about six weeks away.
The barn was stable and buttoned up by the end of summer. Minimal interior electrical service and lighting was installed, and a septic and drain field was added less than two weeks before the date of our barn wedding.
A lot of work remained to be done. This is where our amazing friends came through and helped us make the place ready for the big wedding and unforgettable party on October 8, 2005. Better friends don’t exist, and we are forever in their debt!