How do you build Ansgar's barn?

Ansgar's Barn...a friend asked, "What is it? Should I Google that?"

I'm not sure what Google would think it is, but here's my story.

Last summer, my cousin Paul, who lives on what was my Grandpa's place, had to take down the 70+ year old barn.  He kindly offered me some of the barn wood and other artifacts.

(http://lifeinricelakewi.blogspot.com/2013/08/old-stuff-is-so-cool.html)

Ansgar's barn in its last days.

I jammed my car with cobweb covered boards and stuff, hauled it home and stored it in my garage.

It took me awhile to figure out that I wanted to build a small replica of Grandpa's barn using the barn wood, and by then our long winter had already begun.

Once Spring came back to Wisconsin, I started planning my build.

***

Last Monday, I went to the garage thinking I would start this project.

I set up what I thought I would use for corner posts / feet for the barn, got the 2 X 4s down out of the rafters of the garage, and then realized I had no idea where to start.

The beginning

So, through the rest of the week, I spent some time thinking about how to make this barn. I checked the internet for information on how to frame walls, I read instructions in a Basic Carpentry - Illustrated, a book that Dad & Ev had given me years ago (a garage sale find that has come in handy), and I started to make a plan.

Friday was a perfect summer day, so I decided to get to work in the garage.

Job one was to draw up the plans.

My sketch from last fall

I knew I wanted to used a 4 X 12 roof slant to mimic what was used on the real Ansgar's barn.

This sounded professional, it took me a while to figure out what that meant for my dimensions and cutting angles on the sheeting.

My final drawings and materials list.

Once I had a plan, I started cutting 2 X 4s to match my material list.  I soon ran out of material, but I knew I had some 2 X 2 in the rafters, so I used those.

As it worked out, the barn was plenty heavy anyway, so by using less lumber in my framing, the building was much easier to move once completed.

Next came the assembly.

I'm such a novice at this kind of project, I didn't think ahead about this idea of the angle, so my framing was not up to code.

The front was easy, keep the corners square, and screw the parts together.
(I later would take this apart to make it work.)

 My Dad has taught me allot about woodworking but we never really talked about trapezoids.

My top 2 X 4 was too short for the angle.
So much for my math background, I didn't think through the Geometry.
But I made it work.

Frame completed, the un-mitered 2 x 4 is an eyesore.
I know it's wrong, I just wanted to hurry up and cover it up.

It's mostly square, but not perfect.
I can never quite figure out where I go wrong on the 'keep it square' rule.

Once I had a frame, it was time to work on adding the barn wood sheeting.
I decided not to use battens, but just try to try to use the old wood as best I could to make a good looking barn exterior.

Getting the idea of how the barn wood will look.

The front is done, I love it.
I'm thinking about what I can use for a silo, this duct work is not the answer.

 The sides were trickier, but once I figured out that my angle was 19°, it was a piece of cake.

I had a nice selection of barn wood and was able to fit the sheeting without having to do any lateral cuts of the wood.

I have to say that I was pretty amazed at the integrity of this wood.  It's been out in the Wisconsin elements since the late 1930's and yet it is solid as a rock.

The side is done, but now my barn looks like a woodbox or something.
It needs something.

The last side was the easiest, as I was learning as I went.

Just as I was ready to finish the last side of sheeting, I had to stop and make a trip to Menards.

I was completely out of screws that were long enough for what I needed.

I also needed a roof.  Ansgar's barn had a corrugated steel roof, I was hoping to find something that would look similar but would be easier to work with, and I needed a silo.

So, off to Menards and I found everything I needed.

***

Finally, it was time to move the barn to its final destination.

My first plan for this barn was to use it to camouflage and protect the head of my well/pump that sticks up about 18" out in the front yard.

After seeing my final product, I thought I might rather have it be part of a rock garden between the house and the garage.

So, I loaded it on the 2 wheeler and off I went.

I'm not sure how I would survive without a 2 wheeler.
As you can see, a window was added to the front.

After I had moved the barn, I went back to the garage to get my screwdriver so I could put the roof on the barn.  Little did I know I was about to have a pretty close encounter with a black bear. I was headed to the backyard and so was he. I came around from the garage and he came around the deck. We were about 50-60 feet apart when we saw each other. We both stopped in our tracks for a split second. Then I shifted into reverse and luckily he kept going into the woods. That was way too close! No photo, I was just trying to get to a safe distance away, quickly.

It looked just okay in the rock garden.  I wasn't happy.

The roof is a sheet of plastic that is used for a backsplash in a kitchen.

It was white, so I painted it barn wood brown.

The silo is a cardboard tube that is used as a form to pour cement to support fence posts.

Once it was painted, it looked okay.

It is too tall and skinny, and looks out of scale to me.

The backside of the barn showing roof and silo.

But the mosquitoes were awful by this time, and I was very jumpy about the bear, 

so I left the barn overnight.

***

First thing this morning, I knew I had to move the barn to where I had originally planned to have it.

I also had talked to Dad and Ev, and we agreed that the silo needed a topper.

Ansgar's silo just had some boards as the top, but to make my silo not look so much like a smokestack, I knew I needed something.  As luck would have it, I ran across a flower pot that worked perfectly.  A little paint and it looks like a silo top.

I also cut down the silo about 6 inches, which brought it to a better scale.

The silo is wrapped in a light weight mesh that is designed to keep deer from eating your plants,
I'm hoping it works for the sweet potato vine to climb on.

I think the barn looks perfect sitting under the trees.

 My silo looks a little off kilter, I haven't decided how to attach it to the barn, 

so for now it's held up by a couple of tree stakes.

I haven't decided about the roof overhang, whether to trim it or not, it's fine for now.
The window on the front of the barn also came from Ansgar's original barn.
I think it changes this from a box to a barn.

Ansgar's barn lives again.

The view from the driveway of Ansgar's Little Barn.

I'm very pleased with my project

 and now you know the Wanda version of how to build Ansgar's little barn.

***

It will even be fun to see it in the snow...but hopefully not for a very long time.


*****
And now the revisions begin.
The more I looked at Ansgar's Little Barn, the more I knew that window needed glass.

This window from the real barn even has a hunk of newspaper jammed into the broken corner of one of the panes.

Dad had an idea that I need to add the silo chute that went from barn to silo, so that is next on my list.
I'm also not sure the silo is the right scale, so that could also change.
And so it goes.