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farmerjan

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I'd try to keep after some one to come look at it and see if it isn't salvageable in some way.... maybe half the barn with the side that is creaking and groaning taken down to a point where it is more solid???? I am going to ask my brother in CT who goes back and forth to VT and NH if he knows of a contractor looking for work. Or maybe someone good in your area.
 

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Part of me hasn't given up on it yet. I'm still trying to connect with someone. I can't do anything yet though until DH's next big paycheck comes through.
It would be awfully hard to retrofit with stalls and doors for goats, but it sure is cool.
There are some concerning/cool things about the roof and second floor I noticed today, but the whole beast needs work at best so I'll skip getting pics of those.
There's a barn restoration guy in Groton (expensive, I'm sure) who replaces whole walls and roofs on old barns. I would like to make contact with him.
 

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Yes, after waking up from thinking about it all night I should probably come to the conclusion that every part of the barn has a myriad of issues that compounded over time (and numerous repair attempts) and if further repair is attempted, just as the engineer told us, it would be highly expensive and just a short term bandaid. Plus, because of the number overlapping issues someone could lose their lives working on one part and get squished by the other. The more I look, the more I find them and am surprised the building is hanging in there. And then I should tell myself that it would be hard to make into a goat barn anyway. The barn has too few places for doors, to contain the chickens of course, whereas goats need to be more open air. The barn is half buried in the side facing the pasture and the door back there is on the second floor. It would be better just to save the potential trouble and remove the building while in the mean time taking lots of pictures (although I think I've taken them all unless I want to document issues). I'm sorry. I love this beautiful building, but it's a sick tough old building.
 

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I think it was loved. There are some aspects of it that were doomed to fail when they were put in (ie, the roof structural issue) and others that were caused later (side door chiseled out of the concrete with no header or footer to support lost soundness put in and removed means of ventilation followed by neglect). But you can't blame people from way back. It's a 1930's modern building, lol. That may be a big reason why people probably aren't getting back to me (and probably for the best). There are plenty of 1700's, 1800's barns to repair. 1930 is a young barn.
We'll build a smaller one with lots of ventilation, plumbing, and a milk room suited perfectly to goats. When the house is sold and the paychecks equate to enough.
 

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IMG_20210521_080902553.jpg

This desk stays with me though (assuming the building doesn't randomly crush it one day).
 

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Last night marked a momentous occasion. I moved the chickens here. No more animals at the Groton house. They will be going in a used chicken coop I bought from a NH family as soon as I can get a piece of polywall and cut it to fit. Right now they are in the garage in a crate. After all the selling I still have upwards of 20 birds. Sheesh...
We will have two breeding coops eventually. I need to pick up a second cock. Teddy is both the sire and grandsire of a lot of the chickens in there now. Too much Mr Teddy.
They are looking fabulous though. He vastly improved the quality of the flock.

This weekend we shovel the barn and load the very last of our belongings into a truck. The dumpster is on the plan for Wednesday. Then the house can go up for sale.
 
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