Posts Tagged ‘barn’

Unfinished “suite”

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Well, Saturday I made some progress on the barn addition (finally). it’s no penthouse suite, but the goats should love it when it is done – and it will be far more attractive than the original “hurry up before winter comes” original barn that the goats have been living in for 2 years now.

It was cold, and with all of the “ups and downs” of working on a ladder, it went pretty slow.
I in the 4 hours of actual work-time, managed get all of the roofing boards in place and started putting the metal on the roof. I took two 30-minute breaks to thaw out my hands.
Of the eight, 3 feet sections I had to attach, I completed 4 and had 1 “Tacked down” – the ends were screwed in place to keep it from blowing off.

Sunday proved to be bitter cold and very windy. After church, I did manage to get up on the roof and screw down the 5th section completely – it took me about 30 minutes. I wore 2 sets of gloves – leather over cloth, and when I came in, my hands were turning from red to blue-ish purple!

Today I won’t be working on the roof, since the high is slated for 19 degrees, with a wind chill of -13. Tomorrow may be raining all day and night – I may get back up there on Thursday –

Once I get off of the roof, the walls should go pretty fast, since I don’t have to climb up and down and move a ladder.

We’ll see…

Goats Games in the Barn

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

I thought that the “barn expansion” project was coming along well. I had the posts and crossbeams up for the roof, and had acquired, through a good friend, metal siding for the roof and the walls at fire sale pricing.

The project, when completed would add additional space for the goats, and much needed hay storage. I was adding  a 12 foot X 24 foot enclosed area, so I figured it would be great, considering the goats are currently in a 12 foot X 24 foot area. – Almost double the space.

The only thing I didn’t count on, was that the goats were going to try and use the area before it was finished!

The extension to the barn is going to attach to the wall of the current barn  that is outside their fenced paddock. That means, if they get out or through this wall of the existing barn, they could get out of the paddock and get into trouble (spelled o-r-c-h-a-r-d or b-l-u-e-b-e-r-r-i-e-s).

Well, being goats, that ’s exactly what they did. It seems they were having head-butting contests and the losers were being slammed into this particular barn wall – and they knocked a protion of masonry paneling off – 2 feet wide by 8 feet high. So, when I went to move the hay that was stored there under a tarp, so I could work on the roof, it presented itself as a problem to be reckoned with… IMMEDIATELY!

Fortunately, I had an 8 foot wide piece of cattlepanel that I nailed up to the inside framing of the wall. That will contain them while I am working on the project, and the tarp should keep the rain out for now. But, with every step, I am now having to do additional work to contain them, and keep the elements out of the barn!

So, the project will slow down as I have to remove the tarp to do some roof framing, and then put the tarp back up until all of the framing is done. After that, I have to find a clear Saturday so I can take off tha tarp one last time and pout the metal roof on (after the metal is delivered).

Hopefully, I can get the roof done before the middle of December and then can frame the walls and put the metal siding on before January!

Maybe I should get more cattlepanels to keep them from running through the metal siding – or maybe I need to hire a referee for the nighttime goat olympics! Anyone interested in an exciting career move???

–Pat