SBF #6 What we found in the old farmhouse.

The gypsum plaster was put on after the window trim, adding over 200 ft of potential air and water leakage. The prodigous amount of air leakage is known for preserving the wood frame in old buildings that spent over 5 and 10 cords of wood heating. The current air barrier scheme is to use ADA. (Airtight Drywall Approach) Gasketing the planes to each other. Dense pack cellulose will also slow down the air and water, and effectively store some water as a heat sink during the winter.




The timber stud frame was balloon framed on the eave sides which are north and south. In the original house, the studs go two feet above the 2nd floor up to the rafter plate and on that sit 2x7 rafters on a 12/12 pitch. Floor joists are nailed to a floor ledger nailed to the inside face of studs with floor beams, square-hole joined to 4x10 stud-posts.
In the add-on kitchen here to the left, the rafter plate is closer to the 2nd floor. You can see the joinery here.


One of the issues with deep energy retrofits is that typically it is advatageous to add the insulation to the outside because of ease of creating a continuous insulative envelope and air barrier. This often makes sense where the exterior siding needs replacing.
In our case, the farmhouse exterior siding is in good condition. And knowing the cost of residing, I was thrilled to find the balloon framing from the interior that will allow us to build a continuous space for the cellulose to cover the outside edge of the floor ledgers.







And here is some of the wood lath that was spit from a board with a chisel. Seen sideways.

The Barn Revisited

I took some time and climbed into the upper frame of the barn. You can tell it was built in two sections by the side by side posts and rafters in the middle. 4 bays each side. The older side is closer to the house and has hand hewn tie beams and a few hewn rafters as well as a ridge beam. The newer side has no ridge beam and the tie beams are tenoned into the posts below the rafter plates. This has lead to the two posts in the middle of the newer half to split at the tie beam peg holes and mortise. The round rafters have pushed out over many winters splitting the posts about 3 feet down. Figuring they would need to be replaced and the subsequent costs we thought it would be easier to take down the newer side and leave old barn even though we really wanted to bring the hand hewn timbers inside.
The older barn side's tie beams were joined differently, by lapping onto the top of the rafter plate. The posts were intact, tenoning into the bottom of the plates.
It seemed more appropriate to leave the older frame that would last longer. And I realized that I should pass on the timbers from the old River Run. This would allow us to use some hewn timbers in the rebuild and be able to continue to see the hewn timbers in the barn.
The beginning of the renovation of the barn is underway.

What to do with the old barn?

The old barn frame is similar to the house. A combination of hand hewn spruce timbers with sawn ones. This was common in the 1870's as mills made sawn lumber more accessible. The long timbers were cheaper and easier to hand hewn while the shorter ones were sawn.

We are very interested to use the antique wood, especially hand hewn, in the retrofit of the house. But there is also a need for the barn space as Wayne is already working with a local CSA to share the barn space for overwintering animals.

Wayne wants a more practical space for storage and garage. The compromise seems to be to dismantle the older half of the barn for reusing wood while saving the newer half and renovating it to be more useable for current farm needs.

Week 3 at Sunnybrook

With a great crew and a few extra helpers, the farmhouse is almost gutted.
We have left the frame, the exterior siding, the plastered ceiling in the 2nd floor, one chimney, one plumbing vent and the hardwood floors downstairs.

We have also left much of the back-plastering that was done on the inside of the exterior sheathing, which are 1x wide pine/spruce.

We are now working on completing the design of the space and the energy systems. The energy work will be done with the mentorship of Andy Shapiro.

One of the highlights of the past week was finding a post card announcing the art opening of a friend and neighbor from 1982! I was able to return the card to her delight.

The frame was mostly in very good condition except for the basement ceiling. There is quite a bit of powdering of the spruce timbers. Amazingly, the timbered sill that sits directly on a granite foundation is mostly in great condition. I found only one spot where there is rot where it abuts an exterior porch that sat on original granite footer. The original posts are apparently gone with steel lolly columns that have inadequate bear plates and one column is in such a state of decay that is has crumpled at its base. The only section of frame that was in obvious need of repair were 3 joists underneath the bathroom tub/toilet. Other sections may need extra support/replacement.
The roof is in good condition with only an old rotten remnant of a chimney opening, long taken out. The original wood shingles lie under asphalt shingles, soon to be covered with standing seam.

The management of materials has been a good challenge. We did not order a dumpster and instead are using a trailer to haul to the local transfer station. This makes us more aware of what we are throwing away.
We are saving all framing lumber from walls to be reused as dried wood will have the least impact on an old frame as we rebuild.
We are using the old plaster, broken bricks as the base of an earth berm to shelter from the nearby road.
All of the old lathe is stored for kindling-probably 10 years worth.
Any unpainted wood that will not be reused will make up a summer bonfire.
Unuseable painted wood is hauled away.
Decent wood trim will be saved until we know if we can use it or not. Including door jambs and kitchen counters.
We saved a few built in cabinets to be reused.
All light fixtures, tub,fridge, washer,dryer, dishwasher, stove, oil burner, hot water maker, woodstove, kitchen counters, pergo flooring and baseboard heating will be either sold or sent to the ReStore in Barre.
We will reuse the sinks, any good romex/electrical fixtures and much of the old copper plumbing.
All of the old wiring, including knob and tub, will be recycled.

Renovation tea

As we have been working in a very dusty environment for about 3 weeks, I wondered what my doctor(my wife Adrienne of Green Mountain Medicinals) would suggest for a tea blend to maintain good health in this situation.

She prescribed this herbal concoction:
Echinacea
Ginger
Dandelion root
Red clover
A mint(spearmint, peppermint, applemint)
Mullein

Wayne promptly got the ingredients and has reported the tea as not only good tasting, but revitalizing.