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Epic Barn Project Ranch

Mid August Epic Barn Update

After all of Ashton’s Family left, we spent some time catching up on work. We had just gotten 10 poles in the ground, so we spent a week or so filling in the holes, and tamping it down hard. You’d be surprised at how long just these small tasks take.

Epic Barn Project:

The deconstruction destroyed 3 of the long poles, so I had to purchase some pressure-treated square ones (under the tarp above).

On the 19th of August, Clayton came out to help get the remaining 6 poles up. It was a long day, but we managed to get them plumed and started filling in all the holes.

Epic Barn Project:

Epic Barn Project:

Not too bad for a hobby, eh?

Epic Barn Project:

Now that we have all the poles in the ground, I borrowed yet another gadget from Buzz. This thing on the left is a laser level on a tripod. Once I got the tripod level and straightened out, I can rotate the laser level around to create a “level mark” on every pole. I just finished doing that today, so now every pole has a pencil mark that is exactly level to the other pencil marks on every other pole.

The mark on the “uphill pole” is 2.5 feet off the ground, and it’s about 4 feet off the ground on the most downhill pole. So the slant of the ground is about 1.5 feet from one end of the barn to the other.

My shortest short pole is 7 feet 2.5 inches above the “level mark.” (My second shortest short pole is 7’6″.)

My shortest long pole  is 10 feet above the “level mark.”. (My second shortest long pole is 10′ 4″, and then 10′ 9″).

I’ll have to cut down all of the poles to be the same length as the shortest pole of their type (to have a level roof).

Here’s the Epic Barn Project as it is today:

Epic Barn Project:

Epic Barn Project:

I feel like I’ve done the hardest parts, but there is still a lot left to do…
Ashton Anna

Categories
Ashton Anna Family Horses Ranch Summer

2009 Family Trip in Images

Hi All,

Here’s a picture diary with some notes of when my family came to visit this year! We had a great time.

One of the many projects everyone worked on was putting up the fence around the “foal paddock.” Everyone pitched in and worked hard. It cam out looking beautiful. Grandpa Joe even took time to help spread the weeds. =) (Just kidding, he worked on it more than anyone else.)


Here’s some family photos:

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Epic Barn Project Ranch

Epic Barn Project: Breaking Ground

After all of that Construction Preparation, we have finally broken ground!

On the night of the 29th (just after the last post), Donald came out with his skidster and worked long into the night digging out a level spot of ground for the epic barn project and creating a drainage berm on the hill behind where the barn will be. Thank you Donald!

Epic Barn Project: level foundation

As you can see from those pictures, we have piles of wood EVERYWHERE! We have finished cleaning up the mess at Buzz’s, and moved all of the materials to around the construction site. Here’s some shots of the endless amounts of wood:

Epic Barn Project: level foundation

Categories
Family Montana Summer

2009 MT Trip Summary

Hello everyone! This is Geoffrey up in Montana, and I was given the honors to write a blog for my bro so he could go out and build his barn.

In case you didn’t know, our family is here in Polson, Montana at the Ashton and Anna Headquarters, but this time the activities were epic! Ranging from barn raising to water skiing, the family has lined up for a week of fun and games in true Montana style, basically.

I created a AshtonAnna header design for this blog, which you can see here:
AshtonAnna and family header

Here are some photos of some of the activities on the Lake:

Here’s me and Ashton flying around in the tube (also a new header):
AshtonAnna at the lake

This is AshtonAnna’s “I’m on a Boat” picture:
AshtonAnna at the lake

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Epic Barn Project Ranch

Epic Barn Project – 11th Day

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 11 days since this project began (or than I haven’t posted in 8 days). This is going to be a pretty fast mash of what has happened in the last 8 days. Enjoy!

July 18

Buzz and I took down 75% of the East gable Long Boards, but Buzz got the remaining 25% down before I was able to take a pciture of it the next morning:

epic barn

Buzz also pulled nails out of most of the East gable before I got back the next morning.
epic barn

July 19

epic barn

After I arrived, we spent that Sunday taking down the West gable:
epic barn
(I have to use the crowbar, but buzz just uses his hands.)

At one point, a bunch of the neighbor’s cows came by to see what the ruckus was about.
epic barn

It took about 3 hours (including lunch) to get all of the long West gable boards down.
epic barn

The reason it took so long to take down those boards was because 3/4 of the (huge) nails stuck out though the other side of the wood and had been bent down with a hammer. But overall, we got some good work done:
epic barn

After Buzz went inside I stayed up with Beau, a great neighbor who had offered to help. We took the nails out of almost all of the boards in the hopes that Buzz would be forced to take it easy on Monday… How wrong I was…

July 21

Two days later, Buzz had taken down all of the inside planks and the highest gable boards, so we only have the north wall left to take down.

epic barn

That man is just a work-o-holic.

epic barn

July 24

Over the last couple days Anna, Buzz and I brought down a few loads of wood in the back of Buzz’s Pickup. We’re trying to make organized stacks of the wood around where the barn will be reincarnated.

Today, when I made it back up to Buzz’s he had chainsawed all of the support beams down for the South half of the barn!

epic barn

We started by taking down the final boards on the North wall. There used to be a little pig-pen behind the barn there, so we had to take out the old water-trough and shed that was nailed to the barn:

epic barn
We didn’t even notice that the sun went down in the two minutes it took to flip the pen over.

Then we had to get back to removing the exterior walls. The most time consuming part of this was preparing the boards so that the bent nails didn’t split the vertical 2x12s. Here’s what we did to take the bent nails out without breaking the siding (vertical) boards:

1) Drill a large hole right behind the bent nail.
2) Gently hammer from the back side of the board to try to create a gap between the siding the horizontal support beam. (Brace as necessary.)
3) Using a crowbar or spud bar, pry the boards apart.
4) Pull out the top nails and remove.

remove bent nails out without breaking the wood

Then we just removed some of the remaining rafters and leveraged a post out of the ground:
epic barn

Here’s the final pic of the day:
epic barn

I can’t believe how much has gotten done in only eleven days! Super thanks to Buzz for all the great ideas and hard work. Great neighbors rule!

Ashton Anna