4/10/14 Old attempts at repair caused bigger problems for Holmes fairgrounds barn, restorer says

  • By Nick Sabo
  • March 10, 2014
  • 348
                        
SUMMARY: Barn Again owner speaks at Killbuck Watershed Land Trust annual meeting Representing landowners who choose to put their farmland into conservancy, it is fitting that the Killbuck Watershed Land Trust’s annual meeting Thursday, March 6 heard from a barn restorer who helps people preserve their historic agricultural buildings. Barn Again owner Fred Cannon shared stories from a decade of barn restoration with land trust members, including his recent work on the historic bank barn at the future site of the Holmes County Fairgrounds. Cannon said the reason so many old barns still stand today is due to the craftsman who built them. If properly cared for, the barns can stand for hundreds of years, Cannon said. It is when elemental “enemies”, as Cannon called them, get inside the barns that they begin to collapse. “The greatest enemy is water (and) trees,” Cannon said. “Once water gets in, you start to have problems.” Cannon said that water damage is best kept out by maintaining the barn louvers and properly directing rain water from the roof away from the foundation. Negligence of louvers and a poorly developed gutter system were to blame for much of the damage at the barn at the new Holmes County fairgrounds, Cannon said. Before starting on a restoration, Cannon takes a glance at the barn’s roofline. The roof on the barn at the fairgrounds revealed some problems with the structure outright. The roof’s main support beam, known as the summer beam, was pushed up, causing a hump. Ironically, the cause was the barn owner’s efforts to correct water getting into the lower level and rotting away support beams, Cannon said. “It had been repaired several several times,” Cannon said. “The rotten beams were cut and jacked up, putting more pressure on the summer beam.” The water had got in because of updates to the gutter system. Cannon said the gutters were all diverted into one drain. The drain was insufficient to handle all of the water, and overflowed. The barn’s aged louvers also were not keeping rain out of the structure. The beams looked fine from the back, or interior side. As is often the case, Cannon said, the front of the beams were rotted in several places, damage that is hidden until the siding is peeled away. Cannon replaced all the barn’s 54 louvers with wood replicas of the originals. The beams on the ground level were trimmed and set on concrete footers; during restoration, the barn was pulled back to plumb using six steel rods running the width of the building. A new stainless steel gutter system was installed. Cannon further restored the barn’s cupolas and replaced the part shingle/part slate roof with a standing seam roof. The completed barn is to be a kind of centerpiece for the new fairgrounds. It stands out as one of two buildings completed so far, a reminder of Holmes County’s agricultural heritage and culture. Land trust members kept Cannon busy with questions for about 20 minutes after the end of his presentation. The Killbuck Watershed Land Trust has helped place close to 8,000 acres of productive farmland, forest, wetlands and recreation areas into conservation easements, president Maryanna Biggio said. Under conservancy easements, farm land is restricted for agricultural purposes in perpetuity, and nature areas are preserved in their natural state. The watershed region encompasses Ashland, Coshocton, Holmes, Richland, Tuscarwas and Wayne counties. For more information, visit the Killbuck Watershed Land Trust’s website, www.killbucklandtrust.org/ KUTLINE/ Nick Sabo photo Barn Again owner Fred Cannon shared tricks of the trade in barn restoration at the Killbuck Watershed Land Trust’s annual meeting, held March 6 at Hotel Millersburg.


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