5/22/2011

Updates on the barn restorations.... The carpenter got finished last week- after accomplishing all he had to get done. We now have brand new steps going to the hayloft ( YAY- no more ladders!), all of the stall windows have been re-worked, and now open & close easily, and there are firring strips on each of the ceiling seams , making it look oh so nice. He also repaired the kicked in concrete blocks ( yes- those horses really wanted to be free !!) and now the back stall walls all need to be scrubbed clean. But those holes are filled in and more safe.

This past week, our painter showed up. They painted the stall ceilings in the same cream color that our new over head door is.  This coming week, we HOPE the rain holds off enough so they can get the two eaves on each end of the barn painted and all of the windows as well.

This poor barn- it was built in the mid '60s and hadn't really been maintained properly until we bought the place in 2002. Sure the guys working here had done their best, and big repairs that were needed were done, but little else. When the former owners moved on, the barn was left empty and barns, like houses, NEED to be lived in. So the decay had continued.  I'll add a few photos of how the stall boards looked and still look today.

Unpainted:

 Painted ! We're STILL waiting for the stall front company to arrive...

Inside the stall fronts now-

BAD cribbers lived in this barn before our horses.

 This horse was trying to chew his way to freedom....

 They even chewed the TOPS of each stall and the heavy wood uprights

Big dents in the old boards made by neurotic horses wanting to be OUTside.

Windows repaired and now ready to be re-painted !  This is our tack room...

This week ahead , the stall front company is Supposed to show up to have the whole barn torn apart and re-done correctly.

Then we can have our ''Barn Clean Up Day !''