Lets Talk Outbuildings

I've missed a few of our Lets Talk session on the blog so you may want to head over to our Facebook page and listen. August was super crazy and it looks like September is shaping up to be even crazier. But for now, I did want to talk outbuildings because they play a large part in the Sanctuary.


We have a number of outbuildings at the Sanctuary and we use every single one of them. The gist of my talk was that if you have outbuildings, keep an eye on them and when something breaks, try to fix it if money and time allows. Because if you let the little things that break go, they'll turn into bigger things. Granted, redoing a roof is a big deal but usually you want to tackle a roof BEFORE it starts to leak or before there's problems.


We are faced with a number of issues. Some are minor and others are going to be catastrophic if we don't get to them pretty soon.


So the barn. It's really in pretty decent shape. On the backside, the roof is tin. It needs to be replaced because it does leak. But because it leaks directly onto the concrete, it's going to be something that has to wait. I'd like to do the Ondura sheets but that'll have to wait a few years. I think with a bit of sealant, we could get the leaks fixed but I need to be out when it rains. However, the barn DOES need a good paint job. I started this past weekend. I only went as far as I could reach without having to get the ladder out. It looks sharp but also silly. My theory was, I wanted to get as much done as I could even if it meant only getting the bottom half. Yes it's backwards from what you're supposed to do but something is better than nothing at this point. Now the barn glows at night!1

The red shed is in decent shape although when the tornado went through, the top peak in a couple of places broke so water pours in. I need to figure out what to use to fix the holes and just climb up there. We have a ladder that would fix it. But I need the time and a bit of materials to get up and do some patching. It's going to turn into an issue soon if we don't get it repaired. The two little buildings on the left also need some roof patching. I'm hoping Ican get something done this month. It's nothing major, just slap some tin on the roof and call it good. I've let it go and it's causing problems for me.

Then there's the dreaded garage. With the chimney gone and a hole, we had to do some quick repairs. And not really quick. Major work needed to be done. There were no eaves. The previous owner put some cedar shingles to fake an eave but that didn't help. The owner that build the garage didn't build eaves so now we are paying for it. This past weekend, Mike ripped off the shingles, built eaves, and reshingled. The problem is, we can't get the other three sides done. It's a gabled roof so there's four sides to the damn garage. Without full weekends to rip off shingles, build eaves, and slap new shingles on with lots of help, its' not going to get done. And it really does need to get done. The roof over the garage door is terrible and I am afraid  I'll pick up a nail soon. But there's priorities. The garage doesn't leak.

But the hay barn DOES leak. This was the roof we were supposed to tackle first before the gigantic hole in the garage roof. We'd been planning on reroofing this barn but I don't know how to do it. I thought we were going to get a boom truck but that's not available now. We have all the materials...well almost all of the materials and if we could have a solid weekend with some help, we could get maybe one side done...maybe. Things always go slower than what I expect. But this roof leaks and there are no shingles in some places. So I think the hay barn has to take priority over the garage although I worry about the shingles not finished off like they should. But if we lose the hay barn, we'll be in trouble. I use the hay barn for storage and lights and a bunch of other stuff. Its' darn handy and I don't want to lose it but we need help in getting it done.


Anyone want ot help? You dont' have to be up on the roof, down on the ground running errands would be perfect too. But we need help and I'm not normally one to ask for help but we are in a bind if we want to get two roofs done before the snow flies. And with the weather the way it is, I expect winter will be a month early this year.

So who's up for a little bit of physical work? I can feed you! If you're free let me know. And remember, keep up with the maintenance of your buildings. If you don't, you'll lose the building. I've learned that first hand. I guess that's why we are pushing to get the hay barn done.