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The choice to repair or replace
Here, on the farm, there are five buildings - our house, a Quonset barn, a pole barn, a greenhouse and a block henhouse.
If you close your eyes and hit yourself in the head with a hammer, you might imagine you're living in an Italian villa.
Anything yet?
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Luckily for us, one of the five structures on our farm was well cared for. Our 120-year-old house is as solid as a rock. We thank the previous owner on every cold and rainy night as we stay warm, cozy and dry. We've made quite a few interior changes, but the outer structure is ready for another dozen decades.
What we've discovered, unfortunately, is that old, scenic "calendar" barns aren't born old. If untended for a long enough period of time, they die, turning your "faux Italian villa" into a "country slum."
There are two approaches to upkeep of old farm buildings. The first involves a bulldozer. The second approach involves a bit more work and a lot more imagination.
Let's call it "replace" versus "repair."
The two-story Quonset barn, once used for equipment storage, now a painting studio, was a wreck when we bought it. Saving it required replacing a main beam, installing windows, having a crew blow in liquid foam insulation, regrading the surrounding grounds to steer away rain water, building a block-and-stone planter box to hide French drains, resealing the curved roof, tearing out rotten flooring and rewiring.
Could we have called in the bulldozers, knocked it down and built a new structure for less?
Perhaps.
I like to believe the man who built that post-war barn, one that fits the land so perfectly, is happy.
The biggest building on our land is a 100-foot-long pole barn that was once the pride of a working dairy. Built in the late '60s, perhaps early '70s, it is less Currier and Ives, and more practical, industrial America.
The first time I saw the massive concrete floor, being the farmer I am, I thought, "This would be a great place for an indoor basketball court."
My wife had other plans.
Guess who won?
I built horse stables, had sections of roof replaced, knocked out concrete, rewired, replaced doors and ran fencing for pastures. Now home to five smelly and unthankful steeds, the barn is in need of constant upkeep and will, I fear, never be as good as it was the day it was raised. Each time I walk up there, I imagine what it once was - busy with cows being milked.
Once again, could we have knocked it down and built a new structure for less?
Perhaps.
And maybe our approach of "rebuild" and not "replace" isn't the most logical. Sometimes, however, you have to go with your gut.
We've always been big fans of recycling.
To hear Scott Paulsen's column, visit www.observer-reporter.com. He can be heard each weekday afternoon from 3-7 p.m. on 1250 ESPN Radio.
schadenfreude? : 1/26/2009
"warm and cozy" ? As I again check the meat thermometer laying on the kitchen table, get the fire relit and grab the cat to see if its yet warm enough to not see his breath I mutter. "warm and cozy"
