Old Barn on Waste Managenent's Mesquite Wildlife Management Area

Under construction 9/12/09 but some info and pictures

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I think the barn was a double-crib style.  Obviously the center was the horse-drawn wagon entry and it  is perpendicular to the main roof line as the crib style is described; as opposed to the transverse crib style.  Because it seems to have about 4 rooms or compartments instead of just two, it would fall int the double instead of single crib style.  Where the barn diverges from these styles is the additional gable over the wagon entryway.

There was a stove of some sort in the back left of the barn as evidenced by a now-patched round stovepipe hole in the left roof.

Construction was German half-timber framework, using mortise-tenon type joinng of all structural lumber.  There are no metal nails, screws or plates holding any of the framework together.  The hand-hewn mortise and tenoned timbers are joined using marriage-rule scribes at the joints, a practice according to references on the web as common among German immigrants between 1840 and 1880.

Most half-timber construction incorporated the timbers into the exteror walls but this barn looks to have had a complete wood plank exterior instead on all main walls.  These planks, judging by the gaps in the square nails that held the exterior to the framework were about an inch thick.  Some of the exteior plankng is still present on the exterior of the small gable over the wagon entrance, although that planking might have been thinner than that which covered the main walls.

There is scorching on many of the vertical timbers near the back of the building.  At present, I think that probably was associated with the bark removal from the timbers prior to use in the barn rather than a fire from the stove which was located back there, but maybe not.

At least one of the four rooms had a wood floor, at least at some time inits past.

The barn framework is set on horizontal timbers which are supported by short slices of stumps.  These stump slices are progressively taller from back to front to keep the horizontal timbers level.  The stump slices prevented deterioration of the lower framework.  Above the horizontal basal timbers are the load bearing timbers, set in the half-timber pattern the Germans used in Europe and fastened by the mortise and tenon style join..  Half-way up the vertical timbers are a group of "summer beams".  These are mostly or completely lumber mill wood.  However they are also fastened by the mortise and tenon method.  Some of those joints are set into notches as this one, and some not, as this one.  There is some diagonal mortise and tenon bracing on a few of the vertical timbers.  Since the  ridgeline is longer than most lumber, horizontal framework running that direction is spliced, also with mortise and tenon methods.  Summer beams are also spliced if long.  Most pegs holding tenons in place are in good shape but a few are backing out such as this one.

The original planking exterior was held on with square nails hammered into horizontal two by fours that in turn were fastened to the timbers by large spikes.  These spikes were pounded in past their flanges so the planking would fit flush over the spikes.  The outside of the back floored room shows the horizontal 2*4s that held the exterior planking pretty well.  Note that the bottom 2*4 on the side facing the camera is missing now but the notches it fit into are present.  Three other 2*4s are still present in the photo.

The front right side of the barn had a weather-protected feed trough.  The trough supports are worn smooth from cattle necks.  The upper 2*4 support for planking for the weather protection is still in place but the bottom one is missing and only the notch it went in is seen.  A look at this upper plank support shows what might be the last scrap of the planking still nailed to it.  However the nail fastening the plank remnant is a modern wire nail.  There are a number of pieces of lumber on the barn that look to have been added or replaced as part of the continual maintainence the barn probably had during its history.  There are a number of modern nails on the exterior, most probably were holding later galvanized sheet metal as a replacement for the original planking.  Other modern nails were just part of the maintainence I suppose.  Another sigh of maintainence might be the curved piece of sheet metal in the bottom of the feed trough.  It was probably an easy effective way to patch the bottom of the trough when it needed repairs.

The well was just east of the barn.