With the concrete floor polished and stained, it was finally time to mortar in the brick pathway. The bricks were salvaged from the original barn when it was deconstructed a year ago. I mixed the mortar in small batches and worked my way across the barn, leveling out the bricks as I went. The seams will still need to be grouted, but for now it is good enough.

April fools?

We happened to be out-of-town during Minnesota's April storm, which unloaded 30+ inches of snow on us. Add to it the avalanche that fell off the roof and, well, you can see the result. Now, where did I leave the shovel?

Rather than adding another layer of finish flooring over the slab, we decided to polish and stain the concrete itself (doesn't it make more sense to work with what we've already got?) So before the brick pathway is mortared in place, Keith was kind enough to set me up with his grinding/polishing equipment so I could get the job done. First, the floor was leveled by coarse grinding, then polished to a 200-grit finish using successively finer sanding pads in the polishing machine.

It took three days of polishing to get to this point, which doesn't look all that much different than the unpolished floor (but believe me, it is!).

Next, several samples of stain were applied in the utility room area to experiment with the color and get the shade we were looking for. Originally, I had planned to use a soy-based stain called Soycrete, but this product was not penetrating the polished floor very well during our test samples. In the end, we went with a more traditional acid stain instead. The adobe-colored stain was sprayed onto the floor, worked in with a brush, then allowed to penetrate overnight. The next day, I washed the floor with a baking soda/water solution to neutralize the reaction, then went over the surface one more time with a 220 grit final polish. Done!

Eat my Dust.

Back to the job at hand. Armed with a circular saw, I attacked the pile of salvaged bricks that we removed from the original barn floor. After a couple days of cutting and fitting (and breathing through a respirator), I got them all set into their new home. Once the concrete floor is polished, the bricks will be leveled and mortared into place, forming a pathway through the barn.

Last week, Lisa took those awesome photos one cold, frosty morning, and I posted them along with some thought about 'renovating' our other guesthouse. It got me thinking (and my thinking usually results in tremendous amounts of work) that maybe the idea wasn't so crazy- I mean, this little one-room shack is perched right on the edge of a very steep, very beautiful riverbank. I took the above photo yesterday while skiing down the Mesabi Bike Trail at a spot where the trees part enough to yield a view of the little shack from the opposing bank. Can you beat this? I think not! So, even though I already stay awake at night thinking of how to finish the barn, or how to build another off-grid one, or how to renovate our century-old farmhouse to Passive House standards, or when I can put up a garage and workshop, or even more importantly- how to swim, bike and run my way back into Ironman shape, now maybe I'm adding this project to the list as well...Focus, shawn, FOOOOCUS!!

Winter Wonderland

Our tough little tree: Its early March and we're still enjoying temps of -20 F in the mornings. The soles of my new running shoes cracked from the cold the other day. Winter is long, harsh, but spectacular around here! Did we mention that there is another "guesthouse" on our property? This one is currently unheated and occupied by a variety of small rodents. But, the view is incredible (it sits on the edge of field, overlooking the river below). Free room and board to anyone who wants to renovate it....

With the electrical wiring finished and the misc. framing in place, the guys from GNB came back and insulated the rest of the structure. We now have a nice warm cocoon of Icynene foam to keep the little barn warm and airtight for the rest of the winter. Finally, the time has come to get to the decorative interior work...

I installed a Quadra Fire wood pellet stove to heat the barn for the winter and to provide supplemental heat once the in-floor system is completed. Having no experience with wood pellet heating, I was skeptically hopeful about how this would work. Conceptually, it seems ideal- sawdust (in this case, a waste product from the wood products manufacturing industry) is formed into pellets by a relatively simple extrusion and drying process, then sold as fuel. It's natural, renewable, locally-produced, and inexpensive- Sustainable, Carbon Neutral heating at its finest! The whole idea still seems too good to be true.... So, after looking at several different pellet burners, we settled on the Quadra-Fire model for a variety of reasons- it had the lowest emmissions, highest efficiency, is American-made, and it has the rustic, aesthetic appeal we wanted in the barn. I set it in place, wired in a programmable thermostat, and installed the exhaust venting and air-intake systems through the wall (not too excited about ventpipes poking out the side of the barn, but this was about as low-profile as I could hope for). The little stove is loaded with pellets, then self-regulates the heat output by controlling the feed rate into the burner. Having insulated the roofs with spray foam, I was excited with the thought of finally working inside a warm, dry environment for the rest of the winter. So far, I love the stove- it burns and burns, requiring very little maintenance or attention. On the downside, the flame is not as "real" as a traditional wood-burning stove. But then, I won't have to spend a couple weeks of my year cutting, splitting, and hauling firewood. Unfortately, after running the little pellet burner all day with no appreciable temperature increase, I realized the laws of thermodynamics are working hard against me. The outside temp has been well below freezing for weeks (many days are below 0F lately), so the barn and its concrete slab floor are likely hanging at around 15 degrees inside. A quick calculation showed that it would take well over 750,000 BTUs of heat to raise the building temp up to 70 degrees, not including the heat loss through the walls (probably another 15,000BTUs/hour right now). The pellet stove kicks out a max of 30,000 BTUs/hour. Do the math- it isn't pretty. Once the building is insulated and heated up to room temp, the stove will be more than adequate to keep it toasty warm on a -40F morning, but right now it is like trying to melt a skating rink with a butane lighter while the A/C in running on high! Not. Gonna. Happen. Guess I'll be working in the cold for another few weeks :(

Magical

While the foundation and framing have already received a skin of XPS, i've spent dozens and dozens of hours debating how to insulate the barn's interior framing. Early on, I had leaned towards blown-in cellulose for its high recycled content, thermal performance and reasonable cost. However, I was concerned with it settling over time, unless I hired a contractor who could dense-pack it. But dense-packed cellulose in the deep roof trusses required a huge amount of material, which would be very heavy and very expensive. So I got more excited with the idea of spray-foam insulation, and eventually decided to go with Icynene for a variety of reasons- namely, its contribution toward energy-efficient sustainable design. Plus, I found a very sharp and eco-conscious local contractor who made me feel confident about hiring out the work. Never mind the high price tag- it is money well invested when it provides a healthy, energy-efficient home for the rest of our lives. So before the hired help arrived, I had to frame in a roof in the upper level of the silo. I made a 2X6 roof, covered it above with OSB and strapped it below with perpendicular 2X4 framing. This would allow for 9" of insulation with minimal thermal bridging. Plus, the access door and decking above would give me future access to the domed silo roof from the inside. The foam guys came the next day and sprayed the milkhouse roof, barn roof and silo roof (they'll have to come back to spray the walls once i've done all the electrical wiring). It was nice to see them so concerned with doing the job well, no matter how long it takes (and it took about 10 hours just to do the roofs!). Fiberglass should be outlawed...

While I waited for the metal roofing to arrive for the milkhouse, winter snuck in. Having spent most of December finding other work to do and generally procrastinating, I finely decided to go for it. Compared to the technical difficulties of the barn & silo roofs, this job was cake- I spent almost as much time clearing away the snow and setting up scaffolding as I did to actually put on the roof. But it was cold, and the masochist in me chose a day with a high temp of 2 degrees F (but I'm sure the wind kept it below zero all afternoon). I put on every piece of fleece athleticwear I had, then finished up with a topcoat of construction-grade, redneck-approved demin and double ski masks. It almost felt warm. Almost.

Roof on!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Now for the really hard part. Back in September, I had a hard time figuring out how to frame the short walkway that connects the silo with the barn roof. I thought my head was going to explode, but eventually I worked through it and it turned out well. Now came the time to flash and roof it. Again, I was stumped, and the problem brought me closer to a complete meltdown than I care to admit. Since there was no time to dwell on things (winter should be here already, so I am working on borrowed time as it is...), I kept installing the other sections of the roof while researching the details of the silo walkway. Eventually, I developed a plan which started by flashing the entire walkway with short overlapping pieces of galvanized steel- essentially, this was a custom-built valley and sidewall detail, because such curved pieces could not be purchased anywhere. I continued the flashing all the way down the barn-silo intersection all the way to the eave of the barn roof. I also added pieces of Flexwrap at the ridge and along the silo's wall intersection to act as counterflashing (since the silo won't be covered with stucco until next year).

Next, I traced out the curved pattern of the silo walkway's roof onto plastic sheeting, then transferred this pattern to the shingle sheets. I added a couple of inches along each edge, then cut the panels and bent the edges up so that they could be tucked under the shingles of the barn roof.

The end result is shown in the closeup of the silo walkway below. You can see the piece of Flexwrap at the ridge (over the flashing but under the metal shingles). With my dad's help, the remaining shingles were installed on the barn roof, overlapping the bent-up edges of the silo walkway pieces. The end result looks very clean and will be very waterproof.

Fortunately, the weather has been cooperating enough for me to push on. A little snow, but generally warm enough to keep it at bay. The arched roof profile continues to make an easy job not so easy. Installing the trim was brutal and consumed a couple days alone. I made kerf cuts every 8" or so along all the trim lengths to get the rigid pieces to bend around the curve. Making the cuts was simple, but putting these pieces up on the roof edge was sketchy. The safety harness system is priceless! The roofing is not asphalt. These are actually metal shingles made from sheets of recycled-content steel. The galvanized pieces are stamped with a "shingle" profile, then covered with stone coating to protect the surface and provide a traditional shingle-style appearance. All I have to do is snap it in place and fasten to the roof with screws that get concealed by the next overlapping course of panels. This is a lifetime roof- which is good for environmental reasons and great because I should never need to go back up there to replace it! How many products come with a 50 year warranty? This one does!

A couple of light snowfalls have left a dusting on the ground and a slick coating on the ladders and scaffolding. The deer hunters are thrilled to have their "tracking snow". I'm not a deer hunter. I'm not thrilled. I'll keep working on the roof because it must get done if I want to continue with the project over the winter (I can't insulate the interior if the roof is not watertight- it would be too risky). While this is no fun at all, I figure the alternative (finding some mindless, low-paying job while I wait for Spring to arrive) is worse. PLEEEEEZE, bring the sun back!

In the last few days of nice weather, I used every available minute of daylight... and several hours under the night lights... To get it done. I finished touching up the last of the trim as darkness approached and the storm clouds threatened on the horizon. This morning brought cold, wind, plus our first dusting of snow on the ground- winter is setting in! Now we need to put a roof on this thing....

With the temps hanging in the 40s during the day, the opportunity to finish siding and painting the barn is still there. With the help of my mom, dad, sister and Lisa, we've been pushing to get it done. Here I am, painting "Minnesota syle"- sporting a jacket, hat and gloves. The gable ends of the barn took considerable time, as each piece of siding had to be precisely scribed and cut to fit tight along the curved roofline. About every fourth course also had to be notched to go around the lookouts. Barnbuilding is slow work (how did they do this a century ago???)

Time to cover up the pretty pink barn. I started by building a faux door for the front. Eventually, I will add the hinges and latch hardware from the original barn. But for now, there are more pressing things to be working on. The siding is dutchlap pine, purchased from a local sawmill who custom-planed it to match the siding on the other barn we have. This is the only wood in the barn that is not salvaged or FSC certified (because I was not able to find FSC certified siding in the style we wanted), but at least it is locally sourced. I made all of the window, door and corner trim from the salvaged roof boards that we removed from the old barn when it was deconstructed. With Lisa's help, we also put the remaining windows into the silo. And the Therma-Tru entry door went in as well.

Windows. I shopped extensively for windows last Spring. I wanted the most energy-efficient glazing possible, without sacrificing the rustic, barn-like aesthetic. I wanted to buy local. I wanted to support a company who supports greenbuilding. Like everything else going on, in, or under this structure, I wanted a product that would survive the test of time (even if global warming takes us all out first!). Lisa and I visited H-Window in June, a small manufacturer in Ashland, Wisconsin. We were both sold on them right away, despite blowing the budget right out of the water. So here they are. We still need to trim them out and install the exterior 'grills' that will make them look more authentic, but at least they are all safely installed in their new home!

Two days, four people, six sets of scaffolding, nine ladders, and one 'priceless' waterproofed roof... Here, I spent the better part of a day just waterproofing the arched entryway between the barn and silo with pieces of WeatherGuard. Because of the cooler temps, each piece had to be warmed up with a heat gun to get it to adhere to the roof.