Barns - Englert3 - Englert Inc

16

February 2007

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Metal Architecture

Saving The Past

By Kevin Corcoran,V.P. Business Development Englert Inc.

Historic barns are a vital partof New Hampshire’s heritage.Not every historic barn can besaved from encroaching develop-ment, or easily brought back intoproductive use. Yet thousands ofsuch structures can be repaired orrehabilitated for continued agri-cultural use or for new functionswithout destroying the very quali-ties that make them worth saving.In many cases, owners of historicbarns are working with architectsand contractors who can draw upplans that preserve and reusethese historic structures whilemaintaining their historic charac-ter.

One of those contractors isBrian Page, president of theMadCow Division of Iron HorseStanding Seam Roofing inCroydon, NH. Brian loves oldbarns. More than 20 years ago,he worked for a Vermont compa-ny that saved old barns by dis-sembling them and reassemblingthem for new owners in otherparts of the state. When hemoved his home and businessfrom Vermont to an old farmproperty in Croydon almost adecade ago, one of his first taskswas to salvage a 100-year-oldbarn that had fallen into disrepair.The farm itself dated back to1790 when a revolutionary warsoldier named Benjamin Cuttingmade his living in the dairy andlumber business.

To learn more about his barnand what he had to do to restoreit, Brian sought the help of JebHeaney, a barn restoration expertworking in Francestown, NH.

Brian’s milking barn originallyhad a wood shake roof and isrepresentative of four barn stylescommon to northern NewEngland. Known as a Yankeebarn, it is the style often consid-ered the most traditional. A

A Yankee barn is basically anenlarged and adjusted version ofthe English barn, the earliest barnstructure found in northern New

Brian Page is a New Hampshire-based metal roofing contractor

who loves old barns. The one on his property is 100 years old.

He recently replaced its deteriorated roof with a standing seam

metal system. And he’s not alone. Metal roofing has become a

popular pick among barn owners looking for that perfect blend of

modern-day performance and old-world charm.

Pages 58 and 59. Built in 1790, the

Strother barn of Hillsboro, NH, is what’s

known as a bank barn. Bank barns had

two levels and were typically built into

the side of a hill, giving the farmer

improved access to the upper floor

through large doors on the high side.

With its old roof in disrepair, the Strother

barn’s roof was replaced with an Englert

1300 Slate Gray standing seam panel.


February 2007

Page 60

England. English barns were usual-ly approximately 30’ wide x 40’long. They had hand-hewn wood-en frames and were covered withsimple gable roofs. They typicallyhad a pair of hinged doors on thefront side under the eaves.

As the small English barnbecame inadequate to meetexpanded needs, farmers oftenbuilt lean-to additions on the sideor rear to provide more animalhousing and hay storage.Generally, farmers tried to stablecattle on the south side to takeadvantage of the warmth of thewinter sun, while storing hay onthe north side to serve as a bufferagainst the northwest winds.

Ultimately, the English barngave way to the Yankee barn,which had its doors located at thegable end. The roof had a halfpitch, providing more storage anda stronger vertebrae to withstandwinter snow accumulations.

The driveways of Yankee barnswere wide enough for loadedwagons to pass through the barn

without requiring the ani-mals pulling them to haveto back up. And Yankeebarns could be made evenlarger by adding more12’- to 14’-wide bays.

The lumber in Brian’s barnappeared to have been cutat a saw mill, not handhewn as in earlier barnstructures. “You coulddrive a pickup through

some of the holes in the roof whenI bought this property eight yearsago,” he recalled. Heaney tookcare of the floors and foundations,jacking up the barn floor 3’. Brianrestored the framework acrossmuch of the roof and used hisskills as a metal roofing contractorto install a new standing seamroof. “We felt obligated to make itstand as long as we could,” hesaid. “Today, we use the barn forstorage and it will be another 100years before it needs a new roof.”Brian replaced the old shingleswith 3,000 sq. ft. of 20”-wideEnglert Series 1300 standing seamroof panels. The panels areColonial red—one of the mostpopular colors chosen to go withthe dark, weathered exterior of avintage barn.

Since working together onBrian’s barn, Brian and Jeb haveteamed to work with the owners ofantique barns and the NewHampshire Preservation Alliance,a group of people dedicated topreserving barns and the other his-toric structures shaped by NewEngland’s Yankee heritage. The

Preservation Alliance has createdthe Historic Barn AssessmentGrant Program, in conjunctionwith the State Division ofHistorical Resources and the NewHampshire Historic AgriculturalStructures Advisory Committee, tohelp barn owners assess the needsof their historic structures. The pro-gram offers competitive matchinggrants of $250 or $400 to hire abarn assessment consultant whodetermines what’s required to sta-bilize, repair and reuse the struc-ture. Some of the barns that Brianhas helped reroof have engagedthe alliance and its programs to

speed the process and ease thecost of restoration.

Owners and architects have alsotapped into a Federal HistoricPreservation Tax Incentives pro-gram to foster private-sector reha-bilitation of historic barn build-ings. And like most residents of thestate with the motto “Live Free OrDie”, they see the PreservationAlliance and the tax incentives asstrong alternatives to governmentownership and management ofsuch historic properties.

Barn owners are also tappinginto a recent state law, RSA 79-D,that creates a mechanism toencourage the preservation of his-toric New Hampshire barns andother agricultural buildings. Thenew law authorizes municipalitiesto grant property tax relief to barnowners who can demonstrate thepublic benefit of preserving barnsor other historic farm buildings 75years or older, and who agree tomaintain their structures through-out a minimum 10-year preserva-tion easement.

Many of the barns that Brianreroofs are between 150 and 200years old, have served the sameuses for generations, and needonly periodic repairs and routinemaintenance once they are sal-vaged. Others have become obso-lete and need extensive updatingto adapt them for commercial,office, or residential use. Whateverthe case, care must be taken topreserve a barn’s historic characterwhile making needed changes.

Whatever a barn’s condition,Brian will tell you that maintainingthe roof of an old barn is the keyto preserving the entire structure.

Pages 60 & 61. Jonathan Gibson is a second-generation pewterer who carries on the

family business in the same 200-year-old barn where he apprenticed as a young boy.

The barn, in Hillsborough Center, NH, looks much as it always has, though it now

features a Charcoal Gray-colored, Englert Series 1300 standing seam roof.


Metal Architecture

A roof leak causes moisture topenetrate board and framing,inevitably creating decay. Oneindicator of decay is a white massor fungus found on the faces ofthe rafters or timbers, usuallycaused by leaks in a roof or itssiding. Large timbers can some-times be rotted on the inside withno apparent damage on theirexterior. Such decay will pene-trate down through a structurecausing supports to give way.

Brian points out that historical-ly, the roofs of barns and otheragricultural buildings in NewEngland have ranged from wood-en shingles before 1850, to slateand early metal from 1850 to1940, and then finally to themore modern metal systems seentoday. “Each had differentrequirements for maintenanceand repair, but all provided awatertight roof,” he notes, adding,“Metal will last for generations ifproperly maintained.”

But even barns whose roofshave performed as intended formore than 100 years can haveproblems related to water dam-age as the cumulative effect ofwater runoff can cause a barn tosink, which in turn causes itsframe to sag, loosening the bracesor dropping them out of theirmortises. So, before Brian caneven determine if the plankingboards are solid enough to holdcleats, the barn must first bejacked up by a specialty contrac-tor.

Because many of the olderbarns have outlived their agricul-tural efficacy, many NewEnglanders like Brian have foundnew uses that allow them to pre-serve their historic character andgain utility from them at the sametime.

In late Autumn, we visitedBrian and his wife and partner,Meredith, at their offices inCroydon. Offering to give us atour of some of the barns he’sworked on, Brian invited us topile into an SUV with Lloyd Hookand Julie Batten, two of his com-pany’s employees, who thendrove us into the central NewHampshire countryside.

Our first stop was a Yankeebarn that is home to GibsonPewter, a family-owned businessfounded in 1966 by the lateRaymond Gibson and run as aseasonal family “cottage” busi-ness. It’s in the picturesque hilltopvillage of Hillsborough Center, onEast Washington Rd.

The Gibson barn is very similarto Brian’s. Different, however, are

some architectural refinementsadded at some point in the earlierlife of the structure. Like mostpragmatic and frugal NewEnglanders, an early owner of theGibson barn added a barn cupolafor ventilation, lightning rods anda weather vane. As ventilatedcupolas and raking eave trimbecame typical of barns built inNew Hampshire and Vermont dur-ing the 1870s and 1880s, theseimprovements likely occured dur-ing the last quarter of the 19thcentury.

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February 2007

Page 62

Today, second-generation pewterer, JonathanGibson, carries on the family business in thissame 200-year old barn where he apprenticedas a young boy. Jon is a state-juried member ofthe League of New Hampshire Craftsmen andhas been recognized by Early American LifeMagazine as one of Americas 200 top tradi-tional craftsmen since 1992. It was critical thatJon and his family reroof the old barn if it wereto survive and provide shelter for the familybusiness. MadCow removed the old roof andreplaced it with 2,300 square feet of 20”-wideEnglert Series 1300 standing seam panels witha Charcoal Gray finish.

The new roof allowed Jon to do other reno-vations including the enclosure of the right sideof the barn to create a shop where he designsand fabricates pewter products. He designs,drafts, and fabricates models of new castingmolds, using drafting tools, a lathe and handtools. And he modifies hand tools to facilitatethe turning and finishing of cast pieces. Insidehis shop, which also houses a retail area dis-playing his work, Jon joins cast parts to formproduct—using solder and a blowtorch—andshapes, engraves, and polishes product—usinghis lathe and his cutting and polishing tools.

Over 100 pieces of traditional and contem-porary designs are available for sale. Each lead-free piece is made with hands-on care,whether cast, hammered or spun. The GibsonFruit Bowl and Wood-grain Beaker are the onlypieces of 20th century pewter taken into thepermanent collection of the Museum of FineArts in Boston.

We bought some small pieces including apewter bowl, a pair of pewter earrings and akey chain, and piled back into the SUV for ournext stop. Less than 10 miles down the road inHillsboro, (yup, it’s spelled differently) westopped on Center Road at a 1790 barn ownedby Tracy Strother, a Massachusetts native whomoved to New Hampshire six-and-a-half yearsago.

Tracey owns a “bank” barn, which gets itsname from a simple-but-clever constructiontechnique. The barn is built into the side of ahill, thus permitting two levels to be entered

from the ground. The lower level would havehoused animals while the upper levels servedas a threshing floor and for storage. The hillsideentrance gave easy access to wagons bearingwheat or hay. The general form of the bankbarn remained the same whether it was builtinto a hillside or not. Gable front bank barns,like the one Tracy owns, permitted manure tobe dropped and stored below the main floor.

Our arrival started two collies barking in apart of the barn that now houses some spacefor a small kennel. Tracey told us that when shefirst saw the building the residential side was inmint condition but the barn portion was rottingaway. Nonetheless, it was love at first sight. “Ireceived a flyer in the mail with the propertyfor sale on its cover,” she recalls. “I needed togo and look at it. I saw it the next day andwanted it. ‘That’s for me,’ I thought.” Eventhough no one else had placed a bid for theproperty, a codicil existed giving family of theowner’s first rights to the barn. “The familyexpressed some interest but never made a bidand I was finally able to buy it,” notes Tracey.

Surrounded by aged stone walls, the farmabuts state conservation land and includesmiles and miles of trails for hiking, biking,cross country skiing, snowshoeing, horsebackriding or snowmobiling, right from the backdoor.

The side walls of the barn are sheathed incedar shakes. However, at one time it probablyhad vertical boards covering the building. It ishard to tell what kind of wood originally cov-

Pages 62 & 63. Near the shores of Lake Sunapee, NH,

is a transplanted Yankee barn that dates back to 1850.

As part of its reconstruction and restoration, the owner

replaced the original roof with 3,400 sq. ft. of Englert

Series 1300 standing seam in a Slate Gray color.


3

Metal Architecture

ered the barn without removingthe shakes. Tracey simply doesnot know.

In most cases, the earlier thebarn, the more likely it was builtfrom trees growing close to thesite. The age of Tracey’s barnwould indicate that local timberwas used. It either containedexterior timbers of species thatare not replaceable because thespecies are extinct—likeAmerican chestnut—or speciessuch as walnut, cherry, beech,poplar, maple, or red oak, whichhave become very expensive

The farm almost certainly sup-ported sheep and cattle raising.Earlier 19th-century farmers inHillsborough and nearby townswere growing sheep to providewool for the burgeoning textilemills in Hillsborough and othertowns that were lucky enough tohave been built near waterfalls.

The roof, which was in disre-pair, was replaced with an EnglertSeries 1300 Slate Gray standingseam panel, allowing for a some-what unique renovation of thethree-story structure. One half ofthe second and third floors serveas a residence with open post-and-beam architecture typical ofsuch barns. This area houses a liv-ing room, dining room, largekitchen, two baths, three bed-rooms and an office. The otherhalf of the main floor and thebelow-grade first floor still serveas a barn where Tracey breedscollies and raises chickens, ducksand goats. She will soon be mak-ing space for tack and feed roomsfor horses.

Tracey has also borrowed apage from another type of earlyrural New England layout calledthe connecting farm. Her livingroom has a door that opens rightinto the livestock area of thebarn.

We leave Tracey’s old barnwith the dogs yelping behind usand head northwest up Route 31.That road was originally knownas the Second New HampshireTurnpike. It was chartered in1799, completed in 1801 andwas a connecting route betweenBoston and Vermont. A line offour-horse coaches ran threetimes a week from Windsor, VT,to Boston, returning on alternatedays.

We are headed to Washington,NH, a small hamlet that claims tobe the first incorporated commu-nity named after our country’sfounding father. In 1776, theinhabitants petitioned the NewHampshire General Assembly to

be incorporated under the nameof George Washington, firstPresident of the United States andcommander-in-chief of theContinental Army. The town wasincorporated as Washington onDecember 9, 1776; 230 years ago.

We enter town and right away,spot the green and white classicYankee bank barn we are seek-ing—directly across from the streetfrom a quaint general store.

Owned by Lincoln and LollieGilbert, it is one of 52 barns that

Circle #45 on reader service card.

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February 2007

survive in this community of littlemore than 1,000 people. The early1800’s barn stands adjacent to anexquisite brick colonial that overtime has served as a combinationgeneral store and post office, privateresidence and part of a large hotelresort with several outbuildingsincluding our barn. In its lifetime, theGilbert barn has housed farm animalsincluding cattle, pigs, sheep andhorses, and is believed to haveserved as a stagecoach stop for theBoston to Vermont line, where a freshteam of horses were always keptwaiting in the barn.

The structure is somewhat uniquefor a bank barn. One side of thegable roof is about 20’ wide and theother is more than twice that. UnlikeTracey’s bank barn, the Gilbert barnhas a frame wall only one-story highon the bank side. The builder extend-ed the longer gable side down twostories to the first level, limiting theinterior space of the structure. Therest of the building is a classic gablebank barn with entry ways into thebarn from the narrow side of thegable and from the banked side aswell.

The barn itself is in remarkablygood shape. The owners havereplaced some vertical siding on thebank side of the barn, but the onlyother renovation we can see is thenew roof that Brian has added to pre-serve its condition—an Englert Series1300, 21”-wide, Forest Green stand-ing seam panel. The 26-gauge materi-al covers an area of approximately2,500 sq. ft. We circle the barn tak-ing photos. It is now a little afternoon and we’re hungry. We cross theroad to the Washington GeneralStore, a classic New England countrystore with food, household goods,hardware and electrical suppliescrammed into a relatively smallspace on one side and a tiny lunchcounter with eight stools on theother. We order our sandwiches andsoda pop and head back for the SUV,eating as we drive to our next desti-nation

Our next stop is a connected barnin East Washington, less than twomiles away on East Washington Rd.The house is owned by Tom Zacaroli,a management consultant, whobought the original house, its twoadditions and the 30’ x 30’, two-levelbarn several years ago.

The original barn was not connect-ed to the other buildings but Tom hastaken a page from the 1700s andconnected the house, its additions, amud room and the barn for easyaccess.

Connected barn architecture israre outside Maine and NewHampshire, where high snow fallswere a primary reason for this layout.

But it made perfect sense in this areaof the country because it made itpossible to work the entire day with-out ever having to step foot outside, amajor advantage on stormy days andin wintry weather.

During the 1800s and into theearly 1900s, many in-town familieshad a cow for their personal milksupply, a light harness horse for trans-portation and perhaps a pig andsome sheep. To accommodate theseanimals, families replicated the con-nected barn design, building a smallattached barn with a horse stall and afew stanchions for cows. The upperfloor stored loose hay to feed the ani-mals during the winter.

“I bought this 1840 barn in prettybad shape and debated whether Ishould tear it down or resurrect it,”recalls Tom. He chose to save it andbegan a project that required exten-sive renovation. The building wassagging and its mud floor was lettingin water. Tom called in a specialist tojack-up the barn and replaced themud floor with a poured concreteslab. Much of the facade has beenreskinned with new pine siding. Hetopped it off with new 20”-wideEnglert Series 1300 standing seampanels in a Charcoal Gray color. Itextends over all of the connectedbuildings from the farmhouse to thebarn

“There was different vintage shin-gles all over the roof when I was firstbought the house. I liked the look ofstanding seam and my dad had beena sheet metal contractor, so it was aneasy choice,” said Tom. “Iron Horsedid a great job connecting the metalacross the different buildings.”

Work is still unfinished. Theground level which once housed ani-mals is now a workout room and theloft which has new floors made fromold barn board will someday serve asa family room. The look is a classicconnected town barn with a house,smaller addition, mud room and barnall strung together.

It’s now nearly 2 p.m. and we havetwo more stops to make. We crowdback into the SUV with the cameraequipment and head in the oppositedirection toward Lake Sunapee, thesixth largest lake in the state.

Our first stop is the summer homeof Connecticut resident, Paul Marin,whose colonial cottage sits directlyacross a dirt road from a classicEnglish barn built more than 150years ago. Like the Strother andGibson barns, Marin’s has a line ofsmall windows (commonly calledtransom windows) over the barndoors to add height, light and anopen feeling to a dark, windowlesspre-1800 structure.

Brian Page’s 100-year-old barn in Croydon, NH. It’s original shingles have

been replaced with 3,000 sq. ft. of Englert Series 1300 standing seam panels

in a Colonial Red color.

The Paul Marin Barn near Lake Sunapee, NH, was built more than 150 years

ago. It is a classic English barn, measuring 30’ x 40’ with a pair of doors on

the front side under the eaves. Like both the Strother and Gibson barns, it

features a small line of transom windows over the barn doors. Putting on an

Englert Series 1300 standing seam roof was just one of several steps taken

to give the once dilapidated building new life.

The Gilbert barn in Washington, NH, is believed to have once been used as

a stable for fresh horses on the Boston to Vermont stagecoach line. The barn

was built in the early 1800s and despite its age, is in remarkably good shape.

The only major renovation work has been the recent installation of a new

Englert Series 1300 standing seam metal roof, Forest Green in color.

Englert Inc.

(800) 610-1975

www.englertinc.com

Circle #115


Metal Architecture

A carriage shed and anotheraddition that had likely housedanimals—and nearly doubled thesize of the barn—both collapsedseveral years ago. Like most barnsof its genre, it had been used toshelter milk cows and horses forhaying.

Paul began reconstruction acouple of years ago. “Five moreyears and this barn could nothave been preserved,” he recalls.“There were two or three placeswhere it lacked sheathing and ithad to be replaced, and the oldcorrugated tin roof was leaking.But it is part of the history of thisproperty and it was important tosave it.” To save the building, itwas necessary to jack-up thebarn, replace some siding, andinstall 2,000 sq. ft. of 20”-wide,Englert Series 1300 standing seampanels with a Hartford Green fin-ish.

The sun is starting to sink in thewest and we want to get to ourlast stop before we lose the lightfor photo taking. We have savedone of the best for last. This barnis different. It is a transplant—dis-assembled, moved, and reassem-bled near the shores of LakeSunapee—by Brent Stocker, afourth generation Sunapee car-penter and woodworker whosegrandfather and great grandfatherbuilt many of the homes aroundthe lake.

Stocker dissembled the 1850Yankee barn plank by plank andbeam by beam, carted it toSunapee in two tractor trailerloads and reassembled it in itsoriginal magnificence. He dis-carded the old roofing materialand replaced it with 3,400 squarefeet of Englert Series 1300, withthe 20”-wide panels being aSlate Gray color. He added a fewtouches to the old barn, includinga new silo, which added threestories of rounded living space.He painted the silo, playing withan assortment of barn reds to givethe exterior a weathered, time-worn appearance. In doing so,he has perhaps unknowinglygiven the barn residence anauthenticity it never had.

Darkness is setting in and wehave used the waning rays of theweak Autumn sun to capture thelast images of this magnificentbarn residence. We have otherstructures we’d like to visit butthere is no more light to shoot.

Nonetheless, It has been a sat-isfying journey back in time. Notonly have we seen the craftsman-ship of another time, but we havelearned to appreciate a way oflife that chose to repair rather

than replace, and only replacedwhen it was imperative. We havealso witnessed a new generationthat embraces the challenge ofpreserving a region’s history—peo-ple like Brian Page who know thata little care, an iron will and agood standing seam metal roofcan maintain an irreplaceablelegacy.

Kevin Corcoran is vice presi-dent of business development atEnglert, Inc., a New Englandnative and former manager of thecompany’s New England office.

The 170-year-old barn above was very nearly torn down. But the owner chose to

save it. A specialist was brought in to jack up the frame before pouring a concrete

floor. The facade was then reskinned and the barn topped with Englert Series 1300

standing seam roofing in a Charcoal Gray color.

Circle #46 on reader service card.


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