Fixer upper or Leave it be?

[brooster]

Ok, a friend of mine is a farmer and has some peoperty with an old 30ft by 13ft chicken coop. I have been looking fo a building for my hogs and she said i could have it for free to turn into a barn. It is on a concrete foundation with a concrete floor. Most of the plate is rotted, studs are rotted on bottom, corner needs to be rebuilt, roof is tin, wood shingles under that, need a few sheets replaced, i would caulk it and paint it. i would power blast the outside and repaint. A rafter needs replaced. I would pour seceral slabs taht it would sit on, and it would be a dirt floor. A lot of work is needed. But, all the wood that i would need to fix it, i could get for free, and i can get free metal roofing, for replacement. have nails, i would only need plexi gass to replace windows, lots of paint, some concrete, and a month of work. It is 11.5 ft tall. I might be able to have it moved for free or cheap. Or i might have to pay to move it. I also might need a permit to move it. Oh, and i would build stalls for the hogs. What do you think try it or leave it be? I can give more details if you need them.

 

[arlee453]

Sounds like you have it pretty well thought out. Unless the price to move it is exorbitant, I'd go for it.

I'd think you could get it up on a long trailer couldn't you? It's definately not too wide, and it would be less tall and less long than a standard semi trailer.

 

[brooster]

Yeah, i can borrow a trailer too. Everyone seems to think it is too much work, but they dont have to touch it, its my project. I am just worried of putting too much money into it.

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

I am pretty sure at 13' you will need a permit, and might even need flag men to boot.

 

[brooster]

I know i dont need flaggers followers leaders or overside load signs. I got on the state site. I though the same thing about a permit. How much would that cost do you think?

 

[patandchickens]

Unfortunately I have to say that it does not sound like there is a snowball's chance in Warm Places that it would survive moving (or really, be moveable at all)

As an alternative you *could* try to totally rebuild it where it now sits and then move it, but you would have to do a great deal more rebuilding than you might expect and then it STILL might not survive moving. (moving is quite a lot more stressful on a building than just sitting still, and you would have to hope that the old wood that you're nailing/screwing into is strong enough to really hold. Plus you would have to do a bunch of extra bracing-the-heck-out-of-it, to try to move.

It sounds to me like it would make quite a bit more sense to just take it apart and salvage the usable pieces of lumber and tin and so forth to construct 'new' at your place.

JMO,

Pat

 

[Katy]

I agree with Pat. It sounds like you'd be ahead to dismantle it where it sets and salvage what you can. If the bottom is rotted out you'll need to rebuild that before you can even think about moving it. My husband and his friend have moved several buildings and if it isn't stable to begin with they won't even attempt it.

 

[MissPrissy]

With as much wood damage as you indicate it will probably not make it trying to move it. Why not collect the lumber you can reuse, start gathering pallets and other 'found' wood and just build something else?

 

[Bird Hearder]

I have to agree with the others in trying to move it would be a disaster. There's no solid floor to keep walls in place while going down the road, You can count on alot more Dry Rot that's not seen now. A 30' building wont be easy to load on a trailer without Damage.
I would have to say Demo it and save all the lumber you can to use to build the Hog stalls. I would also think with hogs it would have to be Real sturdy, With a big Hog leaning and scratching on a building thats rotted all over could lead to missing walls.
Just My .02

 

[chicken_angler]

Hey brooster. I would say go for it! Do you think you could post a picture of it? Maybe I might be able to come over and help you work on it if you need any help. Good luck!