BARN NEEDS PAINTING

Now I know why you see so many barns that need painting. I decided I would paint mine after about 20 years of negelect. 30 gallons later it was finished and It's only a 30x30 breezeway. I'll pay someone to do it the next time!

Brent when I was 15 Itook off as many youg boys do. I looked older than my calander years. I was hitch hiking and got picked up by a guy in a Lincoln, with his wife and 2 kids. Thought it was strange till he offered me a Job. He was a painter. We did barns and barn roofs. He would climb up to the peak of a born gripping the lead heads of the nails with his sneakers. I would follow up using the WWII surplus divers hose we used for the paint as a life line. He would sit the peak, using the hose to hold on to I would wire brush the rust scale off. Fine rust we didn't bother with. I then sat and he using the hose as a life line would spray the roof. Eventuall one of us would be on the far side on the ground holding the life line os the other finished painting. There was a 12, 15 long piece of tubing on the end of the hose with a shower nozel on the end, to apply the paint. The roofs were done in Aluminum using his own formulated paint. 15 or 20 gallons of Montgumery Ward liquid asphalt, a pound of aluminum flake and cut with Gasoline. This sprayed on a horrowable purple. As the gasoline evaporated the flake came to the top and you had the brightest shiney roof you could imagine. He was a traveling painter and was in an area he had been in 7 years before. The roofs were still so good on the barns he had done that it was no trouble getting new customers. I the instances we did the sides he mixed up Monkey Ward Barn Red pigment and 20 gallons of used crankcase oil again cut with gasoline. This we also sprayed on hydraulically. It soaked right in to the old dryed out wood. It looked good. There wasn't enough money in the world to get him to paint the trim a contrasting white. We would do 2 or 3 jobs a day and be done by 3 oclock. A roof or a barn was considered a job. For 1948 he paid me well. He had a truck, the Lincoln, 2 trailers, one for his family and another small one for the maid.
Maybe you could try the same. Todays non leaded gas should make a better choice for the used crankcase oil. That old dried wood sure soaked up the oil. Oh he didn't permit any smoking.

Bill

I have a LARGE barn, a goat barn,corn crib, chicken coop and two outbouldings that could use painting. I dont think theres any way I would paint them myself. Im awfully afraid to get a estimate though. I tried to get a estimate from a few different contractors that advertised in our "rural farm news" newspaper but they all either never showed up or never called back. I dont know why they would need to advertise if they were so busy that they cant even call back potential customers!

Jake all I can say is that it worked when he did them and the neighbors of those he had done in the past were glad to see him. I guess OSHA would have a fit if you did it that way today. That spray it on hydraulic got plenty of stuff on with the long wand you could do the sides from the ground and the oil today doesn't have lead in it. Course the milk inspectors might not be too happy either.

Bill

Brent, what colour did you paint the barn? I like farmyard red myself.

WN6Z,

We live in So. California and red isn't a good sun color. It fades out in no time at all, so I painted it a light tan with oxford brown(dark brown trim). It matches the house. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

Bill, if you read this I sure wouldn't want to strike a match in one of those gas painted barns plus I don't think I could get away with it here. Tried to get the County to let me oil my dirt road to keep the dust down and they won't let me. Said it will pollute the ground water. Every main road around here is asphalt and they always spray a coat of oil down before they pave. I asked them why wouldn't that pollute the ground water and they said the asphalt paving seals it. Ya right!

In those hot sunny summers I did that in Ohio and Ill., give it half an hour or less and no indication of gas remained. Strange thing is that he had a contract for SOHIO, and STANDARD to paint tank farms. We used the same aluminum and asphalt. If a leak started it was easy to detect, it melted the asphalt and gave an indication of a leak and location. It was known as "Special Indicator Paint".
On a barn roof the tar(asphalt) kept the rust at bay and the aluminum reflected the sun to keep the tar from melting. This guy literally had a license to print money it seemed.
The reason he picked me up hitch hiking was that there had been a wedding in his family in St louis and the previous guy didn't take to being out of work for the two weeks of family get together. His whole family worked this way. One time we moved to a trailer park with one of his brothers who did the same work. That was when we did a tank farm.

Bill

IN MY NORTH EAST INDIANA AREA ,FEW PAINTERS NOW AND THOSE THAT DO, CHARGE ABOUT $ 4,000.00 FOR AVG. BARN, SAY, A 30X40. THE LAST THREE TIMES (IN 25 YRS) I HAVE USED THE "INFAMOUS" TRAVELING IRISH, AS THEY HAVE BEEN CALLED IN TV DOCUMENTARY'S AND NEWSPAPER EXPOSES. HOWEVER... THEY HAVE DONE GOOD WORK AT FAIR PRICE IF YOU PLAY THEIR GAME AND BARGAIN WITH THEM. LASTS ABOUT 8 YRS, WHICH IS ALL I GOT FROM LOCAL PAINTERS YEARS AGO. ONLY PROBLEM I HAD WITH" GYPSY'S" WAS THEY HAD NO WAY TO DISPOSE OF EMPTY BUCKETS BECAUSE THE OPERATED OUT OF THEIR PICKUPS FROM OUT OF STATE SO I RECYCLED CONTAINERS FOR THEM. LOVE TO HAVE MY BARN RE-SIDED... BUT NOT AT $14,000.00 !!!

Trouble I see with siding a barn is you plug up all the air leaks. You want air passing through to prevent condensation and mold in the hay and need fresh air for the animals for the same reason as well to remove the amonia.

Bill

Well I hope those gypsies make it my way :!: Unless you want to hit the road again Bill

Jake that was 1948.
When I hit the road now it is from Staten Island to Franklin NY to work on the house or play with the low boy. Of course I stop to go fishing every other day.
When, Bev and I hit it to see the grand kids.
It is a very simple process to paint that way. Take the head off a 55 gal drum, Pour the ingrediants in, use a paddle to stir up and pump out under hydraulic pressure through a shower head that has sort of a fine spray. Put the showerhead on the end of a piece of tubing so you don't need ladders. My neighbor has a sprayer from Sherman Williams that sprays from a 5 gal bucket. It is the type they use to spray new houses.
As popular as water base paint is today I think I would use oil base with crankcase thrown in to soak into that dry old wood or even give it a light precoat. I don't think water base would find enough to hold on to. Might if you mist dampen it first though. don't want it so wet the paint runs either. I odn't know if that would effect penetration. Got an old out of the way shed try it there first on on the back of the barn where no one will see it if it doesn't work out as well as you would like it to.
I can't say it strong enough how well the roofs came out. The tar under the aluminum was still fresh looking on some jobs he had done 7 and 8 years earlier. They were the way to get your foot in the door. The neighbors of the ones he had done earlier were an easy sell.

Bill

Bill I agree with you. When we were kids 20-28 years ago we helped my uncle repaint his barn with oilbase barn paint I think it came from quality ffarm and fleet. It is about time to re do it. but it is still red but where their are edge grains they sre now showing. A latex or paint that just goes on the surface just does not hold up starts flacking off and needs to be scraped before repainting adding extra work. They do make adhivises to mix int paints to make them stick better but you are adding cost. And if I were doing it I would want somthing proven to hold up. Still hopeing to find somone to go up to the farm with me and do some loging as I no longer feel safe being in the woods alone in hte winter in the snow.

Billy

I know what you mean about being alone logging. Some times you just have to do what you have to do. I will be going up the country Friday to work on the house and will have to drop enough trees for 3 or 4 cords to have them ready for next year. Problem is the area I want to clean out has a lot of Poplar (Aspenlike) My son in law is a log buyer and he call Tulip poplar. It is a soft wood and low heat but it burns in the stove well even if quickly. I expect to find a couple of them wind blown. There seems to be 1 or two every year. They are first genernation in abandoned fields, with very shallow roots. I understand that part of the woods behind my house(9 acres)was a corn field during WWII. The soil is thin and being rather steep I see why it was abandoned. The part north of that Was never cultivated(8acres) I see signs that it was logged more than once and possible partly cleared because of the partial stone wall boundrys. The corners are built up and filled in spotty but in a straight line. You would have to have awful neighbor feuds or be clearing to plant to go to that much trouble in the horse and oxen days.
Any way I will have to look out for widow makers and a clear path when cutting. At present I understand all the snow is gone. Thank the lord for 4 wheel drive on my logging tractor..

Bill