Battens or none?

[johnd]

Hi all,  

Just started the big part of repair and repaint of my approx 1910 Wisconsin small dairy barn.  I had planned to repair/replace bad boards, and cut new battens from old boards, as about half the battens have been missing since I bought it 9 yrs ago.

But now I'm wondering if that's wise, or if it will make the place so hot that only the bats will  want to be there.  Friend down the road has a barn that was originally built with NO battens ever.  His barn is airy and keeps the hay dry (there are plenty of 1/2 inch gaps between the boards).

I don't want to go through all the work of replacing all the battens, pressure washing, painting, and find it's way too hot and I should remove them and repaint!  And I don't want to roast the wife's horse hay at 120 degrees either.

Anyone have experience in this?

I'm asking sort of late, as I have the paint sprayer and a manlift on premesis, and could use some direction as soon as possible.

Thanks

John

[Dave]

Would like more info.
What kind of ventilation do you have built into the barn? Other than the gaps in the siding boards.
How are you handling water that is driven thru the gaps in hard storms? Is there a way for the water to get out without settling in the sills, or other undesirable places.

This should be a very interesting thread. I hope we can get a lot of opinions on this.

[johnd]

Thanks! Well, as much as anything, I'm trying not to make any ghastly mistakes as I repair it back to something like the original. It's been added to twice, first about in the 40's, and again in about the 60's to judge from the different constructions. There's one window in the front of the barn up high, looks like it used to be glazed. (I had planned to reglaze in this repair session.) And in the back, about 1/2 of the 10 foot high drop door is covered from the bottom. The top 5 feet nearest the peak is constantly open. The about 10 foot wide drop door had been used with a trolley system and a hay claw. I'm planning to side almost all of the drop door area this repair session, leaving about a 3 foot high triangle for the pigeons and bats to fly through. There are no eaves vents, there's no cupola.

I'm NOT handling the driven water. I've even left 3 to 4 inches of old hay on the floor as insulation, since there are hens below in the dairy stalls year around, and with the hay, I don't have to heat it substantially. (The hay also makes it less likely to step through the floor.) As I've tightened it up from the 10 foot wide gaps there were when I bought it, the rain water issue is not that big a deal. Even a driving rain gets only a little water in, and it dries well in only a couple days, even the hay on the floor stays pretty dusty and does not mold.

The sill beams are getting a bit dry-rotted for about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in from the outsides. At 8X8 plus, there's still plenty of beam to hold a nail, and should be for many years.

I was considering adding aluminum flashing over the sills where the planks are not great anymore, but fear that with any hay dropping from the floor above, that would only serve to keep the water in, when any gets there.

So for all of me, I could live with the slight amount of water that slips between the boards, because it's airy in there, and the water leaves quite rapidly in all 4 seasons.

I just don't want to go through all the work of adding the battens, then find it's hot and dank in there, and have to do lots more work adding active or passive ventilation systems later.

This is basically a painting project, with replacing bad boards with bought weathered boards from other barns, and finishing up plugging all the big holes. It's not supposed to turn into a big rennovation, but I'm planning on doing the little things to make it better, and was originally planning to cut many new battens from old split planks. That's a project I would skip if someone says they did what I was planning and hated it.

Sorry so long an explanation.

John

[brewswane]

Many old barns were built with gaps between the boards. The gaps let light in and block almost all rain.
I will post a picture of a barn with gaps on the gallery

[johnd]

I'll see if I can grab a couple pictures tonight and post them too. Maybe about 4K words worth.

Thaks

[brewswane]

I will be posting more pictures of barns with gaps between the boards soon

[johnd]

I did some topside restoration yesterday on a day off. The old hay chute was poorly boarded up when I bought it, and while I have the manlift, I changed it to something that would have been more appropriate than the nailed-up horizontal boards.

There's 4 pictures, I don't know if the numbers will come through, but there's 1 before, 2 demolition done, 3 framed and partly boarded, and 4 finished with battens, but painting will all happen at once when repairs are done.

As you can tell, I'm adding battens on the topside as much as possible (while I have the lift) so I don't have to do it next year with a ladder. Still deciding on the bottom of the barn.

Now where do I go to get these pix up...

[johnd]

I did some topside restoration yesterday on a day off. The old hay chute was poorly boarded up when I bought it, and while I have the manlift, I changed it to something that would have been more appropriate than the nailed-up horizontal boards.

There's 4 pictures, I don't know if the numbers will come through, but there's 1 before, 2 demolition done, 3 framed and partly boarded, and 4 finished with battens, but painting will all happen at once when repairs are done.

As you can tell, I'm adding battens on the topside as much as possible (while I have the lift) so I don't have to do it next year with a ladder. Still deciding on the bottom of the barn.

I can only seem to get 2 pix per post, I'll add the other 2 to another post.

Attachments:

[johnd]

Here are the other two, part done and finished.

Attachments:

[brewswane]

That is a GREAT barn! Thanks for the pictures.
I have been thinking about your batten/no batten. I suppose it depends on what you will use the barn for.

[ohiosam]

I'd put battens on. Never heard of a barn with wood siding being too tight. If you decide you need more ventilation it wouldn't be difficult to add some vents that would keep rain out.

Btw nice barn.

[buiboy]

johnd, I was drawn to your question as I have a barn without battens although kind of a new barn but I have the same question...Battens or no battens. I'm leaning towards ohosam's way of thinking, no such ting as too tight.