Clow barn restoration, Plainfield, Illinois

With this restoration project it was important that we use timber of the same species of wood from a similar region as the original building. Therefore, we purchased logs from the boundary waters in Minnesota from the stand of old growth white pine that blew down in the summer of 2000.

Once the logs arrived at our shop, they were sawn under the adept hand of Dave Snyder. The largest of the logs was 55 feet long and 38 inches at the base with an overall taper at 20 feet of 2 inches. Most of the timbers that were needed for this project were 8X8's, some as long as 40 feet. From one log we produced an 8X8 from the center, 2X6's for rafters, 3X10's for joists, and 1X12's for roof sheeting.

Pictures from raising week. Workshop attendees lay out and cut sections of the wall frame

The scope of this project is to reconstruct an original 1890's square-rule timber frame building. In this case, 90 feet of the north wall had collapsed entirely. In addition, other serious structural damage exists. The repair work required 10,000 board feet of new lumber.

The first of three wall sections goes up

Simon Gnehm preps a post for a scarf joint.

The Middle Sections

The crane lifting the final wall section

New siding and sheeting installed.

The barn painted and the roof near completion.

The Clow barn restoration crew.