Storing Tractors in Historic Barn

Tony

I had two of these barns on my farm; first one was 12' span between beams with 2x12 floor joists on 16" centers and floored over with 2" planking. The second barn was 12' span between beams with 3x10 floor joists on 24" centers and floored over with 1" + 2" boards for total thickness 3'. We had driven over these floors for years with tractors all the way from SA to 1066, never a problem. The first breakage was a single axle dual wheel truck with load of hay. Even though much lighter than 1066 and about same as 560 and 656 the pounds per square inch are double what tractors are. That broke a floor joist, didn't go down just broke the joist.

The nasty one however was skidsteer loaders and they broke actual flooring, nothing below. Problem was worse with 3" flooring and 24" center floor joists although we did go through 2" flooring on 16" center floor joists couple of times. Those little loaders on 16" tires weighed as much as a Farmall 300.

These guys are right your should have an engineers advice. Very important that your engineer also knows what you intend to drive on that floor as well.

Thanks again for the info!

Tony

I"d say though, was never in a barn that wouldn"t handle the weight of an F-12, C and H all on the barn floor.

But why not store the tractors on the lower level? My lower level was dirt and partial concrete of various thisknesses. This summer I jackhammered out the concrete remnants, removed dirt to level out the ground, and am ready to pour a concrete floor in the Spring. Not only will you have a infinitely more solid base, it will be a much safer floor against fire hazard from any sort of metal work and sparks. Storing, and working on, old tractors on old wooden floors is as much a fire hazard concern as the weight issue.

That's not a bad idea. My main concern was the height and width of the doorway on the lower level. I could probably get the C and F-12 in there, but not the H. But, you're right, there's no reason I couldn't dig it out a bit! I would feel much safer about that.

The property has a separate heated workshop with a cement floor. That's where I plan to do the restoration work. I just need the barn to put the finished tractors and implements.

Thanks for the tip.

Tony

You've provided nothing that will indicate the strength of the barn floor. My Dad's barn floor has "big square beams" and 6" timbers and plank floors, but if you tried to drive anything much heavier than a Farmall Cub up there, you'd suddenly find yourself downstairs in a pile of rubble and dismembered cows.

How big are the big beams?
How far apart are the beams, both big and small?
How thick is the planking?

Yes, these barn floors are designed to hold tons and tons and tons of hay, but hay is spread out over every inch of the floor. You can pile a lot of hay on not much floor structure. A tractor puts several tons of weight on a few square feet. The load is a lot more concentrated, and you need a much heavier floor structure to support it.

Your run of the mill home inspector may not be able to tell you if the barn can support the kind of weight you'd be subjecting it to. However, he may have a suggestion as to who can. You need some sort of engineer to take a look at it.

Just be careful and do your homework ahead of time. I don't think we want to hear how your historical barn, and you, became history when your tractor plunged through the barn's floor into the lower level.

I'm not *that* dumb! There's no way I'm driving any of my tractors in there until I am as sure as I can be that it's safe to do so! I'm pretty cautious. I mainly just wanted to know if there are people who do, and if the bank barns were typically designed for such weight. I've seen enough barns in the last couple of weeks to know that there is a whole continuum of "decay states" in these old barns. So, your points are very well taken, and I appreciate the advice regarding contacting an engineer.

The planks look to be about 2 inches thick (actual 2"). The beams look to be about 12" thick. The timbers and beams look solid, but I did not examine all of them, and I did not examine the entire length. I did notice that there are some vertical supports that have been set in metal tubes that are filled with cement.

With kind regards,

Tony

There is another foundation next to the barn where an additional barn had been.

The owner says he thought the house was built in 1930, but in the morter of the cobblestone in the "Michigan basement", I saw the year 1875 carved in it. Maybe they re-built the house on an old foundation. Maybe I can look around and find an age on the barn... or try to get the abstract on the property. The barn is not huge, just right for my purposes.

If I get the place, I'll post some pictures of the tractors in their new home.

Thanks again,

Tony

If you want to do a little research, take a drive to Lansing. There's a museum (named something like the State of Michigan Museum and Historical Center) a couple of blocks west of the capitol building -- you can't miss it. They have old plat books for most Michigan counties. They also have bound volumes of histories of the local families, county by county, circa 1900. I learned a ton of history about my family's farm there.

Mark W.

Tony

By far my two most common "finds" are lids off of mason jars and sickle sections out of bar-type mowers. Those sickle sections are EVERYWHERE, ya'd think the old-timers would have spent more time fixing sickles than they did mowing! And they turn up in the strangest places too....right in the yards next to the houses etc., places where you'd think nobody would have mowed with that type of machine.....

Tony

Be careful though- it's a pretty addictive hobby, hate to see it taking time away from your tractors! Of course in this part of the world, it's not something you can do in the winter, so that leaves time to be in the shop too....

JB2

Phlogiston