You got just the right angle in that photo, to show you're going to need to fix your barn roof soon., of course we procrastinate on fixing old stuff in favor of new projects too. we have cat sized holes all along the bottom of our shed. Once its warm I will have to get some photos of the ants nesting in hte shed, they built their nest behind clear shelves so it is a wild version of an ant farm.

Our poor, sad barn. I go back and forth between wanting to repair and it wanting to tear it down. The problem is that it's a tobacco barn, which means it's really, really tall, so working on the roof is terrifying. (The spot you saw is one of the good parts of the roof, so clearly something is going to have to be done soon one way or another.)

If the frame is not all rotten on the barn, it is going to be way cheaper to repair it. We are waffling about our shed, becuase the frame has rot spots, the sides are completely rotted, the hardware on the door needs to be replaced and the only thing holding the door together is a very thick layer of paint, otherwise you could push your hand through the wood on the door it is so rotted, but the roof with all the shingles is still perfectly fine. I can see that the barn is very high but with proper precautions (make sure someone is there holding the ladder, also recommended is a harness with one side tied to the ground on the opposite side of the barn, pretend you are rock climbing) it should not be too bad.

Yeah, we've pondered all of those options. The thing is that the barn is huge --- far more than we can use --- and is within the 100 year floodplain, so ideas like turning it into extra workshop/living space are probably not that great. I priced out how much it would cost to replace the tin and we're talking multiple thousands of dollars. Honestly, I'm generally leaning toward taking it down and using the wood and usable tin to make some more little buildings, but who knows what we'll actually do.

yeah thousands of dollars sucks, I guess the damage on the other side must be much worse. Where I work is an old state mental hospital about half the buildings are condemned becuase they are not safe and it would take more money to fix them than to tear them down and build a new one but the state has money for neither option. It is quite wierd, sort of like driving through a old haunted campus. they did finally tear down of of hte building which was sad as it was really neat seeing a greenhouse with 20ft trees growing up out of it.

Not a clue as to what it would cost, but I found the idea of the concrete canvas shelter very nifty.

It's like a balloon covered with gypsum (but then concrete) bandages which you wet out and then you blow op the balloon. Once the material has set you cut a door opening and you've got a ready-made shelter. It's an interesting organic-like shape as well.

I'm very intrigued with that website but nervous when a place demands you to call for a price. They say it depends on the volume of concrete and where it gets delivered.

Reminds me of the old Liberty ships from World War 2 that were made of concrete.

Rebecca: Sounds like a place I used to fix copiers at outside of Boston.

I can't believe that US carpentry still hangs onto using Philips screws. Thank goodness for good old square-head Robertson bits/screws. They're pretty much standard up here in the frozen north.

Five point star bit works best for me.

Maybe it is possible to do such a concrete shell construction yourself and on the cheap, using cement and a fiber reinforcement. Not sure what the latter should be. Natural fibres might be nice but would probably rot. Maybe fiberglass would work. Rigging a kind of tent and spraying it with shotcrete might work as well.

OTOH, cement is kinda porous. Fiberglass with polyester resin covered with an opaque topcoat would make a light, waterproof and surprisingly strong structure. But that may be the composite engineer side of me talking.

You are all so punny! Cheers me right up.

Soapboxtech and Daddy --- a few of our screws are Phillips screws, but most are actually square (with one box of star bits.) I have to say that it gets a bit confusing for me, having to swap out my bit when I want to change to longer or shorter screws, but you're totally right that the Phillips screws are much more likely to strip, especially when installed by someone like me who's a bit of an amateur...

Roland --- it sounds like you need to start experimenting! Fascinating ideas.

Mark, you might also want to look at timbrel vault construction. Not only is it beautiful (I think) and pretty easy to build, it's also very strong. Look at the people standing on those thin arches!

Timbrel vaults sure are beautiful! They make everything look like a cathedral.