A lot of progress was made this week: the entire lower side (above the crush pad) was covered in boards and battens, and we put in three large windows where the old hay doors used to be. We also added a window next to the entrance door on the upper side and four large windows were framed in on the back side!
We finally got an overhead door for the lower level of the barn. It had to be custom built to fit between the barn posts and the stone wall. Installation was a bit tricky as well, because nothing in the old barn is actually level, nor plumb. So kudos to the crew that managed to install the door and have it pretty much airtight. It will be so helpful to move crates of grapes and empty tanks through this door come harvest season!
Here is what the barn looked like on Tuesday morning, February 21:
And this is what it looked like this afternoon – just one week later:
With the warmer temperatures, we were able to do the basic concrete work that is literally the foundation of fixing the exterior wall on the back of the upper barn. We needed to reinforce the section of the loading area, in front of the stone wall, so we can then install a new footer and frame in the barn doors.
The first step was building a “form”, into which the concrete would be poured. We used plywood, reinforced with 2×4’s and metal posts. We did this 2 weekends ago, which meant that the old barn doors could not be closed tightly, as the “form” stuck out too much. We had to use old barn beams to prop the doors shut from the outside. Luckily, this held the doors for a week.
On Saturday, we started mixing and pouring concrete – we all worked on this most of the day. Zach brought over his electric cement mixer, and while he mixed the concrete, Lars would use the wheelbarrow to take the mixed concrete and pour it into the form, where Jens would poke it down and use an air driven drill with a blunted tip to “vibrate” the concrete by pushing the running drill on the outside of the form. We used 70 bags of concrete on Saturday, and as we got near the end, one side of the form gave out under all the pressure – we lost about half our work 🙁
On Sunday, we got more concrete, fixed the form and reinforced it even more, and started the process over. We did get it all done by the middle of the afternoon.
This evening, we “popped” the form off, and could admire the new outside wall of what will be the loading area for the upper barn.
