Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

fergusnc
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Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

Postby fergusnc » Sun Sep 10, 2017 1:35 pm

Hey all.
Working on inner walls in The Little Red Barn as we prep for tomorrow's high winds and we use up as much of our "lumber yard supplies" from the almost-washpit as possible to avoid having to stow more things away. Retrofitting an old cow barn is interesting, LOL. Opinions and feedback please?

Re: The inner walls that will affix to the interior surface of the outside of barn/shell of barn....originally I told DH they didn't have to go all the way up, just taller than the stretch reach of my big boy, so 8' plus or so right now. Looking at it yesterday, I got to thinking about that small gap that will be at the top (2" maybe) and the potential for critters to live in the walls. Do I need to go all the way to the "top"...i.e. the horizontal piece where the roofline starts happening? The only reason this isn't a given is that 1 of the 3 sides in question (the longest run of course, lol) sort of tips back a little due to shift of barn over the years and DH will have to be creative there in sealing off. He already had to add additional vertical pieces so that the wall he is building doesn't follow that tip back/lean. The other two side should line up fine.

Wondering how big a deal this is in a shedrow type barn? The Little Gray Barn is about 30' away and has the hay and equipment and for now the tack and feed....more critters in there for sure. But didn't know if once we have actually walls space to live in, we may be encouraging relocation? Horses are only up for both daily meals and really bad weather, if that matters.

TLRB is turning into a bunker of safety with all the work DH has/is doing to this sweet old barn. :D

silk
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Re: Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

Postby silk » Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:25 pm

My experience is that you'll have critters regardless, so think about how you're going to get to them to eradicate them (traps, poison, etc).
Mice can fit through 7mm gaps (an inch is 25mm so that's a smidge more than 1/4").

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Chisamba
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Re: Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

Postby Chisamba » Sun Sep 10, 2017 7:43 pm

you will have critters, wheter you board the top or not. there are so many ways in in barn situations. barn cats, limited success because the mice are clever at avoiding them, barn snakes, always useful as they can go where cats cannot, are the most natural ways to deal with the critters. our barn has the walls all the way up, and the mice dig/gnaw through small gaps between the floor and the top

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Rosie B
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Re: Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

Postby Rosie B » Sun Sep 10, 2017 11:58 pm

Our one shared stall wall doesn't go all the way to the top. It's probably 8' high. It was easiest to build it that way. From about 4' up, we have bars rather than walls.

If it's easier to build it without going to the top, and you're not losing any structural soundness, I wouldn't think twice about it.

fergusnc
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Re: Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

Postby fergusnc » Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:22 am

Thanks all. I guess now that I think of it, I am not too worried about furry creatures, as all of the wiring in in metal conduit...but what about wasps? I sure hate wasps and the thought of a ton of them in the walls.....ick! Though I guess if they wanted to, they could crawl through those same 1/4' gaps the mice could, right?

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Chisamba
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Re: Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

Postby Chisamba » Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:24 am

i never get wasps on the walls, i do get them on overhangs in the roof, i do go through a lot of the high velocity hornet spray. i do feel bad about killing them but i am allergic to being stung

fergusnc
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Re: Feedback Please...quick barn reno/stall work question...Work in Progress

Postby fergusnc » Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:30 am

We get them up in the rafters too...but once we had a piece of OSB nailed to a wall as a stop-gap measure in this never ending Reno process...I glance behind one day and there was a nest the diameter of a grapefruit. And it was the "wall" right beside the stall door where my horse always stands and looks out. SO lucky he wasn't stung badly. Since I saw that, I started wondering about them in the walls. Hoping it was just a fluke thing!


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