The Out Buildings: Before & After

Outbuildings like barns, chicken coops, outhouses, granaries, sheds, and carriage houses, are often overlooked and under-appreciated in historic neighborhoods. Although simple in design and usually small in scale, they tell the story of the development of the home-site and the neighborhood, adding a visible layer of history and information. This is why we thought it was important to preserve these buildings for the next generation to explore.

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The Granary with a new metal roof.

Interior with new pine rafters. I had the roofers, Alpine Summit Roofing, save the old boards. Even though they were mostly rotted through, I find old barn wood irresistible and I'm sure they can be used for something. 

Granary floor after cleaning - I wasn't sure if it even had a floor.

The outhouse with a new cedar shingle roof. We also had the whole thing moved over, away from the encroaching trees onto a new timber base. According to Grandma Wanda, it's been moved all over the place.

The old two-seater is ready for business!

Cleaning out the Granary

Of course we couldn't throw anything away! We even sifted through the dirt that we shoveled off the floor boards (I didn't even know if it still had a floor ) to make sure we didn't miss anything interesting or valuable. As the saying goes: "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

Saving the Outhouse and Granary

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After this last winter, the outhouse was ready to fall over. The floor was caving-in and half of the roof had fallen through.

We attempted to shore up the structure two years ago, but the whole thing needed to be picked-up and moved over onto a new base, away from the encroaching trees.

The boards of the granary roof had also been falling through for some time.

I wanted to preserve these structures, so I hired the guys at Alpine Summit Roofing in Ephraim to do both projects.

We decided to do a metal roof on the granary and a cedar shingle roof on the outhouse.

Luckily, the walls were still stable.