Restoring The Barn; Big Foots
- September 04, 2010
- Category: Farm Style
- (14) Comments
Do you think a Big Foot is a creature who wanders in the forest? I did. Never had a clue about sonotubes either but now I know and if you follow Mountain Man’s work by the end of this post, you’ll know too.
The second day of work involved placing the Big Foots (feet?) and the sonotubes.
First Mountain Man digs a hole with the excavator.
When he went down into the hole, he discovered the old lead water pipe that brought water into the original barn.
Next comes lots of measuring to be sure the Big Foot will be placed correctly.
And here’s the Big Foot
Mountain Man digs the hole deeper to make sure it’s precise.
One of the reasons why the barn is sinking is because it was built on extremely wet ground. When digging the holes, Mountain Man is always fighting water seepage. The trick will be to set the Big Foot before the water can knock it over. Here’s the water seeping as Mountain Man digs.
To cope with the water seepage, Mountain Man lines the bottom of the hole with stone.
And then he heads off to make concrete. He’s going to fill each Big Foot with 2-1/2 cubic feet of concrete. He makes his own concrete by using stone, sand and Portland cement.
Then back to the hole where he dumps the concrete on a makeshift platform.
Sets the Big Foot in place (lots more measuring going on.)
And shovels cement into it.
Next comes placing the Sonotube. Mountain Man says the tricky part is keeping the sonotube plumb (okay, I think of it as level but that’s not the correct term) while he fills around it.
And more measuring.
Mountain Man plans on placing a 5 foot long piece of steel rebar down the middle of the sonotube and then he’ll anchor it to a wooden sill plate on the barn. But not yet. He’s going to wait at least five days for the concrete to dry enough to support weight.
He did five of these in total and one of them proved quite an adventure and that’s for tomorrow.
I wish I could just film this and have you listen to Mountain Man explaining everything and you could hear the sounds of equipment humming and Mountain Man puffing but alas with satellite internet, I cannot upload videos.
Also, I’m trying to fill in some technical details for those who are interested but if you have any specific questions, just leave them in the comments and Mountain Man will answer them.
Thanks again for following this adventure with us.
Quite an undertaking!
Date: September 04, 2010
I’m wondering if there is ANYTHING that Mountain Man can’t do?
LOL – he is one hard worker with lots of talent!
Date: September 04, 2010
Amazing
Date: September 04, 2010
It all looks so complicated!
Date: September 04, 2010
Wow. If the water is seeping in like that is there danger of the holes collapsing in on him?? That was my first thought!!
Date: September 05, 2010
Wow…your Mountain Man is amazing. I LOVED your descriptions of the process. You made it easy for me to understand. Goodness, where did Mountain Man learn all these skills? It’s amazing!! I hope everything turns out excellent
Have a great Labor Day weekend. Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather 
p.s. I was surprised by all that water. I had a friend who built a little shed in her backyard and the soil in her yard is more of a clay base…so it was just hard to keep things level.
Date: September 05, 2010
What a big project! To think he has to do that five times. It was funny when you showed the picture of the big foot, I still didn’t have a clue what it was or what it was for. I do know what plumb is (straight up and down). How did he learn all those things? That’s a good question!
Date: September 05, 2010
I am always amazed at Mtn. Man! What a guy!! I think he is the new superhero for us to look up to.
“Mountain Man! He can fix or build ANYTHING!” Hooray!
Date: September 06, 2010
You two are so amazing. It is such an undertaking but, when it is for your own home and property, I think it means so much and you want it to be the best job possible. I applaud your constant devotion to each other and the home you create together. It is so inspiring and seems filled with love.
Date: September 07, 2010
Now that is a big job!
Date: September 08, 2010
Very interesting and I’m learning a lot! Thank you! : )
Date: September 09, 2010
Ground water was probably not that much of a concern back in the days when that old barn was built and there most likely was little that could be done about it then, other than build the barn on drier terrain. Doubt that ordinary folks, like farmers and ranchers had the engineering savvy to do what was necessary to keep the barn’s footing high, dry and sound. Even so; that old building has stood its ground for a very long time. Bravo on Mountain Man’s salvaging and restoring it.
Date: September 09, 2010
I knew what those were, but I have never used them before. This project is just incredible! Thank you for taking us through the process. This would be a great series of articles for a magazine or a historical society, especially since he is doing it on his own.
Date: September 10, 2010
My husband had some help in the initial stages of building our 2 story monolithic dome home. Now the money has run out and he is working by himself. One layer of concrete was sprayed on, and now he has to hand trowel 2 more layers on the outside, then work on the inside. He gets really overwhelmed at the amount of work he has to do by himself. How do you keep from becoming overwhelmed by your project?
Date: September 26, 2010