Abenaqui Alpacas Erects a New Barn

From start to finish with a little help from family and friends, Abenaqui Alpacas has been building their new barn. It all began with the harvest of Hemlock from the property. Steve's trusty Nissan Frontier truck earned its keep acting as a log skidder, dragging the large, freshly cut trees out of the woods.

 Here is a picture of one of the old growth hemlocks we cut to use as barn lumber.

Steve cutting the hemlock to lengths after felling to prepare it for milling.

The logs are staged, by length, in preparation for milling.

In the winter of 2006 we hired a local portable mill operator to come in and cut our posts and beams to order.

Paul, our mill operator, cuts the logs into beams, posts, flooring, or fencing depending upon the diameter of the butt log.

Once the lumber was cut, Steve and I were tasked with "stickering" the freshly milled lumber so it would dry properly.

Finally, in the fall of 2006 we began the preparation for the foundation...

 Steve and his dad prepare the trench for utilities. Look at all those boulders! 
That is what you can expect excavating in New England.

...forms were built...

 After contacting several sources for pre-made concrete forms, we decided it would be more cost effective to make our own. Steve set out to design and build the concrete forms from discarded lumber.

...and concrete poured.

 Due to the barns location we hired a concrete pumping truck. It took four pours over two weeks, each time we had to break down then erect the forms for each location.

Throughout the mild winter we toiled in the rain, sleet, and mud, backfilling the foundation then ultimately erecting the first posts and beams. Working nights and weekends we finally finished the structure. A special thank you to our family and friends that pitched in to help us get this project off the ground.

 Once we were ready to erect the first posts, our friend Adam quickly volunteered to lend some might and muscle.

Eventually it began to look more like a barn.

First floor complete. Floor boards on second story in progress.

Second floor begins to take shape by Spring 2007.

 Preparation for the roof begins.

 Trim boards are put on and pearlens (sp?) installed preparing for siding. (Summer 2007)

 We chose corrugated metal roofing for several reasons: ease of installation; durability; fairly maintenance free; energy efficiency; and tax deductible.

We will be contacting the same local mill operator to obtain board and batten siding, which we hope to begin installing this winter. We will keep updating this article as we progress. 

If you have any questions on anything you read here, or would just like to ask how we came about building this barn, feel free to contact us. We would be more than happy to talk.