Barn's demise not an option
By RICHARD AMRHINE
The Free Lance-Star
Date published: 9/19/2008
The barn is complete. Standing straight, painted bright red with white trim. Long live the barn.
When Connie and Steve Hilker bought Hartwood Manor in 2002, renovating the house, a rare Southern example of Gothic Revival architecture, was their top priority. It needed a pretty complete overhaul and remains a work in progress, but at least they're able to live there comfortably now.
And then there was the barn. It was decrepit, leaning and almost obscured by overgrown bushes and vines. Unlike the house, it was in jeopardy of falling over. By the fall of 2006, the lean was becoming more noticeable. If it was going to be saved, surely that needed to happen before the next stiff breeze.
"We couldn't let it go," said Connie Hilker. "It is supposed to be here."
So rescue it is what they decided to do. She contacted Woodford Bros., a Syracuse, N.Y., company that specializes in bringing barns back from the brink. Workers rigged interior cables that straightened it some, and may have saved it from blowing down in a subsequent major windstorm.
But looking back, the Hilkers agree that the Woodford work was really just a stopgap. It bought them more time to decide what to do. Although they knew they would probably go forward with the restoration, they now had the time they needed to rationalize the cost.
Then they met Randy Titlow, a lifelong contractor who had been doing some work next door at the Hartwood Winery. He likes challenging projects, and after taking a look at the barn he agreed to take it on.
Looking back at his efforts, Connie Hilker calls him "fearless," and a contractor who actually does more than he says he's going to do.
"A project like that takes a combination of geometry and engineering," Titlow said in a telephone interview. "It was in bad shape."
Starting early this year, he took the barn apart, piece by piece, down to its basic framework. He nailed new lumber against some of the existing framework, a practice called "sistering," but the main 6- by 6-inch support beams would have to be replaced.
Lifting the barn to replace the columns was a time-consuming process.
"You'd lift it to do one and then you'd have to leave it a couple of days to let it relax. It was doing some crackin' and poppin'. Then when we got one side done we went on to the other," said Titlow.
As the barn appeared when purchased in 2002.
New columns being replaced.
With the new siding completed. Waiting for it to dry.
From sagging and on the verge of collapse in late 2006 to standing tall with painting completed this week, the Hartwood Manor barn's transformation is a sight to behold.
To add stability, diagnoals running from lower-level posts through the loft floor to wall framing were bolted in place.
Collar ties stretched across the roof framework provide reinforcement to the structure.
To keep it straight and solid, he installed diagonals through the loft floor and horizontal "collar ties" across the roof framing.
The barn was built in two sections. Titlow figures the first, larger portion was built 80 to 100 years ago, judging from the fieldstone foundation. He thinks the smaller part was added in the 1940s.
The barn's metal roof was in good enough shape to keep, and Hilker credits the roof with keeping the structure standing until the rescue work began.
She said the new poplar boards were milled nearby at Cropp's Saw Mill.
Now that they have this stable, useful barn, Hilker said she expects to use it for the rosebush nursery she plans to open next spring. She's already planted many varieties in an irrigated field near the barn but has many more to add.
"It's amazing how perfectly this has all worked out," she said.