Old farm outbuildings

Icelandicseige

What can be done with old farmhouses with stales and old out houses.

I was thinking knocking the front wall in them if possible to keep them standing and using to house calves or calving pens and you could clean out with loader. Any other use for them?

viztopia

are you in Glas? there are grants for certain old type buildings to restore them if you are

kk.man

I opened the front in one of my old buildings put in 2 sliding doors now used for cow box, small flat bed and tractor diesel tank

Lady Haywire

Our old byre is currently a toolshed, stable/barn hold three vintage tractors. Dairy stores my apples.
In the outfarm the old houses are just for shelter, bar one that has a makeshift crush built into it cause we needed something for AI.
They've all had many uses over the years actually, hens, horses, trailers, calving pens, firewood :pac:

pedigree 6

The traditionalists will hate this.
But the slates were coming off one here so I took the slates off and put the tile effect sheeting from gusclad on.
So i'll never have to replace a slate on that roof ever again. #healthandsafety.

CHOPS01

pedigree 6 wrote: »

The traditionalists will hate this.
But the slates were coming off one here so I took the slates off and put the tile effect sheeting from gusclad on.
So i'll never have to replace a slate on that roof ever again. #healthandsafety.

Did you sell the old slate

pedigree 6

CHOPS01 wrote: »

Did you sell the old slate

No. Broken up i'm afraid and it was proper hard blue bangor.
I went around to a few people to see would they take them off the roof and maybe give a few quid.
Went on for so long and it was a high roof and we were getting nowhere.
So my father poked them off with a pole from the loft inside onto the ground.

Everyone wants slates neatly stacked on a pallet but no one wants to take them off the roof (myself included).

mf240

Put in the bottom of a cow road.

CHOPS01

pedigree 6 wrote: »

No. Broken up i'm afraid and it was proper hard blue bangor.
I went around to a few people to see would they take them off the roof and maybe give a few quid.
Went on for so long and it was a high roof and we were getting nowhere.
So my father poked them off with a pole from the loft inside onto the ground.

Everyone wants slates neatly stacked on a pallet but no one wants to take them off the roof (myself included).

Old old dairy here needs to be rerouted. Damaged in 2013 storm and has got progressively worse.
Talking to lad that's going to do the job tonight and he reckons the slates are worth money and that there are lads that will take the slate down.
I'll be going on the phone to sus it out.

Base price

Icelandicseige wrote: »

What can be done with old farmhouses with stales and old out houses.

I was thinking knocking the front wall in them if possible to keep them standing and using to house calves or calving pens and you could clean out with loader. Any other use for them?

Personally I would try and preserve them if you can.
Years ago such buildings were considered a nuisance and most ended up as back fill/drain filling like ours did.
If I could wind the clock back - I now would have a beautiful hand cut stone cottage along with a 10 cow byre with lofts, four stables with lofts, a granary, a pig sty and hen house and not forgetting the outdoor toilets.
Unfortunately in my case, I cannot wind the clock back.
Another poster mentioned if you are in GLAS. There is a sub to preserve old farm building but IMO it is 25+ years too late.
Link: http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/grants-of-up-to-e25000-available-to-repair-traditional-farm-buildings-in-2017/

Who2

CHOPS01 wrote: »

Old old dairy here needs to be rerouted. Damaged in 2013 storm and has got progressively worse.
Talking to lad that's going to do the job tonight and he reckons the slates are worth money and that there are lads that will take the slate down.
I'll be going on the phone to sus it out.

They won't spoil you on price, good clean blue bangors that haven't scaled are worth about three euro each. Half of what's on the roof will be scrapped and a quater of what's salvaged won't make it to the next stage so there's never the value on a roof most lads think. It's a pity to remove them all the same. If you can afford it re slate it for the character around the place if nothing else.

kk.man

Base price wrote: »

Personally I would try and preserve them if you can.
Years ago such buildings were considered a nuisance and most ended up as back fill/drain filling like ours did.
If I could wind the clock back - I now would have a beautiful hand cut stone cottage along with a 10 cow byre with lofts, four stables with lofts, a granary, a pig sty and hen house and not forgetting the outdoor toilets.
Unfortunately in my case, I cannot wind the clock back.
Another poster mentioned if you are in GLAS. There is a sub to preserve old farm building but IMO it is 25+ years too late.
Link: http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/grants-of-up-to-e25000-available-to-repair-traditional-farm-buildings-in-2017/

I have always stated this...imagine the generations who worked and played in them...it would be akin selling land to knock them down...i have mine all done up now.....they feel really part of the place again which is nice don't have all them re slated (i don't have that kind of money) but at least they are safe for the next generation. They have practical uses now not what they were originally built for.
I saw lovely yards down thru the years gutted...i swore i wouldn't do it to mine...now i did knock small ones with concrete walls etc but not the stone cut ones...i could look at them all day...they all have names and stories behind them..i know economily they don't make sense ...sorry I am very passionate about my old sheds...just the other day I stood in the yard looked at them all and said if i was to build them from scratch how much would they cost me now?!?!?
O didn't go down the GLAs route because of red tape and i saw the numbers who apply far outweigh the successful applicants.

_Brian

One of ours was two story with loft above calf stalls, sadly it lost its roof in the 80's and now part of the walls have fallen - beyond repair, or at least beyond what we can afford to repair.

Another we roofed with seconds classed sheets a few years ago and it's in regular use as calf shed or isolation pen.

Some other smaller stone sheds are useable but in poor enough condition, one houses pigs, another feed for pigs, one has door closed and I swear it hasn't been opened in maybe 15years.

Lady Haywire

Oh I forgot....one old house we had to knock down on the outfarm due to storm damage, it was the house where my great grandfather grew up. So we took all the stone from it and built it up all around the front of the other house here that we were renovating at the time, complete with a millstone at apex that came from an old mill down the road. Keystone took pride of place exactly above the front door

Waffletraktor

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Oh I forgot....one old house we had to knock down on the outfarm due to storm damage, it was the house where my great grandfather grew up. So we took all the stone from it and built it up all around the front of the other house here that we were renovating at the time, complete with a millstone at apex that came from an old mill down the road. Keystone took pride of place exactly above the front door

Is there anything along the lines of listed buildings over these older houses? Here they can get "listed" and according to which level you have to do work on them just to keep old houses but can't convert them or anything unless get a permitted use derigation and the outside structure can't be altered in appearance.

Lady Haywire

Waffletraktor wrote: »

Is there anything along the lines of listed buildings over these older houses? Here they can get "listed" and according to which level you have to do work on them just to keep old houses but can't convert them or anything unless get a permitted use derigation and the outside structure can't be altered in appearance.

I'm not sure tbh. There definitely is something because I know one old schoolhouse nearby has some sort of status and an old Georgian building I lived in while in Dublin had some listed protection. But if that corresponds over in any way to all old stone buildings I've no idea. I would Google but am on the phone and hate working off it.

Base price

Waffletraktor wrote: »

Is there anything along the lines of listed buildings over these older houses? Here they can get "listed" and according to which level you have to do work on them just to keep old houses but can't convert them or anything unless get a permitted use derigation and the outside structure can't be altered in appearance.

Yes there is. Ex has an old cottage in the yard that he renovated some years ago. The front and gables of the building were listed. He had to get permission to raise the wall plate and had to keep to the same style of window to the front all be them double glazed. Other than those conditions the coco were happy to see it back in use.

rangler1

Our house became a listed building about 5 years ago, luckily we'd done a major reconstruction in 2005.
I'd imagine it'd be a nightmare to do it now

Username John

Base price wrote: »

Personally I would try and preserve them if you can.
Years ago such buildings were considered a nuisance and most ended up as back fill/drain filling like ours did.
If I could wind the clock back - I now would have a beautiful hand cut stone cottage along with a 10 cow byre with lofts, four stables with lofts, a granary, a pig sty and hen house and not forgetting the outdoor toilets.
Unfortunately in my case, I cannot wind the clock back.
Another poster mentioned if you are in GLAS. There is a sub to preserve old farm building but IMO it is 25+ years too late.
Link: http://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/grants-of-up-to-e25000-available-to-repair-traditional-farm-buildings-in-2017/

Something similar happened at home - two small houses for pigs or calves. But they had lovely big flagstone floors...

They were knocked, and a big old hay shed knocked to the same time. The hayshed had the timbers all dowelled together... not sure how old it was...

I can see why they were knocked tho, the hayshed was prob getting dangerous, and the two small pig houses were too small to be of any use and we're in the way really...

Its hard to justify the spend in some cases, and the people that came before us thought they were doing the right thing...

kk.man

I have cobbled stone in the floor of one of mine...was going to concrete over it but decided against it...it's allowed for sheep.

Base price

kk.man wrote: »

I have cobbled stone in the floor of one of mine...was going to concrete over it but decided against it...it's allowed for sheep.

??

kk.man

Base price wrote: »

??

Cobbles are round stones embedded in the floor..like u find on floor of a river...Dept don't allow cattle in them.

Base price

kk.man wrote: »

Cobbles are round stones embedded in the floor..like u find on floor of a river...Dept don't allow cattle in them.

I know what cobbles are. I'm well used to seeing them on Dublin city streets.
Why don't the Dept allow them for cattle considering they are allowed for working/draught horses.

rangler1

Base price wrote: »

I know what cobbles are. I'm well used to seeing them on Dublin city streets.
Why don't the Dept allow them for cattle considering they are allowed for working/draught horses.

Floors under cattle have to be watertight to avoid the risk of seepage into the groundwater, dirty water has to be tanked and spread nowadays.
Very little seepage from sheep, but if you're putting up a new sheep shed, I think it has to be concrete floor.

Keepgrowing

Knocked old cow house here as was in the way. Stables and old barn were converted into a house and two apartments with seperate entrance and parking. This was done in '98 and are rented. One is used occasionally for a student or if an employee needs accommodation. One is earmarked for conversion to an office.

kk.man

rangler1 wrote: »

Floors under cattle have to be watertight to avoid the risk of seepage into the groundwater, dirty water has to be tanked and spread nowadays.
Very little seepage from sheep, but if you're putting up a new sheep shed, I think it has to be concrete floor.

+1

stantheman1979

Probably going to be unpopular here but there was a 2storey barn with 5or6 other stone houses in a line that my great grandfather built on the out farm. Roofs were falling in but stone was perfect. I say was because now there in a nice long slatted shed there instead. I've to say I didn't bat an eyelid least I can walk in without ducking my head knowing nothing is going to fall on me.

kk.man

stantheman1979 wrote: »

Probably going to be unpopular here but there was a 2storey barn with 5or6 other stone houses in a line that my great grandfather built on the out farm. Roofs were falling in but stone was perfect. I say was because now there in a nice long slatted shed there instead. I've to say I didn't bat an eyelid least I can walk in without ducking my head knowing nothing is going to fall on me.

It really is your own business...horses for courses etc but why not built the slatted shed somewhere else or incorporate it close-by and stick a few sheets of galvanise on the stone ones plus make the doorways bigger..they could have a function in todays farm too. It's part of our heritage.

stantheman1979

They are too small to get feed into, too low and narrow to clean out and dangerous. I now have a shed that can easily fit 800 pregnant ewes which is comfortable for man and beast that I enjoy being in. Also it probably would've cost as much to mess around roofing it and widening the doorways!!

Who2

stantheman1979 wrote: »

They are too small to get feed into, too low and narrow to clean out and dangerous. I now have a shed that can easily fit 800 pregnant ewes which is comfortable for man and beast that I enjoy being in. Also it probably would've cost as much to mess around roofing it and widening the doorways!!

They are also impossible to replace. I'm the furthest thing from a conservationist but we have to mind what we were left with. That house and yard you knocked meant an awful lot more to the men that originally built them than your sheep she'd does to you. I knocked and cleared old houses and sheds on a bit of bought ground years ago and it still eats me up for what I done. Funnily enough one of my siblings built on the exact site recently. Nothing compared to what was there before though.

liam7831

A storm will prob take the roof off em and damage anything inside, prob stuck together with mud. Best thing to do is demolish and use as a good foundation for a nice new shed that will actually be useful for something.

Username John

There's a cost element too...

I can understand why people knock em. Like in our case above, they were small houses right in the middle of the yard... so to leave them there would have been very awkward and they weren't that useful...

But I have an old building at home, big building, 3 floors - but the roof is half gone, the floors are shook... twould cost too much now to repair so twill just fall into itself in time...

stantheman1979

When they were built they were milking 10 cows and had a few sheep. They were built like that because they had plenty of stone and not much money. I'm sure they would be happy that all the land has been reclaimed and grows grass instead of rushes and furze!! Sure I'll go buy a Ferguson and milk cows by hand!! Times and technology change. It would cost me as much to roof them as it was to build a new shed for what!!! It's nurishment not punishment I want!!

stantheman1979

It's often said how we're just custodians of the land, that we just try improve what we were given, and pass it to the next generation in a better state then when we got it. Well I can hold my head high and be proud of the hard work I've put in. I'd no qualms knocking those stone sheds and if my son wants to knock the shed I've built to build a better one I'll have no qualms either

cashcow

We have an old house here that was used to house a few weanling's yrs ago but now used for straw. The last couple of winters has knocked a fair few slates off the roof,and it's too much of a risk heading up there to repair because it's over a 100 years old now. Today was the first day dad ever suggested knocking it. I think we're gonna cover it with a canvas for this winter,but it'll be a sad day if we do knock it.

Willfarman

Who2 wrote: »

They are also impossible to replace. I'm the furthest thing from a conservationist but we have to mind what we were left with. That house and yard you knocked meant an awful lot more to the men that originally built them than your sheep she'd does to you. I knocked and cleared old houses and sheds on a bit of bought ground years ago and it still eats me up for what I done. Funnily enough one of my siblings built on the exact site recently. Nothing compared to what was there before though.

Hard for em to mean any thing to dead men.,

Who2

Willfarman wrote: »

Hard for em to mean any thing to dead men.,

It is but it's nice to sometimes respect what was someone else's lifetimes achievement.

CloughCasey1

The FILs old thatched home house was behind our site in ruins. Lovely stone arch in it. Knocked the lot. Have the stone arch in me living-room and all the stone is used on the front of the house and the boundary walls. Now everyone gets to appreciate what was hidden and an eyesore. Have all the old sheds converted into calf sheds for sucks.

CloughCasey1

Stone arch. You can see the old white-wash on some of the stones. Sand blasted the arch as there was 6 layers of oil paint on it in mad colours. To be honest most people back in the day tiled or plastered over most of these. Shows the appreciation they had themseles for their "heritage".

jimini0

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

Stone arch. You can see the old white-wash on some of the stones. Sand blasted the arch as there was 6 layers of oil paint on it in mad colours. To be honest most people back in the day tiled or plastered over most of these. Shows the appreciation they had themseles for their "heritage".

Them old stone arches are priceless. You can not buy history. Imagine all the meals that were cooked under that arch. I have one here its not as cut as yours. Now that i see yours mine is not as nice. I got it from an old house a neighbour was knocking. Its in a pile behind a shed a few years now. I never got an opportunity to use it yet. I got a few old mill stones too that were found around the house. And a couple of gate spud stones or whatever those are called.

kowtow

CloughCasey1 wrote:

Stone arch. You can see the old white-wash on some of the stones. Sand blasted the arch as there was 6 layers of oil paint on it in mad colours. To be honest most people back in the day tiled or plastered over most of these. Shows the appreciation they had themseles for their "heritage".

Only the animals got the beautiful unplastered stone, the humans went for the waterproof option!

Who2

CloughCasey1 wrote: »

Stone arch. You can see the old white-wash on some of the stones. Sand blasted the arch as there was 6 layers of oil paint on it in mad colours. To be honest most people back in the day tiled or plastered over most of these. Shows the appreciation they had themseles for their "heritage".

Looks good you'd a tidy stone mason too.

L1985

Just chatting to dad about this thread there. Dad had to knock a building here from the 1700's years back and it still upsets him. It started collapsing and we were kids running in and out of it-when the chimney collapsed on the yard he decided he had to get rid of it.we still have buildings 200 years old that we would never knock. They are in good condition thou and still used regularly! I think it's important you keep buildings like that around-it's part of the culture of Ireland!