Old Barns, New Profit

Save them! Old barns all across America are being ripped and torn down and the beams, walls, roofs, and post from them are really just being discarded with out any thought to re-use or recycling. This usually beautiful and fully functional wood is not only a part of our country’s history, it is also fully usable for new and neat looking things in the future. Recycling these ancient and decrepit barns, if you are not going to refurbish and use them as property structures, is an environmentally friendly way to use up existing and good resources.

Don’t write of recycling this wood because it will be a lot of work…just one look at the wood you have at your hands will inspire you to use it or sell it for future use.

With the right type of wood, you can make – and if you want to – sell barn wood furniture, like counters and a number of other things. And best of all, the wood is already conditioned for hard weather or strain, since it was part of a barn after all, and survived elements like, snow, wind and rain.

So even though in the last half a century the number of people who live and work rurally has decreased drastically, it doesn’t mean that you have to tear down the farms and barns and burn the leftovers. If you’re keeping your barn as a structure on your property, you could refurbish it into a home office or workshop. They also make great places for children to play and explore the great outdoors and play games. In this situation though, it is important that you make sure the barn structure, old as it is, is safe and secure. Remove nails and rusty farming equipment, clean up and remove mold or decayed farming supplies so it’s safe to have company and/or your children.

If you are taking down the structure of the barn, offer up the wood to woodworkers for barn wood furniture, or sell it to surrounding neighbors for firewood. And don’t forget to find out if it is good enough to be used for wood flooring! You will find people who are happy to take nice, burnable firewood from you if you want it off your property!