Restoring Structural Integrity Of 1850s Vintage Barn
It is a majestic structure that has seen better days. When I met with the Project Manager Dan at the project site, the barn had been lifted off the deteriorating foundation. It is a pretty tall structure, the upper First Floor is some 32' tall at the peak. It has a walkout basement on the East side, and one can walk on to the First Floor from the West side grade. There is a silo on the North West corner of the barn.
It is a fast track project. The foundation is to be designed and built, temporary supporting and lifting structure is to be removed, the first floor structure is to be reinforced, the barn structure is to be supported on to the new foundation to get the restored barn ready for for its first major gathering in early September.
I will continually update the blog to keep every one interested in the progress of the project informed of the happenings as we go along.
So without much further adoo, I will mostly let the pictures do the talking!
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PROJECT TEAM
General Contractor Project Manager: Dan Wega, Premier Painting and Home Services +1 520-975-5127 pm4460heron@gmail.com
Structure Lifting by: D&B Movers, Expert Structure Raising and Foundation +1 734-497-7956
Structural Engineering by: Yogi Anand, DEng, P.E. of ANAND Enterprises -- of Rochester Hills MI +1 248-766-1546 yogia1@gmail.com energyefficientbuild.com energyefficientbuild.blogspot.com
Architectural Work by: Steve Eggleston, Sol Studio -- of River Rouge MI +1 970-846-2147 SolStudio@earthlink.net
Foundation Contractor: Michael Waltz of Waltz Concrete of Ann Arbor MI +1 517-605-8184 waltzconcrete@yahoo.com
Structural Steel Supplier: Jim Sowards, Sowards Enterprises -- of Trenton MI +1 734-717-3905 j_sowards@hotmai.com
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Pictures As Of Jun-22-2026
Pictures As Of Jul-29-2026
Pictures As Of Aug-04-22026
Pictures As Of Aug-05-2026
Pictures As Of Aug-06-2026
Pictures As Of Aug-07-2026
The concrete blocks installed on top of poured concrete walls need to be doweled into poured concrete with say #5 @ 32" to 48" c/c and are to be grouted solid.
Pictures As Of Aug-08-2026
Jim Sowards, Dan Wega, and I were at the project site this morning -- Jim wanted to take some more measurement for the steel to be fabricated for reinforcing the wood beams and the new steel columns supporting the first floor of the barn.
Then I returned in the afternoon to see if some more block masonry had been installed over the poured concrete foundation walls. I did not find that more block masonry had been installed.
However, I began to think about placing backfill against the foundation wall on the West side -- what if we built a bridge over the foundation and the existing grade on the West side ... with bridge overlooking a pool, rain garden or landscaping / hardscaping features below. If we did create a pool, we could fit the silo with changing rooms, and so on.
I did discuss with Dan about proposing this concept to the home-owners and see what they say.
I also discussed it with my architect colleague Steve Eggleston -- following is an interesting rendering by Steve
The area on the West side is excavated. Yes backfilling is possible, but there is expense involved in backfilling -- and presented in the preceding are some thoughts about alternates that are feasible!
Progress Pictures As Of Aug-11-2026
Progress Pictures As Of Aug-12-2026
Aug 15th Job Site Meeting With Project Manager
With the completion of the work on the foundation wall recently, I have not had much to report in the last few days.
In today's on-site meeting with the project manager, we did discuss the following ...
Wall Plate nominally 2x12 to be anchored to top of foundation with 5/8" dia bolts at nominally 5'-4" c/c starting from 12" from the corners.
Make sure that the bottom of the wall studs is true and square with all rotten portion removed and reinforced as needed (including providing additional stud walls, posts, and wood beams) to ensure that the barn walls are securely supported on top of the foundation when the lift beams currently supporting the barn walls are removed.
At the base of the vertical trusses in the barn walls, make sure that the base of the trusses is fastened to the foundation wall with steel straps, steel channels, Simpson strong tie straps, plates, or continuity walls to the base of the foundation for a safe and secure connection.
Project manager has plans to backfill the west side of the foundation with granular material preferably with Keene building products dimpled mat fastened to the wall at the top and bottom wrapping the Keene mat over the drain tile at the base of the wall.
My work, the scope of which included designing the foundation, and to provide design for one row of interior steel columns, and to provide design for reinforcing of the rotted wood beams is essentially complete -- do not need the steel strong backs because of the existence of a number of vertical wood trusses across the long walls of the barn.
It is my understanding that the objective of the project manager is to secure the barn walls and the first floor of the barn to the newly installed foundation to get the barn ready for the large family function in the beginning of September 2026 and the project manager anticipates that there will be additional work that would need to be done after the family function of September 2026.
