Constructing a Plank Frame Barn.
By John L. Shawver.
The growing interest in the plank frame barn, as manifested by inquiries which have emanated from many quarters, calls for specific information which will enable every builder and farmer to avail himself of the many advantages offered by this system of construction. The system has been in use in Central Ohio for the past 20 years, and has been rapidly growing in favor wherever people have had an opportunity of investigating its merits. During these years the system, which was at first somewhat crude and undeveloped, has been gradually improved, until to-day, after many of the most severe tests, it is believed to have reached very near perfection as regards economy of material and labor, strength of frame, convenience of arrangement and durability of structure. The advantages offered by this method of construction are:
1. A saving in timber of from 40 to 60 per cent.—a not small item in many localities where timber for building purposes has become a scarce article.
2. An opportunity to employ for the building of barns timber that could scarcely receive consideration if solid timber mortise and tenon frames were to be built.
3. A saving in the cost of sawing, cutting and hauling of about one-half of the timber.
4. A saving in cost of framing, ranging from 50 to 90 per cent., according to the plan of the building and the efficiency of the builders.
5. In cases where farmers’ wives are expected to board and lodge the builders, a saving in labor and vexation of two or three weeks’ unnecessary time for framing old style barns.
6. A riddance of practically all of the interior timbers, which are usually an interference with the use of the horse forks and hay slings, as well as a source of constant vexation at threshing time and all other times when the barn is in use.
7. The full benefit of the self supporting arch roof, a construction of combined triangles, long braces and perpendicular timbers.