Where are you located?
I have large bank barn 65’ wide, 60+ deep 50’ high. The orginal section was built around 1700 according to a retired PA history professor. A large English fore-bay was added in the middle 1800s. I read an article about him writing about and documenting historic barns in PA. And about the program you mentioned. I contacted him and he was excited to come and look over mine.
Unfortunately the financial crash hit the country/state so I am guessing the funding never materialized.
My barn had issues when I bought the property. Everything on the property had “issues”. It is a “William Penn Grant” have the original deed signed by him. Amazing it has stayed with the property for over 300 years.
I have done a fair amount of stabilizing and restoration over the years. A couple of the contractors I had look over things and give me estates were hallucinating with the numbers they gave me. I don’t mind paying good money for good work. But I don’t think I should have to eat dog food so they can eat steak.
I worked in the “trades” for a few years and have bought and personally renovated 6 old houses over the years. I am very familiar with what things should cost and how much work is involved.
I have also torn down 2 barns for salvage materials. Learned a couple of valuable lessons from that money losing experience.
In this state each township has different rules and regs. I live in Highland Township which is very agricultural. It doesn’t make farm/property owners jump through a lot of hoops and add unnecessary expenses to building projects. Unlike my neighboring townships east if us. Ag buildings in general aren’t always subjected to most of the ridiculous building codes. Especially when it comes renovation, updating.
Salvage value depends on a number of factors. Mainly age and type of the materials used, the quality of the wood and the ease of disassembling. The accessibility and workability of the location. And of course the “salvage market”. 10-20 years ago the market was quite strong. I’ve been out of it for over 10 years and have no idea what it is today.
The last time I looked at several barns over 10 years ago the owners were VERY unrealistic on what they thought the salvage value was. Thanks to the internet and some TV shows. Drove by one I looked more than 10 years ago recently. Told the owners at the time no one is going to give you much money if any for the building. The profit in the salvaged materials would barely if at all cover the costs of taking it down and cleaning up the site. As I said, I drove by it the other day more than 10 years later.
If yours is not too far from my area I would be happy to take a look at for you. Love checking out old barns. I could give you an idea of what it might be worth. I could also tell you if it is worth saving and what it should realistically cost.
This salvage company has a pretty good reputation from what I have heard. Their name comes up a lot. Might be worth contacting them. Take some good picture of the detail, inside and out and dimensions. There used to be a pretty good market for salvaged slate roofs.
http://www.barnyardboys.com/
