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04/12/10, 11:03 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Carthage, Texas
Posts: 12,261
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Would you rather have an "Ugly Barn" or "No Barn"?
I'm not blind... I know my barn is not pretty. It was built about ten years ago, when I had less than zero cash, and no 'cash cow' I could milk. It was fun back then, trying to scrimp and save enough to buy new metal roofing for it. Everything else was scrounged... original part of barn had post oak and cedar logs for uprights... later part had 6" pipe uprights (neighbor told me way too late in the project, that I could get all the pipe out of his used stacks that I needed... he owned pipeline company).
If I'd had 20K, I could have had a pretty barn, and might have made it on the cover of the Rolling Stone, uh, er, Country Barns (if such a critter exists).
As it was/is, I made do with what I had... I had to tell myself sometimes when building it, the old college mantra, Beauty is Function/Function is Beauty.
Now I'm trying to build a house just 80 or so feet away from it... thinking I might build a 'false front' on the side facing the house, just to 'beautify' it a bit. Similar to the old west facade facing the streets, and a regular old frame house behind it.
Would you rather have any barn, even if it's ugly... or would you do without, and wait till you could have yourself a 'prideful' barn.
A few years back, when a goat barn was called for, it was a complete scrabble job... the only store bought parts were 3 pairs of hinges. Rest was found on site, poles, beams, 2x's, metal roofing, pallets, etc. Six months later, I acquired a couple of dozen sets of hinges... if I could have waited, it'd all been free.
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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming
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04/12/10, 11:32 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Ohio
Posts: 19,346
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Give me an ugly barn. It would match my ugly fence. My fence is all different types and all different heights, but it's there and it does the job.
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04/12/10, 11:37 PM
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 17,225
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Pretty is as pretty does..........
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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi
Libertarindependent
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04/12/10, 11:42 PM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,154
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Can you grow cudzoo in Texas? If it had a nice green set of vines growing all over it, you might get it on Better Homes and Gardens.
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04/12/10, 11:57 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: State of Jefferson
Posts: 5,871
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Ugly barns protect animals better than no barn!!!
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Chick with a gun.
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04/13/10, 01:07 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 263
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I really wanna see a pic of the barn now. 
In a SHTF scenario and nice big expensive barn says ..."come see whats in me".
An ugly, but functional one says "my owner couldn't even afford some decent lumber.....how could there by silver buried here? "
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04/13/10, 05:43 AM
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Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 7,692
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I want a barn so ugly that it makes property tax assessors weep with pity. So ugly thieves worry it will collapse on them if they get within 20 foot of it....
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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy
"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman
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04/13/10, 06:32 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,310
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Agree with the rest in here
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04/13/10, 06:36 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 16,310
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If u now notice that your barn is ugly, is your tractor sexey?? Anyways, if u realize that now, seems like your doing waaaaaaay better than when you put it up. Could there be some pride seeping in? (A successful U desirves a better barn). 2 thoughts from the Good Book. Pride goeth , an u know the rest, & At that point, Adam and Eve both knew they were nekked. Like them, maybe yer eyes have been opened by the sin of prospairity, and now u wish for a barn that extolls it.
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04/13/10, 06:48 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Maine
Posts: 189
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I like having my garage and my barn (with wood shop and tractor shed attached) but for cheap additional space, it's hard to beat my bow top sheds.
Since it's a light frame on a post foundation, the tax collector won't have much to say about it. Lots of people use them around here for boat storage. You can build the arches in an afternoon and erect the bulk of the frame in another. I have one that started the winter full of hay and ended the winter full of lambs.
Dan
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04/13/10, 07:02 AM
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An Ozark Engineer
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Powhatan, AR
Posts: 9,425
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Count me in for an ugly barn! MUCH better than no barn!
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04/13/10, 07:30 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Ontario
Posts: 12,685
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#1 is can it do the job? Pretty is important, but a usless pretty barn is worse than an ugly useful one. My Cover-all needs some pretty added this year. Heck even some of its utility has come off in the wind! 
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Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup........
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04/13/10, 08:29 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 11,880
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rose2005
An ugly barn is better than no barn. An ugly house is better than no house.
As long as it does it's job, then it is good.
Rose
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Ditto
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I saw something nasty in the woodshed
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04/13/10, 08:36 AM
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Michigan
Posts: 16,408
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Forget about ugly...I want a clean one!!!!! I think I sweep up in the barn more than I do the house - and there aren't any animals in there right now!!!!!
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04/13/10, 08:47 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 5,202
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Glad the question wasn't "wife".....
geo
And how about a bigger barn?
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04/13/10, 10:53 AM
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Since you are building a house it sounds to me like you have more money now than when you built the barn . It also sounds like you consider the barn to be an eyesore . Nothing at all wrong in taking pride in your property & accomplishments . If I was you & finances permitted I'd give the barn a facelift just for my own satisfaction . Without seeing a picture of the barn it's difficult to imagine just what might work but I'm also thinking plants that vine might be a good way to go . Perhaps a grapevine on one side would look nice & be productive also . I'll bet if you post a picture you'll get all kinds of great ideas for ways to spruce it up .
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04/13/10, 11:02 AM
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Hired Hand
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,600
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Count me in on ugly rather than none. As someone else mentioned, a pretty barn would just be an excuse for them to raise my property taxes again.
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CJ
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04/13/10, 11:14 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Florida and South Carolina
Posts: 2,167
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huisjen- That's a neat structure! Being wood, you could staple a layer of plastic both inside and out, and have a pretty neat low-buck greenhouse. Where did you get the design?
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"What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces." -John Wesley
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04/13/10, 12:21 PM
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: MD
Posts: 179
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My vote is for an ugly barn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shanzone2001
Ugly barns protect animals better than no barn!!!
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This is what I was going to write too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HermitJohn
I want a barn so ugly that it makes property tax assessors weep with pity. So ugly thieves worry it will collapse on them if they get within 20 foot of it....
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ROFL! You have *got* to be related to my husband LOL!
Quote:
Originally Posted by MushCreek
huisjen- That's a neat structure! Being wood, you could staple a layer of plastic both inside and out, and have a pretty neat low-buck greenhouse. Where did you get the design?
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Ditto! enquiring minds want to know.
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04/13/10, 12:44 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: NW Georgia
Posts: 7,205
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Function should be the main goal, but I've seen folks with great imagination/skill turn scrap into great structures (both houses and barns). I was thinking about building a root cellar using old feed bags and creek sand (both available in large quantities on the farm). It would have been similar to the one in the MEN link below. However, I think I've made a deal with a man selling a 9' culvert on Craigs List that could really jump start the project. He says he can deliver it Friday, so we'll see.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It...rden-Shed.aspx
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"Luck is the residue of design" - Branch Rickey
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