Barn before and after

While in Kansas we had a little barn razing. While an army of Mongols would have helped, we just had some pry bars and hammers.
It was a good barn, but it had no use anymore and was rotting. The only thing it had been used for in my memory was to swing on a rope that hung from the highest point. That was awesome. But even the rope broke before we started pulling nails. It was time.

Before:

back (featuring Wattson and dog)

front left

front right

The first thing Wattson and I did was get up on the loft that the rope used to swing us to and start poking at the underside of the roof. We had to know how secure it was before someone did something stupid like walk on it. And much of it just came away.

End of day 1:
Not that dramatic, I'll admit. If you look closely you'll see doors missing. If you look really closely you'll see bits of metal missing. Hooks, knobs, rails for sliding doors. It was mostly salvage that first day. A few boards came off one side. And a bunch of trees were cut back for better access.

Mom

End of day 3:
On the second day I got up on the roof and started pulling nails out of the metal. Most of them were easy. But everything within about 9 inches of the peak of the roof refused to go. Each one was a war. And to be sure to hold on I'd clench. I was sore and probably bruised by the end of the day and sat weird the rest of the week. I didn't actually have anyone check for bruising.

I'm not sure what happened to my day 2 pictures so let's just skip to day 3.
Lots more board removed from the sides of the building. Most of those that remained are there to discourage the building from falling over without permission. And I got a lot of metal off the roof before our plans changed. Turns out we weren't just going to be able to burn what we didn't want.

Dad and Truck

I didn't get pictures from day 4 because not much happened.
If you look at the front of the barn you'll see a couple of doors. The one on the left was the "newer" milking barn. Newer because there was some level of technology other than just boards to catch cow heads in. It was still something used when Mom was a little girl. The other door led to a small workshop/storage area. Both were lined with asbestos paneling. Not fiberous stuff that flaked apart. Hard stuff. A bit like bathroom tile. Still, when it broke you have to expect something to get flung off. So on day 4 Wattson wore a high quality mask to work on gently pulling nails from it while I worked on taking the back wall off.
The back wall had been framed up and then the wall attached to the studs as a whole unit. I tried to undo that. But the studs were more interested in coming away from the baseboard than they were in coming away from the wall. It turned out later that the studs were never actually nailed to the baseboard. What the fuck!?!

On day 5 it rained.

This is the stray cat that kept hanging out and talking to us while we worked

This was what was growing from the ceiling.

This is Wattson and his girlfriend Jailbait as seen through the roof. 

Hopefully, when I get to see the video of the final collapse of the barn I'll get to share it with you.