The days are getting longer, the grass is turning green, and the restoration team is springing back into action for the second season of work on the East Monitor Barn! Eliot Lothrop of Building Heritage and Dan Lee are back at the helm in collaboration with a talented team.
Last summer was all about stabilizing the barn. We lifted it, repaired and replaced timbers, repaired the foundation, and carefully set it back down. This season, the focus is on the upper levels of the barn.
The original slate roof and flashing has seen little to no maintenance besides emergency repairs since the barn was built. The restoration team will perform major timber repairs on the main roof, particularly on the north and east sides of the building. Jeff Spencer and the crew at Stewardship Slate will repair sheathing and slate along the length of the monitor roof.
Restoration work ramped up just a few weeks ago and the team has already made notable progress! You can learn more about what they’ve been up to, check out photos, and watch a recent video from WCAX below.
Flooring
The stock level floor system is 90% back together! Last season, the team gutted the flooring and began repairing and replacing timbers. There’s now a much greater sense that the basement and stock level floors are their own spaces.
Excavation
Bill & Billy (the father-son duo) are back in action. They have completed drainage work around the foundation to move water away from the perimeter of the building.
Last season, the crew poured a large concrete mass behind the barn to resist downward pressure from the hill behind the barn. This spring, Green Mountain Waterproofing installed a rubber membrane over the mass to prevent water from entering the barn, and Bill and Billy recently moved about two feet of dirt over the mass to bring the grade level back to normal.
Roof Repairs
The crew at Stewardship Slate kicked off work on April 9th. Over the next couple of weeks, they’ll be up in tall lifts, stripping slate from the monitor roofs. Dan and Eliot are working with the crew to replace rotting rafters and roof sheathing and to reinforce timbers with steel rods. They’re also fixing a large horizontal beam that plays a key role in supporting the roof.
Once the slate is stripped, the roof will get covered with synthetic underlayment paper to make it waterproof. Stewardship Slate will then return around early June to work on the main roof. They’re repairing the roof in stages, so the whole surface isn’t open to the elements all at once.
Welcoming New Restorationists
We’re excited to welcome two new restorationist to the team! Oz Grinager volunteered with the Timber Framers Guild at the East Monitor Barn last summer. Now they’re back in action to lead the timber framing portion of a new farm shed build behind the West Monitor Barn, as well as help out with the East Barn restoration. Gabe Sennott is a junior at UVM who’s fast-tracking some of the historic preservation graduate classes there (one of which Eliot is co-teaching!). Gabe will be involved full time with the restoration this summer. Welcome Oz and Gabe!
More Press Coverage
The barn is in the news once again! Check out this recent video and short article from WCAX about the 2024 Barn Preservation Grant awardees.
As always, stay tuned to this blog for more restoration updates!