Ohio Valley Barn Salvage gives new life to old barns

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Crew members from Ohio Valley Barn Salvage are in position: a telescopic forklift holds a strap attached to a 56-foot beam running along the top of a barn frame. Moving this piece to the ground is their next step in dismantling the 150-year-old barn.

With a shout of “all clear,” the beam rises slowly, guided by one man in a nearby lift, and another crew member on the ground using a rope to help keep the beam steady. The lift truck beeps as it moves back. The telescopic arm swings the beam around while crew members race under, calling instructions to each other to ensure a soft landing.

Randy Smith, owner of Ohio Valley Barn Salvage, choreographs this precision dance as they gently set the frame down, and tilt it to a stable resting position. Then, they start pulling out the wooden pegs with crowbars. They separate the sections of a frame that have fit together for more than a century.

They tag and number each piece of wood, matching them to the diagrams they’ve drawn to assure the frame can be rebuilt when it moves to its new home. Back at their warehouse and workshop in Butler, Ohio, Smith and his crew will powerwash and inspect each piece. They’ll make repairs if needed and replace any pieces that are damaged.

The process can take up to 18 months from dismantling to rebuilding.

How it started

Randy Smith got interested in old barns because of a new girlfriend. On their first date, she said her dream home was an old, restored barn.

“I could do that,” he remembers thinking.

Smith owned a commercial roofing business for more than 25 years before he found his true love: old barns that needed a new life. His relationship [with barns] started casually. When that new girlfriend became his wife, they spent weekends driving the countryside looking for barns that matched their vision.

They sought barns from the right time period, which fit the theme of the house he was building for them. The main structure was one complete barn frame, but additions and details include pieces from about 15 different barns. They spent 11 years building the house.

“I can tell you where every piece came from,” Smith said.

Some barns had usable sections, but many had fallen into ruin. He worked with farmers to dismantle the old structures, using what he could. Over the decade, he took down hundreds of barns, selling beams and flooring to other salvagers.

“I was a picker,” Smith said.

He estimates there are about 25 companies across the U.S. in the salvaging business; five or six in Ohio alone.

After about 10 years as a picker, Smith said he “fell into the abyss.” Instead of breaking barns into pieces and selling the wood, he wanted to salvage barns to re-purpose the frames for homes or event spaces.

“It’s one of life’s mysteries,” Smith said. “It’s hard to understand why you are attracted to the things you are. I’m lucky.”

The men who work for OVBS are just as passionate about seeing the historic barns treated with the proper respect and care.

“This job is the [slang term for best],” said Dave Sheets, whose tongue-in-cheek title is manager of acquisitions.

Their barn Bible is Eric Sloane’s An Age of Barns: An Illustrated Review of Classic Barn Styles and Construction, originally published in 1967. According to Sloane, barns are “reminiscent of the time [19th century] when the farmer was king, and barns were the palaces of America.”

How it’s going

After nearly 15 years salvaging barn frames built between 1820 and 1880, Smith can tell you a barn’s history by walking through the door.

“Barns talk to me,” he said. “I can tell you everything about it in about 5 minutes.”

He knows their approximate date of construction based on the wood, the style of cutting and the architecture of the structure.

“The bigger the timber, the older the barn,” Smith said. During the 1800s, the beams were hand-hewn, and the frames in his warehouse reflect the cuts made then. Other clues of the age of the structure include the style of the wind braces or Roman numerals etched into the pieces.

Smith and his crew will deconstruct about 20 barns this year, with a plan to put about 10 back together. In addition to pieces salvaged from damaged frames, the warehouse in Butler contains several complete frames available for sale. They can be seen at his website, ohiovalleybarnsalvage.com. They are perfect for people who dream of living in or hosting events in a refurbished barn.

Despite trying other businesses, he’s always drawn back to barns.

“There’s no rational reason; no heritage,” he said. “Maybe I built castles in a past life.”

Respecting the past

According to Smith, Ohio is a hotspot for old barns, built in the 1800s from the mostly oak forests that covered much of the state. Smith pays farmers for their barns. Payment varies depending on the size and condition of the structure. Smaller frames in the 30-by-50-foot range start around $15,000 if they’re in good condition. Larger barns in better condition are more valuable.

Smith usually spends about two weeks taking a barn down. Then, about two to three weeks for cleaning and repairing beams, flooring and siding. OVBS can arrange shipment to nearly anywhere.

When someone buys a frame, Smith can provide the expertise to help put it up. Owners often want newer siding, but Smith can offer older siding as well.

“Most clients have a ‘look’ in mind,” he said. “About 60% go with newer siding on the outside but some want it all old.”

Typically, the new owner has a contractor who pours the foundation and completes the finish work. Smith provides drawings for all the projects. He has sold some barn frames to timber framers who had the knowledge to reconstruct them. Smith estimates he and his crew put up about 90% of the frames they sell.

So far this year, he’s scheduled to put up barns in Massachusetts, North Carolina, Florida, Iowa, Montana and Pennsylvania.

The barn frame taken down in Lexington, Ohio ships to New Zealand in late April.

“My first international sale,” Smith said. He said the barn was in remarkably great shape. Of more than 80 pieces, he replaced only four, and two of those were intentional, not because of damage. Smith plans to go to New Zealand later this year to raise the barn at its new location.

Old barns with new lives

One of Smith’s largest jobs was a 50-by-80-foot bank barn, taken down near Navarre, Ohio. Bank barns are an example of Pennsylvania German construction. According to Sloane, the name came from its location. They were built into a bank (of dirt) to better protect farm animals during the winter.

Smith found this barn for Don and Lisa Rouse. They planned to construct a salvaged barn on their property near Houston, Texas to use as a wedding venue. After seeing the OVBS website, they contacted Smith. They had a particular size in mind for their business and believed Smith could help them find it. When he walked into the barn in Navarre, he called them right away. They drove to Ohio to see it.

“Restoration Road with Clint Harp,” on Magnolia Network, documented the 18-month process of dismantling and re-building the structure, now called the Bonner Barn. This barn was well-loved by the family who owned the farm from the 1920s through the 1940s. Bob Baker, who grew up there during those years, even wrote several books about it.

Baker, now in his early 90s, lives near Houston, and was able to visit the site and see the frame as Smith and his team rebuilt the barn at its new home.

Don and Lisa Rouse, like to call it, “the barn’s new career.”

“We like to think it retired to Texas,” they said.