Workshop idea.

[Bill Jobe]

My daughter and her husband are tearing down an old barn with weathered red siding.
I plan to use some of what is usable for the outside of a workshop I plan to build.
What I'd like to do is, of course , clean the wood real well (it's close to 100 years old) and then instead of stripping spray it with coats of clearcoat.
Is my idea practical?

[Art Mann]

I will tell you my experience and you can decide whether it applies to your situation. There was a two room school house on our farm built in the late 1800's. It was built almost exclusively from old growth long leaf heart pine. About 30 years ago, my father-in law wanted to built a house on that location so we attempted to relocate the old school house. Unfortunately, we had an accident during the move and the school collapsed. We salvaged much of the lumber and stacked it up in the open. Ten years later, we used the same lumber to build a tractor shed. No paint or other protection. We didn't have quite enough so we bought some new Southern Yellow Pine lumber to use on one wall. Fast forward another 20 years to last year. A giant dead pine tree fell on the tractor shed and caused it to collapse (no tractor in it). My wife and I are CNC router operators and salvaged some of this wood for use carving inspirational signs for sale. We noticed that the wood bought in the mid 1990's had mostly rotted away to the point it was not usable. Much of the wood from the 120 year old school house was still usable for rustic carved outdoor signage. I said all that to say it depends on the species of lumber in your barn but you may have some excellent building material there. If it is heart pine, it will have a strong turpentine smell when cut and will rapidly burn making a thick black smoke.

[Tim Bueler]

I've built some beautiful cabinets (IMHO) out of reclaimed siding sprayed with clear coat. Pressure washed gently, just enough to blow off loose debris, let dry thoroughly (the process will seem counter-intuitive to some, but it worked for me). In my experience old growth lumber is more stable and rot resistant (as Art said) than the new lumber. I built houses for 30 years and I've never seen such deplorable lumber quality (now I sound like my old mentor). Go for it!!!