140-year-old timber frame barn ‘lifted’ into future

A barn built in the late 1800s was lifted by a crane from its crumbling foundation onto a new foundation and repurposed. Scott Miller explains.

Brent Weigel looks on proudly as a piece of his family’s history is restored near Mildmay.

“This barn’s been in the family since the early 1900s. In 1901, our family bought it,” Weigel said. “There was a lot of sentimental value in the property and the buildings. The structure was too good to tear down and decommission just to sell off the parts.”

With a crumbling stone foundation, Weigel contacted Larry Waddell of Waddell Engineering to see whether moving the 140-year-old timber-frame barn, originally constructed in the 1880s, was possible.

It was.

On March 23, a 210-ton crane was brought in to lift the 42,000-pound timber frame onto a new foundation.

“Normally, we see a lot of new construction because the value in this kind of frame is so high you can build a shed cheaper than it is to save it,” said Waddell. “But this one was a perfect candidate because it was in such great shape. It would’ve been a shame to take it apart and tear it down.”

Weigel, who runs Weigel Drainage near Mildmay, said moving a barn this way is rare.

“There’s not too many moved this way, if any,” he said. “It was a bit of a gamble to lift it up. If it fell apart, it fell apart, but it was worth the risk for us.”

While a massive crane was used to move the barn from its original foundation last month, Waddell believes the structure would have been raised by hand with the help of horses when it was first built in the 1880s. The wood for the barn would have been harvested from a nearby bush lot.

“This one was pretty unique,” Waddell said. “We had 12-by-12 timbers that were 72 feet long. They’re all old growth that came from this farm. Seeing a 72-foot timber that’s 12 inches thick the whole way through is pretty incredible. You know that came from a very large tree back then.”

Once the roof and siding are reinstalled, Weigel said the 140-year-old barn will be used to store heavy machinery for his drainage business — giving the salvaged structure a modern-day purpose.

“It’s part of my history and part of our area’s history,” he said. “All the timbers came from this farm, and it’s great to see it being used for something useful today. Most of these barns aren’t in good enough shape to move, but this one held up structurally and now it’s going to last another 100 years or more.”