It Looks like a BARN!

 THAR SHE BLOWS!!!   All 144' of red metal glory!  This thing is FINALLY closed in looks great!    Actually have a lot more done than these photos show as in the front gable is trimmed and doors are made, the door track is up and I just need 2 STOUT FELLAS to show up and help me hang them... then I can install stops and guides and we are READY to close doors and ride inside! 

From the kitchen, it looks like this out the window.  Our old barn we worked hard on 2 years ago is dwarfed by this monster!  We will still use it as much as we have just for other purposes...

I did get the water lines in and the frost free faucets plus another faucet in the pasture to allow us to water the horses easier without 200 feet of hose.  Also have the 100 amp line in and it is HOT to the box just waiting for someone to tie everything in when it is all wired (oh that's me again... yep). 

The lights I bought have plugs on them versus direct wire... I decided to go ahead and use them in the long hall (8 of them) and just have a plug at each one.  It's not much more trouble to do that than it is to wire the lights direct.  I'll install 3 "vapor proof" lights in the wash bay and just porcelain receptacles in the stalls up high with LED bulbs.  I have some of those in the old barn and they do great.  I didn't want those "barn lights" with the glass thing on them... hard to screw on and off and just not my favorite.

So on the to do list is the electrical plus stall walls and fronts and doors. I have one frame made to test and we have to get a load of boxing lumber at the sawmill as soon as we can... however the budget has been depleted and there are a few more expenses to eat.  Like the 50 or so bulbs for the lights at $2 each, stall door latches, livestock wire for the stall tops, the barn lumber, more gravel and something for the hallway floor. 

Outside we are in great shape.  The pad has been groomed and pretty sure we have the water going where it needs to go as it runs off the roof.  There may be a spot or two but we will know tomorrow as it has rained all morning and we expect more today.  It's time to "trim 'er out" inside and get this barn to use.  We are excited, but tired... and I figure I have some late nights coming so I can get this done in the next few weeks.

Show season kicks in the middle of May and I need to be riding and training my horses starting next week... so hoping I get a majority of it done THIS week!  Would I do it again?  Yes.  I would budget a little "heavier" and I would have more done by outside labor now that I know what I know but I also know that if I need a SMALLER building or a shed done I have learned more than I care to disclose and could do a bang-up job on something small... heck maybe even something big!

So we have a horse barn... a training barn and a place we can spend the rest of our active lives enjoying and THAT is what we did this for.  We want to have the next 20 years set up to enjoy and not dreading or working ourselves to death. To many it is "what are you thinking" but to us it's a dream come true. 

Final posts to come with all the work done... can't wait to share it!