We had been wanting to put up a building for Gary's wood shop and for storage for the last few years. He still had all his machines and tools in the space he rented to convert the bus. We spent the winter months doing research and deciding on what we wanted. The primary and first decision was whether to have it built or do it ourselves. After much searching we found a company we liked and figured that it would probably cost as much to do it ourselves as to have it done. Plus it would go up a whole lot faster. We decided to go with Carolina Storage Solutions. They would build the barn but we had to provide a flat, level site, not so easy on our steep hillside land. 

Above is the road that goes up to the site where the barn will be build. There is already a flat spot there that we had created when we first bought this land. It is also one of the prettiest spots on the land, unless you go further up into the wooded area. We had been using this flat site as a place to park our box trailer and also where we put all the yard and building debris to be burned. Gary did all the foundation work prior to the builders coming. 

The site was now ready for the builders. It took three men four days to raise the barn. A good part of day one was spent trying to get their trailer up the steep hill. They had to get a more powerful truck with 4 wheel drive to drag it up. 

The barn has a second floor and most of day two was spent on the second level. 

That Black Snake in the last photo sort of became Gary's pet. He was very interested in what was going on and would sit atop a dirt pile all day watching Gary while he worked on the foundation. We told the crew to be sure to be careful of not hurting him. We love our black snakes as the keep the mole, chipmunk and mouse population in check. 

Day four and the barn was almost done. We really enjoyed the process and the crew was super nice. The barn exceeded all of our expectations. The weather was perfect during the whole four days of building . . . not too hot and beautiful Carolina blue skies. 

Hanging the heavy door was the last step. We had to get some extra help for this job and the tractor came in handy.

The main room of the barn was insulated and finished. Visit our 2018 page for images and details.  

Click the link to move on to the . .  . Lower Level Shop