…cut an eighteen inch square hole in the roof. Then stand back.
This is a quote from a book I’ve just started, “The World Without Us” by Alan Weisman
So what’s this all about? The author was quoting Chris Riddle an architect in Massachusetts who in turn heard it from a farmer.
The theme of the book is what would happen to the earth without any humans after something did away with us all.
Is it just as simple as letting in wildlife and the elements?
My idea of a barn is not something that’s particularly animal/weather proof- at least not in any of those films I’ve seen with a boy and girl cavorting in the hay.
I share your puzzlement. I don’t know what Riddle and the farmer had in mind, or how long they say it would take, but just on the surface, I say poppycock. I’ve seen many, many barns in varying states of disrepair, even barns with the roof torn off in a storm, and they were still standing. I don’t think a hole in the roof would make a difference in the wildlife inside. Mice, rats, and birds are a fact of life in a barn. Some, like the barn owl and barn swallow, are named for living there.
In a “world without us”, most of our buildings would fall down eventually, just from weather and rot. We continually fix them up, so we can continue to live there.
No, you don’t cut a hole in the roof, you just put my mare in the barn for a week. I assure you she’ll have that barn down to toothpicks in no time at all [she loves to chew up wood. Not eat it, just chew on it. She’s getting all of the nutrients, vitamins and such that she needs, so the vet’s told us not to worry].
Barns need be raintight, or decay sets in quickly, at least in barns of the NE US.Barns with chestnut or stone sills and a sound roof can go well past 100 years.
Why square? Why not a circle? Why eighteen inches?
The only effect of such a hole would be to let in rain, a bit of sun, some fairly large birds, and maybe some climbing animals like squirrels and such. I’d expect this combination would be highly conducive to rot and disintegration, with the roof itself being the first casualty. Once the roof’s gone, kiss the rest of the thing goodbye.
hy·per·bo·le Audio Help /haɪˈpɜrbəli/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hahy-pur-buh-lee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun Rhetoric. 1. obvious and intentional exaggeration.
2. an extravagant statement or figure of speech not intended to be taken literally, as “to wait an eternity.”
I have first hand experience with this. When we bought our house, there was a large barn built in 1776 on the property. It was the size of a small house yet the previous owners let a modest size hole in the roof develop. The entire structure collapsed a few months after we moved into the house. We knew that it would but it was still a shame. Both the house and the barn were well over 200 years old and a hole in the roof destroyed the barn. The framing and structural integrity were easily destroyed by snow and water. It took about 4 years for the whole process to happen. Six years later, we are still removing the rest of the barn. The thing was massive and majestic but a little hole destroyed it.
That’s a shame. The hole was a symptom, though. Neglect killed your barn. The guy before you didn’t care enough to maintain it.
Your ruined barn may be worth more than you paid for it. Every piece of hardware, even the nails, are coveted antiques. Any old barn-side wood is valuable, but yours is two centuries old. The hand-hewn beams were probably from trees that were seedlings when Columbus landed. $$$$$$$
The whole house is that way so I can appreciate it from that standpoint. The barn itself had its first floor dug into a hillside and lined by large, had-cut granite rocks as the walls. I shudder to think how much manual labor that took. We have already had 10+ bulldozer hours to fill it all in and it isn’t close to being done. The interior was filled with stuff meaning everything from crates of books to old furniture to just plain junk. That stuff got absolutely soaked when the hole developed and probably caused the collapse.
After 4 years of hiring day laborers weekend after weekend and moving in tractor trailer sized dumpsters one by one, we had it mostly under control even though I had no idea there were so many species of snakes in Massachusetts.
We are in the process of filling in and grading the rest of the gaping hole now. The main prize out of all of it were 7 hand-hewn granite beams about 8 feet tall each. They are supposedly worth about $1500 a piece but I had no idea how to sell them nor the motivation. I traded them to an excavation contractor to grade the land and he is still working on it. Hopefully it will be done by late spring nearly 2 years after he started.
I suspect it’s a reference to the effect of letting the elements inside, where they can get at the main structural members. It’s the same principle as covered wooden bridges; covered, they can last 70-80 years. Uncovered ( or vandalized ), 10 years or so.
It’s possible the quote from the book meant that the hole in the roof had to be cut through the main timber that the trusses are nailed to. You know, the very top of the roof, (at the peak of the inverted V), not just any place in the roof.
I would imagine if that roof/truss support was severed at the inverted V the stability would be immediately compromised.
Modern building practices have the trusses cross braced, not so much in older barns. You’d have an immediate weak point and the roof might collapse before you could get down from cutting the hole.
All we need now is a volunteer to pop over and ask him, it can’t be that far
I’ve only just started it myself. It’s the type of book I read a chapter of now and again between reading my ongoing novel - at the moment the last book in the series of the "The Dark Tower"by Stephen King.
