From a business point of view, that makes perfect sense. But I don't tend to think of our homestead as a business. Instead, I try to maximize our time doing things we like the most and minimize our time doing things we don't like, even if that means less money in our hands.

I also tend to agree with Throwback at Trapper Creek that it's not good for a farm to have hired hands doing much of the grunt labor. So even if I could hire someone to do all the weeding, I don't think I would --- that would take me away from the soil so much that I wouldn't keep tweaking the system to stay in tune with the earth.

Of course, even by those standards, it still makes sense to hire someone to fix the barn roof. It's a one time thing that I really don't want to do myself!

Roofing two stories up is nerve wracking, dangerous and there is nothing else to really be said about it. And in fact, in your particular situation (no health insurance just like me), I think the amount you would have to spend on buying your own safety harnesses and then gambling on using them correctly probably evens out the profit that your roofer is making. I don't know if you've priced them, but harness systems are VERY expensive and they're marketed with very strange gobblety gook language that lay people have a hard time navigating. Additionally the roofer is getting his roofing materials at probably 25% less than you could purchase them for, plus you'd have to pay for delivery, and then carry those big suckers in.

In your particular situation I think you've make a pretty damn good decision, especially because you're making capital improvements on your homestead during an economic decline. This means you're probably getting the manual labor cheaper, you're buying metal roofing after a 3 year decline in building which has depressed steel/tin prices.

I wish I had advice on the gutters. I suspect that you guys could add them yourselves later on, IF you already own or can borrow two good ladders that tall, but probably not at much savings on what they're quoting you. Again, this is due to the fact the roofer buys his materials much cheaper than you can and he's already purchased his ladders. Generally gutters are meant to prevent foundation damage and flooding inside the roofed area. I don't know much about barn foundations. If it looks intact and the roof has been gutterless for a decade, I'd imagine you're fine. If you do start seeing some flooding inside the barn you could add the gutters later probably at just a bit more than he's quoting now. The one advantage of gutters is that for a roof that large you could really get a very large source non-potable water for the garden. I know you already have some non-potable water and you have flooding issues in the area so I'm not sure how worried you should be about a second water source. I sort of suspect you're in an area where phracking is either already going on or will be shortly. In that case, you might want to consider such a huge water catchment.

I would say get the gutters if you can afford them, even if you never end up using them for rainwater catchment. Like Danny said, you'll avoid any unnecessary erosion around the barn footprint, and you'll also be helping a local business out even more. I know that more often than not, I'm glad to have paid a little extra to not have to worry about another project down the line. It looks awesome!

~ Mitsy

$500 doesn't sound like much for gutters. Consider the stuff you'd need to to have do it safely yourself, like a big ladder and safety harness. Assuming you'd feel comfortable working that high up.

The thing with gutters is that you have to clean them once in a while, depending on how much leaves and stuff land on the roof. Not an easy job on a barn that high. If you'd string a zipline under the gutter, you could conceivably hoist yourself up to the gutter and move along it. You'd need a safety harness and some climbing gear though.

Danny --- I remember how scared I felt taking the tin off the old house that used to stand on our farm, and that was less than half as high as the barn. So I think you're right --- no need to get up there myself!

(We do actually have health insurance, though. Mark talked me into getting a catastrophic health insurance policy for me, and he's a veteran so he can go to the VA hospital for free or very cheap. That said, if one of us fell off the barn roof, there'd be no way to get us to a hospital!)

There is hydrofracking going on nearby, but it shouldn't affect our drinking water source. We own the whole watershed of our well. But even though water is copious and cheap here, I'd still like to collect some, and to keep the water from the barn roof from flooding the forest garden at intervals.

Mitsy --- I'm leaning toward gutters for that reason. We'll probably decide in a day or two....

Yes on the gutters, both for catching rainwater and moving water away from the barn.

If it were me, I'd have them replace the ridge cap while they're at it.

Without overhanging trees, the gutters would stay clean much longer. Also, a roof as big as this should give a lot of water to flush the gutters. A larger slope of the gutters will also give a larger flow speed and presumably a better self-cleaning ability. But you can trust in Murphy that over time they will fill up.

If you could reach the gutter from the inside of the barn (maybe make an openable skylight close to the to the end of the gutter?) you could put a brick or other heavy weight tied to a rope in the gutter. Throw the rope down and use it to pull the weight/brick through the gutter scraping it clean. There are a lot of possible refinements (like adding a liner to the weight to it doesn't damage the gutter, or adding a kind of "scraper" to the front of the weight) but this is the basic idea.

W.r.t. insurance, looking at the pictures of the size of the barn and at the risk of sounding morbid, if you fall down from that roof you might need an undertaker rather than a hospital!

Anonymous --- Our roofer told us to hold off on the ridge cap until he looks it over more carefully. He said he might want to replace it, but that it might be rejuvenated with some sandpaper and paint. He's also going to sand and paint the rust stripes on the newer tin just below the ridge cap, just as a preventative measure.

Roland --- Good gutter cleaning suggestions! We might be able to rig something like that....

I totally agree with you about falling off the barn. That's why I was so glad that these guys wore their harnesses at all times.

For the time it took them to start tearing that much roofing off, that must be some sort of new record. Doing a job like that, tearing roofing off of a barn of its age is no easy task, you have to be careful not to damage the already fragile wood, and ensure that you the new tin sheets match perfectly with the old ones. that is a great job, I hope you rewarded them handsomely for the great work done.

Eric | http://www.apexsydroofing.com.au/roof-restoration-sydney.php