Restoration Road (2021–…): Season 2, Episode 7 - Catskills Barn Home - full transcript
Clint turns a rare Dutch barn in New York into a beautiful custom home.
Here in
the Schoharie Valley
of upstate New York,
just on the edge
of the Catskill Mountains,
a warm summer has turned into
a cool fall.
This valley underwent
European settlement
in the early 1700s
by mainly Dutch immigrants
who farmed, traded
and even helped win
this country its independence.
But one thing they did better
than maybe anyone else
was build barns.
I'm here with Kevin Durkin
of Restoration Living.
And according to Kevin,
there are more
Stradivarius violins
in the world than
there are Dutch barns.
But here in
this majestic valley,
he's found one.
And if his suspicions
are right,
it could be one of the last
of its kind.
My goodness, Kevin.
Wow.
I'm Clint Harp
and I'm traveling America
to shed a light on
some incredible restorations
and transformations.
Get hands on with some
of the builders bringing
these amazing places
back to life.
And make sure these
new stories live on
for years to come.
Whoo.
Isn't she a beauty.
This is Restoration Road.
That is a very broad side
of a barn.
But, now, there's two barns
here.
-Okay.
-That's the Dutch barn.
That's what we're interested
in right there.
Great shape, really,
for 250 years, maybe.
-Mm-hmm.
-But we're sitting above
the river valley here.
This is what
they call bottomland.
Rich soil. These were
very prosperous farms.
What was it that made you go,
"Oh, yeah.
This is the one."
It's the Dutch barn.
Pre-Revolutionary War perhaps.
There's no other barn
like it.
It's, it's the dimensions
of it.
That's an addition over there,
but this gable end of it,
It's almost a square building.
Where is
the Dutch barn
in hierarchy of barns?
I'd say on top.
It was a medieval form of barn
maybe dating back
to the 11th century.
You brought these European
craftsmen over with
that barn form
and they ran into
the virgin American forest.
And it's like they had
never seen before.
So, they proceeded to build
the most spectacular barns
ever built.
Like this barn
we're looking at.
Let's take a walk
through. You'll see,
it's, it's a wonderful barn.
Oh, man.
This is a great one
and it may be
pre-Revolutionary War.
Tanker beams, it's five
of them in a row.
-Yeah, yeah.
-All intact.
Just like they were
for 250 years.
The original poles
are still in the mouth.
You'd store grain on
those moveable poles.
They're not some
later addition.
They're the real thing.
All the parts are hand hewned,
there's the braces up there.
They're all hand hewn.
There's no sawn parts
on a sawmill in this barn.
It's so graceful, look.
You gotta get one
on your hands, pal.
They've got these little
side rooms here, aisles.
-Would that have been
original?
-Yes.
The cows on that side,
horses on this side.
I can see why they make
a great barn.
How are you going to make
this a great home?
Well, the beauty of
these buildings is
in their cathedral
like feel.
And you really want
to maintain this open effect
-in the building.
-Right.
And we try not to close that
in a lot of rooms.
-It would be an open floor
plan ideally.
-Okay.
So you add on
your bedrooms,
maybe your bathrooms,
but this, you leave as open
as you possibly can.
Now, here's the unique
feature.
Look at that little wall
that they built up there.
-See that?
-Okay.
So, somewhere along the lines
100 and 150 years ago,
they raised the roof up
and it shifted the whole roof.
It originally had a steeper
pitch like what you call
a 12, 12 pitch.
We'll put it back the way
it was,
we'll just, we'll return it
the way it--
-To the original pitch.
-Yes.
-The 12, 12.
-Yes.
That is going to be really
spectacular.
Takes on an old world form.
-Look at this floor.
-You cannot find this.
Well, this is an intact
threshing floor
-Okay.
-which we rarely ever find.
They have sheaves overhead,
they've let them down,
flail them, winnow them here.
But here's something else.
Look up there.
-Okay, this hole.
-Yep.
Put a rod up in there
and into a hole in the floor,
bring your oxen here,
tether him and walk him
in a circle.
All you're doing is taking
your pitchfork
and throwing in front of him
-your sheaves of grain...
-And he's just...
Walking over. Four legs
stomping it out,
flailing it for you.
So, they were threshing grain
and sending it
to New York City
or to a market.
You gotta believe that,
that's a story.
Gonna climb up
inside this thing.
Look at the tenons
through here.
-Look at these...
-Oh, they're gorgeous.
They're all intact
and look there.
-See the number?
-Oh, yeah.
-There's our marriage
marks.
-Yep.
Two, three, four, five.
-This tenon right here.
-Of all the Dutch barns
we've seen,
that's the longest tenon
I've ever seen.
-Whew.
-You know, sometimes
you come in
and they've been cut right
a lot.
That trunnel's... still here.
Look at the size of
that brace.
-Mm-hmm.
-Eastern White Pine.
-Okay.
-Massive and red oak posts,
so they knew their woods.
This thing with the light
coming in.
Whew, spectacular spaces.
And there's something up
there.
-Look how the post goes
up here.
-Right.
-And it flares out.
-Yes.
That flare is called
the gun stock.
That's something you'd see
in New England houses,
so maybe the influence was
from the English.
I've never seen
a gun stock like that.
-Is that just decorative?
-No, you got a lot going on.
You have a rafter and you have
a top plate coming in.
You have a post going up
and you have a stress beam
-at one place.
-They just made it meatier
up there.
They made it meatier
for that joint.
-Okay.
-Yes.
Standing in here,
you can really feel
the history
of the Schoharie Valley.
Um, the revolution.
It's really easy to look
at something like this
and kind of...
cringe and go why do you have
to take it down?
Well, the thing is,
if we don't take it down,
someone else will.
-Known as old man winter.
-I was gonna say
mother nature.
Yeah, and structurally,
it wouldn't stand much longer
-without a whole lot of help.
-Right.
But the whole barn is already
shifting like this.
-Mm-hmm.
-Last winter, the owner said
they were in here
and heard a beam crack.
-Yeah, that's frightening.
-And they ran out of the barn.
Yes, sir.
It can't stay here
and be restored.
That's unfeasible.
We're saving it for other
people to appreciate
for another 250 years.
Oh, let's get going.
Call Swifty. Where's he?
He'll be here
tomorrow morning.
It's day one
of demolition on this
250 year old Dutch barn
in upstate New York
and I can't wait
to start taking it apart
to see what secrets
it's hiding.
Demo.
One, two, three.
-What does this weigh, dude?
-350.
So this is a later addition
covering this workshop.
We want to open this up
and get a feel for just
how big the barn was.
Let's tear down this wall.
I love New York.
There it goes.
With a little help from
my friends.
I'm really starting to get
a sense now, buddy.
It's good to go.
It's the first day of demo
on this barn
and we're making good progress
in removing these walls
that have been added
to the interior.
But before we finished
doing that,
we're going to use the floor
above it like a scaffolding
to get to the upper siding.
-Clint, watch it
on your right.
-Yeah, I know.
There we go.
The real treasure is
the Virgin growth original
frame and here it is.
-'Cause look at that,
that's the original frame.
-That's the gold.
With most of the upper
siding off, we can remove
the top floor.
-Moving right along.
-Yes, sir.
Once that's out of the way,
it's finally time to knock
down this wall.
-Whoo!
-Wow.
the Schoharie Valley
of upstate New York,
just on the edge
of the Catskill Mountains,
a warm summer has turned into
a cool fall.
This valley underwent
European settlement
in the early 1700s
by mainly Dutch immigrants
who farmed, traded
and even helped win
this country its independence.
But one thing they did better
than maybe anyone else
was build barns.
I'm here with Kevin Durkin
of Restoration Living.
And according to Kevin,
there are more
Stradivarius violins
in the world than
there are Dutch barns.
But here in
this majestic valley,
he's found one.
And if his suspicions
are right,
it could be one of the last
of its kind.
My goodness, Kevin.
Wow.
I'm Clint Harp
and I'm traveling America
to shed a light on
some incredible restorations
and transformations.
Get hands on with some
of the builders bringing
these amazing places
back to life.
And make sure these
new stories live on
for years to come.
Whoo.
Isn't she a beauty.
This is Restoration Road.
That is a very broad side
of a barn.
But, now, there's two barns
here.
-Okay.
-That's the Dutch barn.
That's what we're interested
in right there.
Great shape, really,
for 250 years, maybe.
-Mm-hmm.
-But we're sitting above
the river valley here.
This is what
they call bottomland.
Rich soil. These were
very prosperous farms.
What was it that made you go,
"Oh, yeah.
This is the one."
It's the Dutch barn.
Pre-Revolutionary War perhaps.
There's no other barn
like it.
It's, it's the dimensions
of it.
That's an addition over there,
but this gable end of it,
It's almost a square building.
Where is
the Dutch barn
in hierarchy of barns?
I'd say on top.
It was a medieval form of barn
maybe dating back
to the 11th century.
You brought these European
craftsmen over with
that barn form
and they ran into
the virgin American forest.
And it's like they had
never seen before.
So, they proceeded to build
the most spectacular barns
ever built.
Like this barn
we're looking at.
Let's take a walk
through. You'll see,
it's, it's a wonderful barn.
Oh, man.
This is a great one
and it may be
pre-Revolutionary War.
Tanker beams, it's five
of them in a row.
-Yeah, yeah.
-All intact.
Just like they were
for 250 years.
The original poles
are still in the mouth.
You'd store grain on
those moveable poles.
They're not some
later addition.
They're the real thing.
All the parts are hand hewned,
there's the braces up there.
They're all hand hewn.
There's no sawn parts
on a sawmill in this barn.
It's so graceful, look.
You gotta get one
on your hands, pal.
They've got these little
side rooms here, aisles.
-Would that have been
original?
-Yes.
The cows on that side,
horses on this side.
I can see why they make
a great barn.
How are you going to make
this a great home?
Well, the beauty of
these buildings is
in their cathedral
like feel.
And you really want
to maintain this open effect
-in the building.
-Right.
And we try not to close that
in a lot of rooms.
-It would be an open floor
plan ideally.
-Okay.
So you add on
your bedrooms,
maybe your bathrooms,
but this, you leave as open
as you possibly can.
Now, here's the unique
feature.
Look at that little wall
that they built up there.
-See that?
-Okay.
So, somewhere along the lines
100 and 150 years ago,
they raised the roof up
and it shifted the whole roof.
It originally had a steeper
pitch like what you call
a 12, 12 pitch.
We'll put it back the way
it was,
we'll just, we'll return it
the way it--
-To the original pitch.
-Yes.
-The 12, 12.
-Yes.
That is going to be really
spectacular.
Takes on an old world form.
-Look at this floor.
-You cannot find this.
Well, this is an intact
threshing floor
-Okay.
-which we rarely ever find.
They have sheaves overhead,
they've let them down,
flail them, winnow them here.
But here's something else.
Look up there.
-Okay, this hole.
-Yep.
Put a rod up in there
and into a hole in the floor,
bring your oxen here,
tether him and walk him
in a circle.
All you're doing is taking
your pitchfork
and throwing in front of him
-your sheaves of grain...
-And he's just...
Walking over. Four legs
stomping it out,
flailing it for you.
So, they were threshing grain
and sending it
to New York City
or to a market.
You gotta believe that,
that's a story.
Gonna climb up
inside this thing.
Look at the tenons
through here.
-Look at these...
-Oh, they're gorgeous.
They're all intact
and look there.
-See the number?
-Oh, yeah.
-There's our marriage
marks.
-Yep.
Two, three, four, five.
-This tenon right here.
-Of all the Dutch barns
we've seen,
that's the longest tenon
I've ever seen.
-Whew.
-You know, sometimes
you come in
and they've been cut right
a lot.
That trunnel's... still here.
Look at the size of
that brace.
-Mm-hmm.
-Eastern White Pine.
-Okay.
-Massive and red oak posts,
so they knew their woods.
This thing with the light
coming in.
Whew, spectacular spaces.
And there's something up
there.
-Look how the post goes
up here.
-Right.
-And it flares out.
-Yes.
That flare is called
the gun stock.
That's something you'd see
in New England houses,
so maybe the influence was
from the English.
I've never seen
a gun stock like that.
-Is that just decorative?
-No, you got a lot going on.
You have a rafter and you have
a top plate coming in.
You have a post going up
and you have a stress beam
-at one place.
-They just made it meatier
up there.
They made it meatier
for that joint.
-Okay.
-Yes.
Standing in here,
you can really feel
the history
of the Schoharie Valley.
Um, the revolution.
It's really easy to look
at something like this
and kind of...
cringe and go why do you have
to take it down?
Well, the thing is,
if we don't take it down,
someone else will.
-Known as old man winter.
-I was gonna say
mother nature.
Yeah, and structurally,
it wouldn't stand much longer
-without a whole lot of help.
-Right.
But the whole barn is already
shifting like this.
-Mm-hmm.
-Last winter, the owner said
they were in here
and heard a beam crack.
-Yeah, that's frightening.
-And they ran out of the barn.
Yes, sir.
It can't stay here
and be restored.
That's unfeasible.
We're saving it for other
people to appreciate
for another 250 years.
Oh, let's get going.
Call Swifty. Where's he?
He'll be here
tomorrow morning.
It's day one
of demolition on this
250 year old Dutch barn
in upstate New York
and I can't wait
to start taking it apart
to see what secrets
it's hiding.
Demo.
One, two, three.
-What does this weigh, dude?
-350.
So this is a later addition
covering this workshop.
We want to open this up
and get a feel for just
how big the barn was.
Let's tear down this wall.
I love New York.
There it goes.
With a little help from
my friends.
I'm really starting to get
a sense now, buddy.
It's good to go.
It's the first day of demo
on this barn
and we're making good progress
in removing these walls
that have been added
to the interior.
But before we finished
doing that,
we're going to use the floor
above it like a scaffolding
to get to the upper siding.
-Clint, watch it
on your right.
-Yeah, I know.
There we go.
The real treasure is
the Virgin growth original
frame and here it is.
-'Cause look at that,
that's the original frame.
-That's the gold.
With most of the upper
siding off, we can remove
the top floor.
-Moving right along.
-Yes, sir.
Once that's out of the way,
it's finally time to knock
down this wall.
-Whoo!
-Wow.