How to Tear Down an Old Tobacco Barn

Check with the local municipality for any permits required for demolition, especially a burning permit. The last step of the demolition will be to burn any remaining debris or scrap wood from the barn.

Wear protective clothing and safety gear to make sure you avoid injury; demolition of an old tobacco barn is a dirty and possibly dangerous business. Safety goggles are a must, and you may decide to add a hard hat if you are working inside the structure.

Investigate the interior to make sure that it is safe to enter and that the barn is structurally sound. Look in all the rooms for any equipment left behind or things that may need to be removed before the barn comes down. Decide which method you want to use: dismantling the barn piece by piece, or pulling the barn down, then salvaging any useful materials.

Remove any loose items from the barn. Take out any windows so broken glass is not an issue during demolition. Remove hardware such as hinges, pulleys or handles. Put the hardware aside in a bucket or container.

Dismantle the barn by taking the structure apart in reverse order it was constructed if you are not pulling the barn down. Begin at the roof and remove any roofing materials -- these generally are useless. Place trash in a trailer, pick up truck or dumpster to be hauled away later. Once roofing materials are removed, take off the roof itself. Save any planks or boards that are salvageable for sale and, depending on the age of the barn, even hardware. Some very old barns have hand-made nails that are worth money and can be salvaged. Move to the walls and remove all the planking, stacking it off to the side. Finally when you are down to the skeleton, take the floor apart and stack the planks, then cut the beams. Cut the beams strategically so the timbers can be saved.

Pull the barn down if you want to dismantle it faster and are able to use the knock down method. You can do this by attaching a tow rope to a truck or tractor, and cutting two thirds of the way through the main beams. This needs to be done with care for safety reasons, however, for the knockdown method can be safer for very large structures as you will avoid having to climb the barn in order to dismantle it. Once the barn is down, begin collecting the lumber and dismantling the wood, salvaging materials that can be sold and putting debris in the dumpster or trailer. Remove nails from boards, and separate everything. Stack planks and boards according to size, put the nails in buckets; collect hardware in buckets as well. Pile scrap wood that is not of size to save for burning later.

Collect the drying pole timbers, interior timbers and planks in separate piles. Old tobacco barns often have wood that has been heat-cured -- just like the tobacco was -- and that shows dramatic color and grain patterns. This wood can be valuable for sale. The pole timbers may be worn smooth from use and may display interesting colors and patterns as well.

Distribute the materials from the dismantled barn. Burn the scrap wood and refuse. Haul away other trash, such as roofing materials, that cannot be burned. Collect salvageable materials such as the wood planks and hardware and sell them to a distributor, or advertise them for sale yourself.

Rake and clean the entire area, making sure any hardware such as nails, glass or metal shards are not left behind as that may pose a safety hazard.