How to Disassemble a Barn

Stripping Frame

• 1

  Remove doors and windows first, if there are any. Remove the screws from large hinged door's hinges using a drill, lift sliding doors up to disengage the wheels and lift them off their tracks. Remove standard passage doors and windows by prying the trim from the wall with pry bar and cutting the mounting nails visible in the gap between the unit's frame and the barn frame with a reciprocating saw.

• 2

  Pry the siding away from the wall frame of the barn. Remove sheet siding one sheet at a time, horizontal board siding one board at a time, working from one end horizontally to the opposite end of the board, working from the top of the wall down. Remove vertical siding boards one at a time, working from one end of the wall, starting at the bottom end of each board.

• 3

  Pry up sheet metal roofing panels from the bottom eaves end of the sheets and remove them one at a time, working across the barn roof. Scrape shingles from a composite roof with a wide flat shovel. Pry up the roof decking panels with a pry bar one at a time, starting from one bottom corner of the roof.

Frame Disassembly

• 4

  Tip roof trusses on truss frames over toward the front of the barn and pry up where they are joined at the tops of the walls. Cut stubborn nails with a reciprocating saw. Remove each truss in turn, working from the front of the barn back.

• 5

  Remove the rafters from traditional roof frames one at a time, starting just inside the front gable. Leave the front and rear gables in place until the other rafters are removed. Use a hammer and pry bar to loosen the top end of each rafter first, then the bottom.

• 6

  Knock the rafters of the front gable away with a sledge hammer and let the ridge beam fall, staying well clear. Release the rear of the beam by knocking the rafters loose at that end as well.

• 7

  Cut through the fasteners at the corners of every wall, cutting down the corner seam with the reciprocating saw so that the walls are separated. Push the walls out and let them fall out from the center of the barn. Pry up under the bottom sill boards, if needed.

• 8

  Disassemble the walls with the hammer and pry bar, prying the top and bottom horizontal boards from the tops and bottoms of the studs.