Folks Of Interest Brookville, Pa barn collapse on antique cars

Not for the faint of heart!

 

My son was interested in the 31 or 2 Chev that’s in one of the pics. Was talking with the older gentleman but couldn’t get an answer. Barn collapse was a heartbreaker.


Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Piss poor planning results in damaged investments. Strangely, I can't find any sympathy except for the cars.

 

I don't know what goes through a individuals mind once your tap of life is near its last drops.

It seems as if there was some movement or efforts made to move some of the cargo within but the dynamics changed...death and collapse...

That threw a big wrench into things...

He should have done this much sooner but he may have been looking at his world caving in around him...possibly even being very wealthy...I knew a millionaire who picked food from garbage cans to consume as he was thrifty to an extreme and died doing no less but he knew money and work well and he cashed our paychecks for $1 per hundred. Very eccentric man he was.

I have sympathy and hope what is salvageable gets a second chance.

Who knows what the relationship with the brothers was but it seems they have control over the outcome.

 

I would love to have salvage rights to everything in there... you know that place is full of good junk even without the cars.

 

.................Looks to be a '40. Note the vent window not found on a '39.

 

Summerville PA is North of Pittsburgh, a couple hours from here. If it were closer, I'd take a ride & knock on a door.
A conversation I often have with customers is that their 100+ year old house wasn't intended to last so long. Many do, but not without upkeep. Often, repairs are done as a reaction to failure. Sometimes not at all. Sad to see what happened here.
Hopefully the guy enjoyed having his collection. Without pesky family members nagging him to get rid of all his ''junk''. He lived a full life and deserved to be as he wanted to.
3 guys, trackhoe & skidloader would have that place opened up an a day or two.

 

^^^ Yup, and if they did it right they would get a whole bunch of money for just the barn wood.

 

The wood might be worth more than the cars. Lots of barn wood buyers.

 

...I wanna see the tin (not the barn roof either) good or bad...and hopefully some Hambers end up with some of it..

 

I have family that would throw a can of gas and a match to it before letting anybody even look at it. Which is why I seldom talk to those folks. I got labeled as a "ne'er do well" by them thirty odd years ago. Funny; never been divorced, owned my own home since 1990, don't have any kids I have to pay child support on.... and I'M the ne'er do well?

 

The barn doesn't look to me like it was made with very heavy wood so there may not be as much damage as assumed by seeing the photos. There was a barn collapse down here years ago that had humongous timbers in it and when it gave way, it flattened cars in it, from what I was told, I didn't see it.

 

...they could remove a few boards for a better look and charge an admission...
too bad, but I bet almost everything there is salvageable, including the barn lumber..

 

According to the story in post#2, the barn collapsed before his death;

"The barn got to be old and the structure not as stable as it use to be. It collapsed a few months back with all the cars inside of it. Jack Smith passed away on September 6 at the age of 100."
"The Smiths would like to be able to get all of the cars out before winter arrives."

At any rate, if it still looks as pictured, chances are there was no insurance coverage and it may sit as is for awhile longer. If there's a big snow this Winter, I'd be concerned the weight on that rather flat "roof" will crush the cars.

Wouldn't be too difficult of a salvage. Chain and drag that roof off in sections, then start picking away, neatly stacking the barn wood on some pallets. A track excavator would be ideal to lift the elevated cars out.

I agree with F&J in that the barn was a decaying house of cards. Rotten sistered up beams. End and toe nailed, no Simpson joist ties.

 

Well said Stogy.....we well not all know until we get there....

 

The worst scenario would be something like this:

 

Pennsylvania is Termite Central of the universe.

 

Damn you got good eyes......But you are right there is a car under that and that beam has settled quite crushingly into it.... I with fingers crossed hope for the best that much is salvaged for the good.​

 

^Also the land of used cars. Regular homes along main roads will have paved front yards, a sign and 12 + used cars facing the road with prices shoe polished on the windshields.

 

a couple guys with a loader could clear that up pretty fast. hand toss the pieces that will move on the loader forks, dump in a stack out of the way, get the loose pieces off and decide how to go next, pull the larger pieces off one at a time. Maybe keep a chainsaw handy or demo saw to cut anything that won't move or is too big to handle.

Really you don't need the loader, a pickup or small dump would do it too. Just more work to unload.

 

Reminds me of that little game we played as kids...............(Pick-Up-Sticks) where you had to strategically remove the sticks one by one without disturbing the others.

 

got some pics this morning from the barn collapse in Brookville, Pennsylvania. Weather forecast is temps in 40s and 50s, rain for the next 12 out of 15 days. Hope they do something soon.
d

 

DON'T KNOW WHAT'S UP WITH THE PICS, STEAM POWERED COMPUTER?

 

Would this be a live-load collapse?
No snow to be seen.

 

Pics from this morning

 

Thanks for joining the hamb today, to post the pics you took.

.

 

I want the black coupe. Even being squashed it still looks better than my coupe project.

 

On the bright side, no one got killed which was probably a distinct possibility looking at that mess. I've seen this happen once or twice locally, albeit not to this extent. Some old coot won't part with anything and chases people off, then snow or something collapses the barn and they're looking for any shoulder to cry on. The junkman cometh, ye hoarders.

 

We just paid like 650 for wide pine flooring to match a 90 sq ft addition. So no kiddin.

Sent from my SM-G930P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

I'm glad this stuff will get a second chance...any more detailed close ups or a list of the potential candidates?

Thanks @danescj