Cleaning - Barn Style

One very old teeshirt; One pair rubber gloves; One pair waterproof trousers; One pair wellington boots; One hose and three days of bright sunshine = One clean barn.

There hasn’t been much to say about the barn project in the last couple of weeks. It has been drying, which is taking a lot longer than we thought it was going to.


So after all the emptying came the cleaning. Dust and dirt, spider webs, 20 year old hay and manure and all sorts of other bits and pieces now needed to be removed.

At first I had tried a broom – got covered in dust and couldn’t breathe, tried it with handkerchief over hair, and one over nose and a pair of safety goggles. Still couldn’t breathe and couldn’t see as the goggles steamed up. Gave up trying that day.

Following day I arrived with Henry hoover. This’ll do it I thought. Well it did but it was going to take me a very, very long time. And I couldn’t get the end high enough up in to the roof space. So instead I mucked out the mangers and troughs and other corners of ‘solid’ dirt and went home again.

Third time lucky. The hose with the power nozzle attached. Donned in my very fetching barn washing gear I got to work. Instant success and instantly wet. Never mind I’d dry. I could aim the hose high up in to the corners and blast out the rubbish. There are now a lot of dispossessed spiders looking for a new home.

It took my three days or at least parts of three days to finally clear it all down and get the floor clean too. There was a wonderful smell of reconstituted ‘cow’ as bit came away from the walls and off wood. I would pop outside when summoned for a cup of tea, warm up in the sun and then head back in for another dousing.

But it worked and we now have a very clean, if rather damp barn. The wood is so old and dry that it soaked up the water like the proverbial sponge – that which didn’t land on me anyway!

I hope it dries out soon as we’ve only a month to go and there is a LOT of painting to do.