Many years ago an article appeared in Countryside that explained why barns are read. It told of the history of the paint used on barns. I would like to know how to get a copy of that article or at least I would like to know why barns are red.

-- Steve Westfield (swestfield@nmdi.com), March 12, 2000

Answers

I can't help you with the issue, but the answer to your question is besause Red was the cheapest color you could buy Grant

-- Grant Eversoll (thegrange@earthlink.net), March 12, 2000.

I think it had to do with the red lead that was an ingredient in the paint. I remember when the farm store sold only red or white barn paint. I think the red lead was added to increase the life of the paint job. Not shure about all this. Just what I can remember. This was a long time ago.

-- Okie-Dokie (www.tommycflinstone@aol.com), March 12, 2000.

Steve, I had always thought that barns were red because they were painted with blood from slaughtered animals. Course before I moved to the country, I was very upset at the park one day when a duck was trying to drown another duck by grabbing her by the back of the neck while standing on her back!! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 14, 2000.

There are a variety of lead oxides, but they basically come down to either red or white. Given that choice, red doesn't show dirt. Why lead oxides for the paint?

1). Dense - gave better coverage.

2). Poison - mould, fungus in general, and moss don't like it; so it lasted better. They didn't realise just HOW poisonous.

There was an old movie I never bothered to watch all through, which had a submarine (I think) ending up pink because they couldn't get enough of either paint, and mixed them.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), March 14, 2000.

Hi, Steve. I really like old barns, especially old German-inspired full-sized Wisconsin dairy barns. Anyway, back to your question.

In Europe, 200 years ago, it was common to seal the wood on at least the weathered sides with oil, such as linseed oil, to make the structure last longer. It IS true that some rich farmer added blood from slaughter to tint his oil red, and there was the first red barn.

This became a status symbol, and an indication of doing a proper job, since the oil was a sealant. As that became the ideal, and the recognizable standard, people became accustomed to red barns. The notion came with immigrants to the U.S., and when Sherwin Williams started making paint for the first time in the 1800's, the line of paints was three different shades of red. The standard remained, until whitewash became cheaper, and thus a spread of white barns took over. In the last century, more barns were painted white than red.

(I'm partial to the old red ones)

Interestingly, down South in the U.S. there are a number of very old barns that have never been painted, and have held up well because of mild climate. Another thing we don't see much in the U.S. is the round or gazebo style barn, but they were popular for a short time. Well, this is more information than you asked for, sorry.

So, now you see why we have old red barns, and white farm houses. This still holds true around where I live.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), March 15, 2000.

I didn't know why barns were painted red, but I'm glad they are. To my country way of thinking, barns, split-rail fences, covered bridges and log cabins are the truly beautiful things that man has built.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), March 15, 2000.

Rachel's answer was a great one. We used to live in WI and loved the big red dairy barns. We got a real surprize when working in northern Norway and we saw that our WI barns were truly Norwegian barns. Shouldn't have surprized us though as so many descendent in the upper mid-west are from Scandinavia!

Kim

-- kim (fleece@eritter.net), March 15, 2000.