red barns (why red?)

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Does anyone know why most barns are painted red?

Thanks.

-- tony roman (tony2@writeme.com), August 20, 2001

Answers

Response to red barns

Actually it depends on where you live as to the favorate color. White is also very common.

If you ask a farmer why he painted his barn red, he will say becuase it was the cheapest paint. If you ask a paint saleman why red is the cheapest he will say its because they sell so much of it. -:)

Red paint was orginally made from Ferrous oxide (rust). It was a cheap additive to add to a paint product.

white barns are a milk and lime based color.

-- Gary (gws@redbird.net), August 20, 2001.


Response to red barns

Tobacco barns are painted black, at least where I live. I assume that is to absorb the heat from the sun to help the tobacco dry faster?

-- ugly (here@home.com), August 20, 2001.

Response to red barns

In colonial America, farmers mixed their own paint. Typical ingredients were iron oxide, skim milk, lime, and linseed oil. The combination produced a long-lasting paint that hardened quickly. The iron oxide in the paint caused a red color which over the years became the traditional color for barns.

-- Pamela Hood (pamandmatt@earthlink.net), August 20, 2001.

red clay,,or blood was pretty common paint tint

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), August 20, 2001.

I asked this question when I was a little girl and was told by my grandmother that they (those who farmed for a living which included all of my family) that had barns were frequently asked to advertise tobacco on the side of the barn. It was America's first billboards.

Mail pouch I believe was red, but I'm not sure.

-- stephanie nosacek VA (pospossum@earthlink.net), August 20, 2001.



Go down to the "Older Messages" section below these current threads, go into the "Construction" category, do a search on your subject. To do a search, use the "Ctrl" and "F" (for find) keys together (assuming you're using Microsoft Internet Explorer), enter "barn" or "red", search and keep searching (find next) until you've reached the end.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), August 20, 2001.

My husband was upset when I painted the horse's run-in shed with NoChew brown paint. He said it should have been red and insists every barn and shed be painted red. Even the rabbit hutches are red.

-- Dee in NJ (gdgtur@goes.com), August 20, 2001.

Dee, that's funny. When I first got my permit to build my barn I had to get a special conditional use permit which included a public hearing. My neighbors showed up in force and one comment was that they wouldn't object to a barn if it was a pretty red barn with window boxes. You can bet your bottom dollar that my barn will NEVER be red!! I do, however, have a window box! Now that the barn is there I get no complaints and often get goat cheese and goat yogurt shake requests from the neighborhood kids...the kids of the neighbors who complained! Gotta love it!

-- Sheryl in Me (radams@sacoriver.net), August 20, 2001.

I've asked the same question and was told that long ago, in the fall when the farmers butchered the cattle and chickens, they would use the blood to paint the barn. I was also told that that is where the color 'barn red' comes from. We have a century old barn. My husband was going to paint it grey to match the house. I told him that I want a red barn, (it was already red). When talking with a neighbor, she also told him to paint it red. I love my red barn with the white trim. I never thought of window boxes. Hmm.

-- Deborah Jacobs (debjacobs8@yahoo.com), August 20, 2001.

I heard once that one of many reasons was that red was easier to see in a blizzard and would help a farmer find it during winter chores.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 20, 2001.


hmmm, that makes an awful lot of sense to me....

-- yancee TX (rnanning@comwerx.net), August 21, 2001.

Around here, "Mail Pouch" barns are black, the guy that retired from painting these is from southern Ohio.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 21, 2001.

For what it's worth, around here "Mail Pouch" barns are still red. Ironically, automotive paint in any shade of red is the most expensive paint you can buy. Some, if not all, manufacturers charge a premium for that color, even. Honda even charged an extra $100 for burgundy on the 2001 Goldwing.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), August 21, 2001.

Makes sense. Everyone knows red cars go faster.Not so sure about red barns.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), August 22, 2001.

My understanding is that in older times white wash and white paint were the easiest to manufacture and thus the cheapest. Red pigment was much harder to make, didn't cover as well ( most red's still don't) and was more expensive. Since the barn was more important to most farmers than the house, painting the barn red was a way to show prosperity to the neighbors.

-- ray s (mmoetc@yahoo.com), August 22, 2001.


I always heard farmers mixed red clay with buttermilk to paint their barns with because it protected the wood and actual paint usually wasn't available.

-- Linda Al-Sangar (alsangal@brentwood-tn.org), August 25, 2001.

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