I have a friend how is tearing down old barns in orange county,NY. He is selling the parts etc. I would like to document the structures before he goes to town with his chain saws. Any checklist, ideas on how to go about this?

I know enough about timberframing to recoginze a girt from a dovetail and understand enough about structural engineer to get pictures etc of the key points.

What I am looking for is guidance on the mundane things that one might miss.

The barn he is involved with currently is an old dairy barn on ground floor with upstairs 2 story hay loft.

The joints are all handcut, sawn timbers, exccept for the long sills that are hewn.
Outside skin is 1" tounge and groove 5" wide gound to soffit pieces. Foundation is mix of large stone and concrete. Roof is 7" x 12" slate. Has single cupola in center. Trolley for hay rides on on wooden beam located the roof peak. Interesting that it is not on metal rails.

He has already torn down 2 other structures.
I have no history about the location.
I have only been to this site once but will be returning in the next week to two weeks.

Any suggestion welcome.

David R. Hibbeln
dhibbeln@warwick.net