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Classic Red Barn – Why Red? Boulder County – Colorado

Classic Red Barn – Why Red? Boulder County – Colorado

Where does the traditional Red  Barn come from? Centuries ago, European farmers would seal the wood on their barns with an oil, often linseed oil – a tawny-colored oil derived from the seed of the flax plant. They would paint their barns with a linseed-oil mixture, often consisting of additions such as milk and lime. The combination produced a long-lasting paint that dried and hardened quickly. Today, linseed oil is sold in most home-improvement stores as a wood sealant.

In historically accurate terms, “barn red” is not the bright, fire-engine red that we often see today, but more of a burnt orange red. As to how the oil mixture became traditionally red, there are two predominant theories: Wealthy farmers added blood from a recent slaughter to the oil mixture. As the paint dried, it turned from a bright red to a darker, burnt red.

Farmers added ferrous oxide, otherwise known as rust, to the oil mixture.Rust was plentiful on farms and is a poison to many fungi, including mold and moss, which were known to grown on barns. These fungi would trap moisture in the wood, increasing decay.

Regardless of how the farmer tinted his paint, having a red barn became a very fashionable thing. They were a great contrast to the traditional white farmhouses. As European settlers crossed over to America, they brought with them the tradition of red barns. In the mid to late 1800s, as paints began to be produced with chemical pigments, red paint was the most inexpensive to buy. Red was the color of favor until whitewash became cheaper, at which point white barns began to spring up. Today, the color of barns can vary, often depending on how the barns are
used.

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