Rust ate through the barn metal, but worse, the neighbors noticed.

Years of manure from raising sheep pressed against the sidewall caused the metal to decay. But you can remove the damage and bring the barn back to its original beauty. Basically, there are two options:

Whole sheet replacement is easy, but my husband and I don’t do simple. Instead, we cut 30 inches off the bottom all the way around the 30-by-60-foot barn and installed wainscoting.

This barn upgrade was definitely a do-it-yourself project. Here are a few of our lessons learned:

Watch YouTube: Our go-to was RR Buildings and How to Build a Garage #6 Metal Siding. Great for professional corners.

Buy precut metal. Don’t waste time with large sheets and cutting on-site. There was no difference in price at our supplier.

Don’t grind. Keeping a hand-held grinder with diamond blades level was hard. Plus, it rubbed against the metal and left marks. Don’t do it. Rather…

Keep it straight. Build a circular saw guide. We used plywood and treated wood. Then measured, attached with screws, leveled and adjusted. The saw rested on it, away from the metal.

Take your time. It was a weekend project, but likely only eight hours total.

Find return on investment. Our cost to date is $950. But my husband can’t put a price on a happy wife.

Check out the video on this page for a look at the new-ish barn. The project is not done. The rust is gone, but there is more trim work ahead. For that, we polled those who will inherit the farm. They voted red trim — to really get our neighbor’s attention.