why are barns almost always painted red?

Answer 1

Waaaay back .. 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.) Now, where does the red come from?

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 fashionable thing. They were a sharp contrast to the traditional white farmhouse.

Answer 2

The practice of painting barns red goes back hundreds of years when farmers used to make their own paint using a combination of linseed oil, milk and rust. The rust was added to prevent mold from growing in the mixture—and that's what gave it the red color. In keeping with tradition, many barns are still painted red using modern-day red paint instead.

Answer 3

So they cows knew where to come for milking.

Barns are not always red. You see red barns in idealistic paintings or other media but barns can be any color. In the old days barns were made of stone and not painted.

Answer 4

Actually, most barns are painted white.

But here's some info on the red barns:
from http://people.howstuffworks.com/question635.htm


Photo courtesy National Parks Service
Red barns are common sights throughout rural America.

If you've ever driven through a rural area, it's likely that you've seen the red barns that speckle the farming landscape. There are several theories as to why barns are painted red.
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.) Now, where does the red come from?

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 fashionable thing. They were a sharp contrast to the traditional white farmhouse.
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 what they are used for.

Answer 5

So they're easier to spot in a field that's all brown. And when people see a red barn, they know not to shoot the animals nearby because they might be part of the farm as well. They made it a typical color so that it doesn't confuse people, so people expect it and stay away from that sort of property. Oh, and because most colorblind people can see the color red, in one certain shade or another. :-)

Answer 6

Farmers used to make their own paint mixture, consisting of a nauseating blend of skim milk, lime, linseed oil, and iron oxide, better known as rust.

This resulted in a rusty-red color that became traditional.

Answer 7

Because red paint is made from lead. And it was the cheapest color for paint until leads toxicity was realized.

Answer 8

red is the first color the human eye notices and on a very large farm it makes it easier to see from the further Fields

Answer 9

Years of traditional Americana that the left has yet to tear down. Don't worry, they have people working on it right now "but red might offend the native Americans!!"

Answer 10

Tampico13 has it accord. to how stuff works. That's a great site for all kinds of stuff, esp. mechanical things.