why are barns red?

Answer 1

Well, there is a possible technical answer to this:

From Wikipedia.com:

"Many barns in the northern United States are painted red with a white trim. One possible reason for this is that ferric oxide, which is used to create red paint, was the cheapest and most readily available chemical for farmers in New England and nearby areas. Another possible reason is that Farric Oxide also acts a preservative thus painting a barn with a paint rich in this pigment helps to preserve one of the most important structures on a farm".

And then there is the "keeping up with the Jones'" answer. Most of the people that I know who own land in the country like to have things the "way they used to be". They all want that picturesque country home that they grew up seeing on TV or reading about in books, complete with wrap-around porch, rockers, a red barn, and a front porch swing.

Answer 2

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 3

i think cuz back in the day farmers used a cheap paint that contained iron or some sort of metal...well over time as the paint was exposed to moisture the paint would begin to rust and have a reddish color...so to carry on tradition and with the development of better paint ingredients ppl started to barns red.

Answer 4

Train wagons are red so this wagon paint was easily available many years ago and as it was easily got farmers painted their barns with it it was usually made in local railway workshops. Paint was dear in the past and hard to get

Answer 5

Farmers used to coat their barns with linseed oil to protect them from rotting. This often turned the wood a reddish color. Over time it was just adopted as the traditional color for most people and the rest is history.

Answer 6

During that time, say 19th century, the red colored paint is the cheapest one available in the market. So, it is not a question of style or aesthetics, but a question of plain old COST and MONEY..

Answer 7

I remember reading something about that. Supposedly, many years ago, it(red paint) was believed to chase off evil spirits.

Answer 8

The original ones would be painted with cow blood.
No, I don't know.

But why is the L.A. times read?

Answer 9

my barns not red.

Answer 10

I always heard it was cheaper than most other colors and that it was simply traditional. The below link goes into detail: