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Why are barns in the United States often red?
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this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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Asklemmy
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Farmers originally used to seal their barns with a combination of linseed oil (red-ish) and iron oxide (rust, red). Then when paint came around, apparently red paint was the cheapest. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/solved-why-are-barns-painted-red/
Basically also why Swedish barns are red. I presume those two stories and red barn origins are related.
Not just barns, the stereotypical swedish red houses with white detailing exist pretty much because of a single copper mine in the town Falun, where they got so much leftover product to turn into paint that it basically supplied the entire country even to this day.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falu_red
That town also spawned the equally stereotypical (though less internationally known) Falu sausage, which is probably one of the most popular meat products here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falukorv
And lastly to hammer home how insanely important this mine has been: It has been continously mined from like year 800 up until the 90's, has been the source of a lot of improvements to global mining technology, and as of 2001 it is a UNESCO world heritage site.
It's honestly kind of weird it's not more well known, and i HIGHLY recommend visiting the museum and going on a tour through the actual mine itself.
You can get there by train comfortably by taking the Snälltåget night train from hamburg (or even berlin) to stockholm and then the SJ intercity to Falun.
That's really interesting, I'll have to try to remember this if I ever find myself in Sweden again.
More than just Swedish barns. Red houses with white corners are a key part of a Swedish countryside
And norwegian fishing huts
The source for that, the 1922 Sears Roebuck catalog, has all the colors at the same price.
Yeah red dye goes a long way and is easy to make
Except car pigments? I hear that they are the most expensive.
That’s because da red wunz go fasta. Requires extra points to buy, more spensive.
We need da purple wunz! No coppah gettin us in a sneaky kaw!
Didn't realise orkz were car salesmen all along
House paint can use slag from mines, making it a rest product and thus very cheap.
Cars use much fancier stuff.
I find that a bit hard to believe, seeing as the paint of a car affects mpg through air resistance, luxury cars often add in glitter, and all of it has to be applied through air brushing
Maybe at one point, but I'd be beyond shocked if red was meaningfully more expensive. There are also the myths that red cars cost more to insure and get pulled over more, like with those myths there might be a tiny kernel of truth, but the statements probably aren't true outside very specific historical conditions
Cool! I suspected there had to be a practical reason. Thanks for sharing the link!