Farmhouse Center Carriage Barn Restoration - Colchester, VT
This barn preservation project - grant funded through the State of VT - involved jacking and stabilizing a timber frame carriage-barn, c. 1850. The wood sills and certain posts on the south eave wall of the structure were severely rotted causing posts to buckle and split beneath the weight of an heavy slate roof (the roof was built originally to carry only cedar shakes - in some places they laid the slate directly over the cedar!).
To rehabilitate the frame we used cribbing towers to support the plate, allowing us to replace the rotted sills and two posts with new timber. We were able to salvage portions of the remaining damaged posts by splicing new wood into old, using traditional joinery. To stabilize the roof structure, we installed a dimensional lumber ridge beam and king-posts underneath to support the ridge, removing the outward thrust pressures on the plates.
To rehabilitate the frame we used cribbing towers to support the plate, allowing us to replace the rotted sills and two posts with new timber. We were able to salvage portions of the remaining damaged posts by splicing new wood into old, using traditional joinery. To stabilize the roof structure, we installed a dimensional lumber ridge beam and king-posts underneath to support the ridge, removing the outward thrust pressures on the plates.