I took some time and climbed into the upper frame of the barn. You can tell it was built in two sections by the side by side posts and rafters in the middle. 4 bays each side. The older side is closer to the house and has hand hewn tie beams and a few hewn rafters as well as a ridge beam. The newer side has no ridge beam and the tie beams are tenoned into the posts below the rafter plates. This has lead to the two posts in the middle of the newer half to split at the tie beam peg holes and mortise. The round rafters have pushed out over many winters splitting the posts about 3 feet down. Figuring they would need to be replaced and the subsequent costs we thought it would be easier to take down the newer side and leave old barn even though we really wanted to bring the hand hewn timbers inside.
The older barn side's tie beams were joined differently, by lapping onto the top of the rafter plate. The posts were intact, tenoning into the bottom of the plates.
It seemed more appropriate to leave the older frame that would last longer. And I realized that I should pass on the timbers from the old River Run. This would allow us to use some hewn timbers in the rebuild and be able to continue to see the hewn timbers in the barn.
The beginning of the renovation of the barn is underway.
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