Post and Beam Barns: Colonial Restorations, LLC specializes in the meticulous restoration of the historic, hand hewn, timber framed barns and agricultural buildings which best define our memories of rural New England.
Decades and even centuries of hard service followed by more decades of cruel neglect have introduced sagging, leaning and even catastrophic collapse to these once sturdy post and beam timber frames. To start, we offer barn evaluation services in Massachusetts and New England to give you an estimate of what the cost would be.
Problems that Make Barns Lean and Sag: Structural timber frames of old barns and other period buildings lean to one side for a variety of reasons. Generally speaking, the quality and type of joinery became simpler and less efficient over time. This is clearly demonstrated in comparing well built 17th century barns to the typical 19th century barns.
Leaning is a definite indication of one or more structural problems and shouldn’t be ignored. Barns often lean more noticeably than houses, due in part to the lack of interior walls and less sheathing on exterior walls to serve as crutches. This problem can and should be corrected or the damage to the joinery will get progressively worse over time. Restoration of the original period timber frames of historic barns and homes will significantly add to the value of a property.
Sags in early barns are also an indication of structural problems. As timber framed building sags, it causes damage to the joinery, specifically to the diagonal bracing. As a beam bends, the wood fibers on the lower half are torn and those on the upper half suffer compression. Patience and caution are needed when jacking or otherwise reshaping any post and beam building. Jacking against the center of a beam may take some of the bend out, but may also stress the tenons on each end. The real expertise in jacking is understanding the possible consequences of the jacking.
Fortunately, our barn repair services can breathe new life back into these beautiful structures. We can do it all, including sill beam replacements and windowsill beam replacements as part of our barn restoration services. For more information, contact us.