Cantered Queen Barn Repair

[jvermast]

We recently moved to a new home with multiple structures on the land, the largest being this 40x60 canted queen barn. One of my first tasks is to shore up the eastern wall where the tie beam seems to have a failed joint at the center post - this has caused the wall of the barn to buckle out.

I'm not looking to completely restore this barn but to shore it up square and support the wall to give it a longer lifespan vs selling it to a barn board reseller for an even trade on profit vs teardown effort.

Here was my plan - I doubt it's perfect and definitely will make an engineer scoff, but I think it will tie everything back in together. This barn is used a workshop on the first floor, the second floor is only for household storage and as such I am not bothered by the addition of beams directly down the middle.

I am a woodworker and have no issues with the wood side of things, just looking to validate my ideas on the structural.

 

 

 

 

 

[Brad_bb]

I can't tell what's wrong or damaged.  Before even looking at solution options, need to understand the situation.  Why not just repair what is damaged as it originally was?  That would be my first solution.  If you need to beef up the second floor to hold more weight than originally designed, that's a separate issue.

[Don P]

I agree about needing to understand better. This is from the hip without a full understanding.
If the bottom sketchup is indeed the way it is constructed I wouldn't rebuild it as originally done unless there is a missing floor or some other tie bracing that long gable plate. That is destined to buckle. I agree with your line of thought on the repair as far as tying the gables to the structure but not neccessarily with doing it that way, I think the cable or chain solution in place is closer to developing the tension connection you need but it needs to be based out of something solid. When the gables get hit by wind you also need a compression member there, It can buckle in either direction, it looks like it just chose the most poorly braced direction.

[jvermast]

Thanks for the reply gentlemen, I think part of the issue may stem from a foundation issue below which is causing the bent to slip, after looking around quite a bit I think the best solution would be to build new foundation pillars with a new beam to support the 2nd floor and then remove the old foundation, once that's done I can shore up the gable plate square and tie it into the main structure as planned - this will provide strength in both directions and prevent further movement of the bent. 

[nopoint]

Your foundation is the key. You need to work from the ground up. The Piers that you modeled up on the indside would be an option. If you are going to go to all that work you might consider fixing the actual foundation. Put the piers in to temporarily support and then repair or replace the stone wall. I have seen people remove as much as three whole sides of the foundation. I typically do each wall in chunks reduces the pucker factor, especially on windy days. Nice the foundation is in place you can probably get by with a couple tie cables and a few steel plate. Maybe a sistered bean or two. Inserting the beams you suggest will improve your problem but potentially create problems in the other direction. That make any sense? How are the sills? They usually start coming apart from the bottom up unless there are roof leaks.