Restoration Register

Timber frame and barn restoration in Peterborough and the Kawarthas

An Ontario bank barn is usually lost from the bottom up. The sills rot where they meet the stone foundation, the posts drop, the frame racks, and by the time the roof line is visibly sagging the owner is being told the building is beyond saving. It usually is not.

Timber framers in this region repair hand-hewn and early sawn frames of white pine and oak: replacing rotted sill beams and post feet with the frame jacked and supported, cutting scarf joints to splice sound new timber into old, re-pegging and re-wedging loose mortise and tenon joints, plumbing racked frames, and dismantling, tagging and re-erecting frames when a building has to move. The critical thing is that a frame is a system. Replacing one member changes how load runs through the rest of it, which is why this work belongs with a framer rather than a general carpenter, and why a full frame assessment should come before any quote.

What to ask before you hire

  1. Will you do a full frame assessment before quoting? A member-by-member condition survey is the standard opening for this work.
  2. How will you splice new timber into old? Scarf joints cut to suit the load are the traditional answer; steel plates and bolts are usually the shortcut.
  3. How will the frame be supported during the work? Jacking a barn is where things go wrong, and the plan should exist on paper before the first cut.
Grant funding

Municipal heritage grants in this region rarely cover agricultural outbuildings unless they are named in the designation. Peterborough, Port Hope and Prince Edward County all run programs worth checking, and provincial and agricultural-heritage funds are sometimes a better fit for barns.

Contractors on this page

Part of

All heritage service pages · Grants by municipality