i have a timber frame barn missing braces and girts. the barn is not currently leaning but it seems as if the stick frame addition may someday pull on the barn. i am wondering how to go about replacing the missing braces and girts. across the lot is a barn of equal size in witch ive been stealing timbers, and the braces i have appear to fit. will i have to dismantle the sheathing from my barn along with the beams in need of braces? what is the common action taken to replace braces in a barn that is worthy of repair? thank you, this is a very informative forum.

It is difficult to do this kind of analysis over the internet - or over the phone.
Essentially, if you you have a lot of empty brace mortices, the original builder was pretty certain there were supposed to be braces there.

There are a couple of tricks for adding diagonal braces to exisiting buildings - the most immediate is probably what the Dutch have often done, the the half-dovertail brace tenon resting in a mortise on the surface of the post and girt.

i have one end wall that is complete to the roof, it has bracing from struts to purlins, and struts to crossbeam. then theres a horizontal piece extending from strut to strut above the strut-brace mortises, a collar-tie beam?
wind bracing?
rafter joints are half lapped and im afraid the lack of braces will split them.
can i get away with using a longer let in brace lower on the beam? that seems to be the only way without picking up the crossbeam off the post.
thanks for the reply.

i have one end wall that is complete to the roof, it has bracing from struts to purlins, and struts to crossbeam. then theres a horizontal piece extending from strut to strut above the strut-brace mortises, a collar-tie beam?
wind bracing?
rafter joints are half lapped and im afraid the lack of braces will split them.
can i get away with using a longer let in brace lower on the beam? that seems to be the only way without picking up the crossbeam off the post.
thanks for the reply.

THE EASY WAY IS TO ANSWER MY OWN QUESTIONS, AND SINCE IM EMBARKING ON THE PROJECT TODAY, ILL ANSWER MYSELF AND SAVE ANYONE THE TROUBLE OF A SIMPLE CONVERSATION. IM USING A HALF-LAPPED DOVETAIL LET-IN JOINT TOP AND BOTTOM FOR MY BRACES, AS THEY WILL BE CONSTRUCTED TODAY
I FEEL IM WASTING MY TIME GOING TO THE COMPUTER FOR ADVICE, SO LIKE MY MANY OTHER PROJECTS, IM GOIN' ALONE.
THANKS FOR THE TIP