Hi Wayne

Bad luck. I agree with Joel that there are lovely ways to make repairs in-situ (scissor-scarfs and many others too), but you can also find these skills here in Canada. Pretty as a well-executed scissor scarf may be, Shaun's right that the ultimate answer could involve replacement. This doesn't necessarily mean un-building the whole house; and timber framers who work conserving historic buildings have plenty of tricks up their sleeves for this too. However, it's possible that the most effective strategy would consist of mixed repairs, replacement and patches. When conservators look at a damaged frame, they should really schedule all of the damage first, and then choosing from a range of possible repair-options, specify a particular answer for each specific location; working through the frame item by item rather than looking for a generic approach to solve all problems the same way.

I would guess that most of the damage has occurred at about chest-height?

The other issue of course is your client's expectations. My advice (for what it's worth) is that you tread very carefully in this respect...the simple truth is that their frame will never be quite the same again. Long after the damage is repaired, the feelings of anger, insult and intrusion will linger. With a bit of care and quite a lot of money though, you may find that they can create a 'new' frame (repaired, replaced, whatever) that they are more excited and proud of than ever before. If you can encourage your clients to look forward to something new and even better, rather than trying to get back what they've lost, then you'll be off to a strong start. Best of luck. Let me know if you need some contact info for people who can perform good in-situ timber repairs etc.