Yep, I have read up on MBPN and have met Steve Stier who is a wonderful man, a talented TF preservationist, involved in the organization of MBPN, and the man who started the Michigan Barn Survey.

I plotted a map showing all the folks listed by MBPN as involved in restoration. It can be found at http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=44.079693,-84.847412&spn=3.993443,8.481445&t=h&z=7&msid=116553168999666214092.00046c3c8e63586d6336b

OK, back to the barns I mentioned earlier. Today, I'll post photos from BARN 1. BARN 2 later.

Posts and ties are 8x8 mixed hardwood
Tie is dropped about 20-21 inches from the bottom of the plate
Barn is 24'x40' with bents spaced approximately 10' apart
Two layers of roofing (wood shingles covered with corrugated steel) - the farmer is firmly against removing the roof and replacing it.
Foundation is 20 years old at the most. The, presumably, rotten posts and sills were removed and replaced with hollow concrete block perimeter and a monolithic slab floor. The perimeter posts are now 24-30 inches shorter than the posts in the center of bents 2 and 3. I say presumably because the current owner does not have the history though she does know that the previous owner, who replaced the sills with concrete, housed hogs in the barn.
Clearly the last 7 feet or so of the tie shown in close up needs replaced. When I knocked on it it alternatively sounded wet or hollow. The rest of the timbers seem to be without this kind of significant rot.

[img]http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Jo4AJja7gD1Dbnu3zkG1ow?feat=directlink[/img]


[img]http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ibSdtEjD1rKOGYth7V0-hQ?feat=directlink[/img]


[img]http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mhvIz62o5vVahWpmqQ6tPw?feat=directlink[/img]

Hope these links/images work. I am using Google's Picasa. Anyone else have experience with Picasa and the TFG Forums?

Ok, so now with images and more structural details, any more suggestions about limiting the outward thrust at bents 2 and 3?

-Shawn