Hi Jayson and everyone;

I have not been active with the forum for several months so I was very pleased to have this barn be the first thread I checked today. It is great to see detailed information on a Southern barn for this New Englander.

In the image labled "weep hole", the mortise seems to have over-cut marks. Were these mortises partially sawn? One of my favorite tools is a Japanese mortising saw, but I am not aware of mortising saws being available in America in the 19th century.

About the roof pitch; I reciently attended the TFG/PTN Rendezvous in Kentucky where, in a discussion with Rudy Christian, he said that the 5.5:12 pitch is "everywhere" on buildings in the Midwest.

There are two historical ratios of roof pitch, one using the distance from the peak to the plate or tie (the rise)divided by the width of the building not including rafter tails (span) and the other using a ratio of the rafter length/span. The 5.5 pitch (24.6 degrees is very close to a 2/9 using the rise/span ratio (24.0 degrees, a 5.33:12 pitch). The height difference between a 5.5 and 5.3 pitch would be two inches in twelve feet of run. Did you carefully measure the peak to plate height? Could you? Could it be a 2/9 pitch roof?

The rafter length/span ratio is an earlier method and the closest pitch would be a 5/9 at 25.8 degrees, almost a 6:12 pitch so it seems less likely than using the rise/span method.

Thanks;
Jim