Advice/thoughts on Cliff May issue

[Sienna]

All, we are adding living space onto our Cliff May and have run into an issue. We removed one of the walls where the fireplace is. Once we removed the wall we discovered that two ridge beams meet at that point. We and the engieer did not know this was the case going into the project and the plans simply call for a 4x4 there to support the beams. The contractor is recommending a 4x6, some kind of "U" brace and lag bolts drilled into the rafters from the top to help support the side to side shear. This contractor is not very knowedgeable about the Cliff May architecture so I am not sure if this would be overkill, or if it is in fact necessary now that we know that the two beams meet there, and the wall, which contained a horozontal 4x4, are now gone. Please see pictures below and let me know your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

Here is the wall before demo:



Here is the wall after demo:




Here is a closeup of the point where the beams meet:

[egads]

So who's idea was it to just demo everything? Did your "contractor" leave a crew without supervision? Here's how to really do this: you remove all the drywall and assess. That would have told you that you cannot have that wall wide open. I would put the cross tie back and build enough wall around the fireplace to hide connections. As you must know, "adding living space" to our small Cliff Mays is not something that can be done easily. Current codes require a lot of sheer bracing for earthquakes. The main beam needs to have a saddle connection to the support post. With your fireplace in that location the new space is never going to be "open" You should have settled for large openings to this space that is going to work as a separate space anyway. It disheartens me so to see the original fabric of our historic and irreplaceable homes hacked into in such a way. That cut out cross brace was old growth douglas fir.

Just a reminder folks, we bought very small "starter" houses that require us to adjust our lifestyles to fit them. When they were built people did not have as much stuff. And as the recent Carefree California show showed us, we are supposed to use our outdoor rooms.

[Sienna]

[Joe]

[Joe]

[egads]

[Joe]

[Sienna]

[Joe]

[Sienna]

[Joe]