Wall plates and joists in masonry wall

White oak embedded wall plates and stop-chamfered first floor joists in east masonry wall of DeTurk kitchen. The lower and shorter oak plate serves as a relieving lintel, transferring much of the wall loads to the piers abutting the kitchen doorway and window openings. The longer upper plate performs a similar bearing function, in addition to its effect as a "tie-plate", structurally connecting the east eaves wall with the north wall and the partition ["cross"] wall between the kitchen and vaulted root cellar. It also served as the bearing and leveling plate for the first floor joists, but these plates have deflected toward the northeast corner and have lost contact with some of the joists. Larry Ward, 2010