Stacked lintel planks over ktichen window

Interior view of the pair of stacked “wall plates” spanning the kitchen doorway and originally providing a level bearing support for the chamfered floor joists. These timbers, approximately the same dimensions as floor joists laid flat, serve as relieving lintels discharging the loads above the doorway and window frame to the abutting masonry piers. The longer [lower] plate also acts as a “tie” into the northern gable wall, and both plates tie into the partition wall to enhance the structural integration of the building. The plates have deflected toward the north [left] but do not bear on the door frame. Larry Ward