The Garrison is an early New England house style that continues to be popular with builders all over the country. Its principal feature is an overhanging second floor under the front eaves of the house, which allows for more generous bedrooms upstairs (see Figure 1). The style presents an interesting structural problem, because the second-floor joists overhang the outside wall. Like any joists, these joists carry floor loads — for the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms in this case. The wrinkle here is that the overhanging ends of the joists also support the second-story exterior wall. The exterior wall in turn supports the roof above, so depending on snow loads, roof coverings, and the span of the building, the
