10 June 2014
Sean & Ian were
here by 7:30; the Goodro’s big boom truck, fully loaded with many $ thousands
of lumber, flooring, and 3 steel beams, got here just after 8. First order of business was to swing the 3
beams into their approximate positions on the cellar walls, which the boom
truck accomplished easily. With all the
other Goodro’s goodies offloaded, Sean and Ian notched the sill plates to
accept the beams. Then I, clever boy
that I am, managed to single-handedly knock the long beam onto its side… and
nearly down onto the cellar floor. Major
disaster narrowly averted by pure happenstance.
Used the Kubota in forklift mode to right the beam, but then, to get it
into its notches, had to lift the beam using the top of the grid that holds the
forks to get enough weight off the beam for Sean and Ian to move it, very
carefully, into position. Balancing a
700 pound, 44 foot long, 4″ wide beam on a piece of steel 2″ wide by 36″ long
is one of those things they tell you on TV not to try at home. Many gray hairs later, with all beams in
their final resting spots, we measured less than ⅛″ difference in their top
elevations. A few hours after that all
the rim joists were in place. After
lunch I moved my radial arm saw into the area that will become the Shop. Boy is
it nice to finally have a level place, with plenty of room, to operate the saw!
Ian and I went into production mode creating floor joists. Each one, obviously, has to be cut to a
precise length to fit between the steel beams (my job), then the top corners
had to be notched to exactly fit around the top flange of the beams (Ian’s
job). Meanwhile, Sean started to lay out
the top and bottom plates for the west wall, discovering that the two concrete
end walls are exactly 60 feet apart top and bottom (as they should be), but
both are leaning to the north by ½ inch.
Oops! So, instead of building a
wall to fill a rectangular space, Sean will be constructing a
parallelogram. He needed a little
challenge in his life. A threatening
thunderstorm (that blew over without precipitating), raging thirst, and low
carbohydrate levels put an end to the day’s endeavors.
