We Built Our Dream Home In The Woods

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Our first task was to figure out how to move the 4" X 12" X 20' timbers from our lumber pile to the construction site. Ardis and I found that if we lifted together we could raise one end of one beam . . . so we lifted one end of each beam-to-be moved into the back of our truck. Then, while Ardis drove, I trotted along behind and supported the piece's trailing end!

And then the real work began: We had to devise a way to lift the several-hundred-pound beams into their proper places, a full eight feet off the ground! Ultimately, we hit upon the idea of using some of the still-untrimmed-to-final-length timbers in our new "pole forest" to help us raise the big spoke girders onto their appropriate shorter, trimmed mounts. Here's what we did:

First we joined two of the tall, non-adjacent poles at the top with a 2" X 12" X 20' board (the heaviest and strongest 20' piece of lumber that we could carry up a ladder). Next, we placed a pair of reinforcing 8" X 8" X 10' posts vertically beneath the 2" X 12" crosspiece (and nailed them in place) so that the 2"thick plank would not break under the load of a heavy spoke beam. Then we simply looped a cable and winch around the crosspiece, attached the line to a spoke beam positioned directly below, and began cranking the big rafter up (Fig. 4).

When we had the first spoke beam securely in place, we stopped and enjoyed a short celebration. Once again, we had?with the aid of a little imagination done the "impossible"!

THE "PERIMETER" BEAMS

After raising all six spoke beams into place, we turned our attention to the problem of how to lift the larger (6" X 12" X 20') outer beams?the ones around the perimeter of the house?onto their supports. (Because these timbers had to rest atop the same poles? now trimmed —we'd used as supports during the hoisting of the spoke beams, we were forced to devise a new method of lifting the heavy joists.)

We solved this problem (as you can see from Fig. 5) by leaning two 2" X 12" boards?joined at the top by a 2" X 12" crosspiece?against the inside faces of two adjacent spoke beams, and nailing a series of steps to each of the near?vertical supports. By means of this arrangement, Ardis and I?working together?were able to lift one end of a beam onto the first step, lift the other end onto the next step, and so on, until the timber was about shoulder high. Then we stood on ladders and?using a pair of come-alongs (one near either end of the top?mounted horizontal cross-piece)?winched the giant beam the rest of the way up.

This wasn't?by far?the most leisurely job in the world, but it did get the job done. And it worked for all six perimeter joists.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print