The first week in October started with gentle rain and a lot of clouds. Our building crew slogged through the mud, and began erecting our building. Fortunately the building area had pit run gravel instead of mud so within the building footprint the mud didn't bother us much. By the second week we had learned how to efficiently erect our steel framework. Our site built crane was working well and our steel was rising up. By the end of the first week we had completed 12 of 16 high heavy lifts, all 6 large columns and 6 of 10 roof beams.

Here are the recent photos.

Monday 10-10-05

First thing Monday morning we began hoisting the first section of the last main span beam. We finally got some sunshine this afternoon after the fog lifted.

With the first half resting on a sawhorse on top of a scaffold, we lifted the second half. Once bolted firmly together they will support themselves and many tons of snow.

After bolting the main beam into place we erected the east wall. We were pretty busy so I didn't stop to take pictures while it was going up. The roof beams at the end wall are 8x15 "I" beams, 31 feet long and about 465 pounds. They are a not as heavy as the main center beams but still a good lift for our little crane. By the end of Monday we had erected two halves of the last main center beam, the two taller posts on the east end, 5 end wall girts, the two end wall roof beams, and 3 roof purlins. This view is from the west looking east. you can see the scaffolds at the other end.

This view is from the east looking west at the end of Monday, same time as the above picture. This is the side with the driveway and front door. By the end of the day some clouds had come in west of our land. Still to come more purlins across the roof and then siding.

On Tuesday, Jeff, our hired guy took the day off. Justin and I went in search of window border trim and other materials. After lunch we spent the afternoon adjusting cables, and tightening bolts to square up the framing.

On Wednesday we transported and hoisted purlins. No pictures were taken however.

Thursday 10-13-05

The beams are up, now the purlins. Purlins run the length of the roof every 5 feet. Each section is 30 feet long and weighs about 180 lbs. They overlap about 5 feet at the beams. To raise the purlins we created these beam top brackets which hold our block and tackles.

Here Justin tightens bolts on a recently placed purlin

This view is from the west side at the end of Thursday 10-13. The purlins for the west 3 bays are all in place.

We also had our excavation company out on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday they completed backfill on our drain field. On Thursday they moved spoil piles and graded the perimeter of the building. Now we can get to all the outside. Piles of rock have surrounded it on at least 2 sides since the excavation a couple of months ago. This picture shows the driveway where the rock was distributed. It has a better slope to the east, but now needs some smaller gravel top course.

This view is from the northeast where the garden gnome and watch coney observe progress

From the north side you can see how the purlins run across the roof. They will hold roll insulation and then metal roofing panels.

Compare this picture with the one above and not that there is no rock piled around the building on this side or across on the north side.

This is the same view from the east side entrance that is shown in picture 4 from Monday. There are about 6 purlins left to do and 2 edge of roof girts in the eastern bay. To get a scale, note the pickup and construction trailer parked at the far end in the center of the house.

Unseen is the diminished storage pile on our lower level. All the red iron down the road has now been loaded and transported up the hill to the construction site, and most of it lifted into place. We use our "junk" trailer to haul materials. The long pieces hang out the back about as much as they lie on the trailer. Still down the hill are only two bundles of corrugated roofing, and one long box/pack of siding trim pieces.

Friday 10-13-05

On Friday we got the last purlins and the top of wall girts/purlins hoisted and bolted into place. This whole experience reminds me of the Erector Sets that were popular toys for boys in the 1950s. An Erector Set had miniature steel beams and bolts from which the boy built towers, buildings, cranes and such. It's an Erector Set, only not miniature.

So that's our week. The doors on the East side still need to be framed. Then we start rolling out insulation and covering it with corrugated steel siding. The windows get framed as we go along with the siding. Some people put the roof on first, some put the walls on. Our supplier recommends walls first, so that's what we intend. Our goal is to get the roof on before the end of October. It's become something of a race to get closed in before winter, which comes early here.