You Know That Stupid S!it We do Sometimes?

[ddawg16]

Well....I did some of that stupid **** yesterday......

Being the impatient person I am....I decided to start raising some of the beams for the 2-story addition to my house.

Instead rigging up a couple of boards with come-alongs on them, I figured I could use my new-used drywall lift.....it's good for 150 lbs....the heaviest one I want to lift is 246 lbs (3.5x11.25x20' PSL beam). Raise one end up first....then the other....that way the lift is lifting half of the weight.

First beam was easy....it only weighed 184 lbs....I was able to manhandle it up without the lift.

Second one? Well....lets just say....it almost got ugly.....

Was doing fine until I tried to roll the lift over to the side.....I had one end proped up on the block wall....was trying to lift the other end up about 9' to sit on the wall.....as I started to roll the lift, the beam slid down the side of the top bracket arm.....the only thing that saved it from slidding off and droping 8.5' to the ground was the block on the end of the arm and the fact that the beam started to roll over on it's side but the studs on the wall stopped it. It was real interesting with me up on the ladder trying to push the beam back to the center of the lift.

The above pic was taken after I got it back in place and installed some clamps to keep it from slidding.....

In retrospect.....that was some stupid **** I did.....

The lift works well....I think I need to make a bracket that will hold the beam more secure....

 

[tatra]

careful pal, won't get anything done if you wind up injuring yourself..........but i believe we all have and will do stuff like this in the future to progress the job.......

 

[GarageEnvy]

John, I know you've got quite a bit of experience with this stuff but to reinforce your lesson learned..........I worked as a framer for a very short period in college. At one point there were four of us standing on the edge of a second story balcony trying to manhandle a beam. Holding the beam away from my body at full extension while one other guy scrambled to secure it and the boss screaming at the four us not to drop the beam I (and one other guy) heard a pop in our back. I now wake up with a daily reminder why some of the stupid stuff we do has consequences. But hey, I was making $3.50 per hour. It would have been a shame to risk losing the job. You got off pretty lucky with that one and thanks for reminding us to be careful.

 

[Lawson4450]

its usually not stupid if you get away with it lol when it screws up it usually hits hey that was dumb lol

 

[Steevo]

If it had been me, I'd have ended up pinned between the ladder and the wall by the fallen beam, waiting for my wife to get home, so she could call 911 for me.
Been there, done that, have the scars and long-term injuries as a result.
Glad you came out relatively unscathed.

 

[BigAl62]

I believe we all do stupid ****, it's living to tell about it that that makes it worth having done it! Glad you weren't hurt!

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

As I was scrolling down and the picture started to come up I saw weatherhead and immediately thought something got zapped- you got lucky.

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

My dumb move for this past weekend was missjudging the weight / direction of fall of a tree I was cutting down. First time ever for this sort of screw up. I realized things where "off" and added a chain and come-along to pull the direction I wanted it to go down. That helped by keeping it from falling on the house, but it still had a mind of it's own and the bottom of where I cut jumped right off the stump and the rest fell back the wrong way. Luckily I heard that tell-tale "snap" that says the cutting is done, realized its still wasn't exactly right, so I hauled *** clear of the area - left the saw still in the tree. No harm done, and the wife and kids where entertained by seeing me run faster than I have done a long time!......I'm no tree expert by any stretch - talked to someone more knowledgable than me about it and realized he was right - even though it looked stable and balanced, it was way heavy on the side that get the most sun and thats the way it wanted to go.....definately gonna keep that in mind for next time.

 

[58Yeoman]

Back in the 70's, my wife and I were finishing up the new house that we had had built. I had 4x9' sheets of plywood siding stacked against the wall in the garage. One day, I was pulling them away from the wall one by one, then the weight was over center, and they all fell on me, pinning me on the floor. It's a good thing she was home, and came out and lifted them one by one to get them off me.

Glad you didn't get hurt.

 

[long handles]

Like today, I stood back to admire my work (I framed in the opening for the drop down stairs to the mezzanine), only to notice that I didn't put a joist hanger where one of the 2x8 beams meets up with the ceiling joist. Got the three other corners. Missed one. Got some tear out to do first thing in the morning to fix that. ****. Two steps forward, er numerous back.

Or the other day, got one wall all insulated up real nice, vapor barrier, step back to admire my work once again, and WTF, why doesn't that one box have any wires in it?

Or this past weekend. Rented a excavator. Got all my trenches dug, backfilled. Saturday night, laying in bed reflecting on a productive day; realized I forgot to run the phone line. Thank god the rental company doesn't do weekend pickups on equipment.

 

[930dreamer]

As I was scrolling down and the picture started to come up I saw weatherhead and immediately thought something got zapped- you got lucky.

X2 on that one.

 

[NUTTSGT]

X2 on that one.

You can add me to that list too.

 

[Buford T. Justice]

Yep, I was in nearly an identical predicament as you when I was building my steel building. Me being an independent and impatient sort thought I could lift one end of the rafters up and setting it while the other sat on the ground. I then would go to the other side and scale the ladder with the beam on my shoulder. On the last rafter of course I fell off the ladder and nearly had the 2"x12" split my skull in half. Lucky I'm not a memory and learned my lesson then too. Havnt been scared like that since either.

 

[Norcal]

Sorry about the poor picture quality, but that beam (6" X 12" X 16' doug fir ) almost ended up on my head as it was being lifted the last little bit to get it on the post....

 

[rockchucker]

Awwwww...Just hook a Come along to the Weather Head and ratchet that thing up there!


=)


Work smarter not harder. You were working partially smarter but by using the wrong tool you almost had a major catastrophe. We all do it!

Be safe man! Good luck with the project DUDE!

 

[nit2wn]

You mean like using a tow chain to remove a small pole in the ground instead of a ****** strap or just cutting it off? Yes it was me, right up to the point of the chain breaking and peppering the tailgate. Estimate for $400 to repaint it. The pole is gone thanks to the sawzall but I wanted it out of the ground.