Qualcraft wall jack - getting wall off floor

[aerodan1]

Hi,

Bought a pair of Qualcraft wall jacks (model # 2601) to help raise the walls in a shed I'm building (10 x 18, walls will be framed and sheathed on the shed floor before being raised).

All well and good (I hope), but the jack cradles the top plate, thus the top of the wall needs to be lifted about 3 inches off the ground before it can be used. I can think of a few ways to do this, at least on the front and back walls which will be going up first (e.g. push one end off the edge a little and raise with a floor jack to get the first side started), but this wouldn't work on the side walls once the front and back are in place. There are probably easier / better ways that are escaping me at this late hour. Curious to see if anyone on these forums have used these before too. Thanks much for any help.

 

[rayra]

A long-handled flat shovel applied to the top corners will be enough to get it started, so you can then drive some wedges under it. Start small and work your way up.

eta and you probably could have kept this in your shed-building topic, you had plenty of views and helpful suggestions going in there.

 

[Musicinabottle]

Use the claw of your hammer between the floor and top plate to lift the wall up a couple inches, then slip in a block of 2x.... then do the same thing again with your hammer, but this time between the block and top plate, then another block.... be sure you use some steel banding from your lumber pack to secure the bottom of your wall to the floor if it's a wood floor, or nail through the bottom plate into your wood floor so the wall doesn't slide as you lift it up. with another person or better yet two, you could handily pick up that wall without the need for the wall jacks, but so long as you have them, might as well use them!

 

[aerodan1]

A long-handled flat shovel applied to the top corners will be enough to get it started, so you can then drive some wedges under it. Start small and work your way up.

eta and you probably could have kept this in your shed-building topic, you had plenty of views and helpful suggestions going in there.

Thanks - I continued in that thread with other questions now. I didn't get to put the back wall up today but will try that approach when I lift it.

 

[aerodan1]

Use the claw of your hammer between the floor and top plate to lift the wall up a couple inches, then slip in a block of 2x.... then do the same thing again with your hammer, but this time between the block and top plate, then another block.... be sure you use some steel banding from your lumber pack to secure the bottom of your wall to the floor if it's a wood floor, or nail through the bottom plate into your wood floor so the wall doesn't slide as you lift it up. with another person or better yet two, you could handily pick up that wall without the need for the wall jacks, but so long as you have them, might as well use them!

I like your ideas to secure the bottom as the wall is lifted, not sure how to implement (I do have leftover steel banding from the lumber pack as you noted). If I nail the bottom plate to the floor as I lift won't it just pull out as it goes up? I've seen others drive a couple of 2 x 4's into the ground up against the rim joist to prevent it from going over the side of the floor.

Thanks,

 

[aerodan1]

Well the wall jacks worked great to get the first wall up. Except for the fact that the wall went straight over the side and is now sitting upside down on the ground.

I'm by myself here. No idea how I'm going to get this fixed. Any ideas are much appreciated. Thanks

 

[Chris705]

Couple of thoughts that I thought were mentioned or were in other wall jack threads.

Once you get guys over to help get this wall back in place and lifted upright (use the help to actually place the wall upright. I see no other way for you to get wall back up on floor by yourself or else you would have probably already tried them....(jack end up, put cribbing or boards to support and then lever wall back onto floor etc).

So when you get the next wall framed up and ready to lift using the jacks....screw vertical short offcuts to the outer side of your band joist (to prevent wall from sliding off edge) ....as you get the wall up to about 45* or so attach braces to both ends of the wall with a single screw so they can be moved once wall is finally plumb. Also use a rope or ropes to limit the wall from going past vertical (your safety net so to speak, I think your wall went past vertical and fell in photo above?) to prevent this from happening again...continue lifting wall with jacks....Push wall to plumb using your own strength and fasten braces to rim joist and checking for plumb moving fastening point as needed. Once plumb and braced....then remove rope....

Good Luck!

 

[aerodan1]

Couple of thoughts that I thought were mentioned or were in other wall jack threads.

Once you get guys over to help get this wall back in place and lifted upright (use the help to actually place the wall upright. I see no other way for you to get wall back up on floor by yourself or else you would have probably already tried them....(jack end up, put cribbing or boards to support and then lever wall back onto floor etc).

So when you get the next wall framed up and ready to lift using the jacks....screw vertical short offcuts to the outer side of your band joist (to prevent wall from sliding off edge) ....as you get the wall up to about 45* or so attach braces to both ends of the wall with a single screw so they can be moved once wall is finally plumb. Also use a rope or ropes to limit the wall from going past vertical (your safety net so to speak, I think your wall went past vertical and fell in photo above?) to prevent this from happening again...continue lifting wall with jacks....Push wall to plumb using your own strength and fasten braces to rim joist and checking for plumb moving fastening point as needed. Once plumb and braced....then remove rope....

Good Luck!

Thanks, yes I had nailed two shorter pieces of 2 x 4 to the rim joist to prevent this from happening, but I didn't nail in all the way so that it would be easier to take out, and only one nail, so that's on me, not sure it would have held anyway. I don't think I can get any manpower right now, but it sure would help.

 

[rburke65]

Well we'd all come over and help but no one has any idea where you are located........

 

[aerodan1]

Well we'd all come over and help but no one has any idea where you are located........

Oops, too late for that anyways. I dragged the wall back up onto the deck, lifted it with the wall jacks and tipped it over the opposite way (this time on purpose) and then dragged it back onto the deck, so I'm back to square one. Wall is still in one piece so I guess that's good. Gonna be cold next week, guess I'll have to work on the roof then.

 

[RocketScott]

Dude! Stop before you hurt yourself, seriously. A former coworker of mine is paralyzed from the waste down after dropping a wall on himself.

The bottom plate should have been nailed down to the line before the wall was built. 2x placed vertically so what ends up as the inside bottom corner of the plate is on the line. 10d nail about every 4', driven at an angle through the bottom plate into the floor. They will keep the bottom from kicking out and also help keep the wall from falling over once it's up. When I used to use wall jacks I didn't use metal banding to strap walls down unless the wall was taller than ~12' (I frame with a boom truck so haven't used wall jacks in a few years).

Now that your wall is sheeted the metal banding might be your best option. Pull the wall back out of the way and nail the strapping to the floor under where the wall will be flat before it's lifted. After that's nailed down (preferably into floor joists) drag the wall back to the line. Wrap the bands up the wall and nail them to the outside of the sheeting, preferably to studs. A nail gun will shoot right through the strap, it might take some practice to get it through without shooting the head through also.

It might be easier for the rest to sheet the walls after they are up. Consider that as an option.

Disclaimer-do any of this at your own risk, I'm some random dude on the internet. Framing is a serious activity and done improperly can result in serious injury and/or death (I have seen both).

To answer your original question Musicinabottle's method works or a do the same thing with a large pry bar.

 

[aerodan1]

Dude! Stop before you hurt yourself, seriously. A former coworker of mine is paralyzed from the waste down after dropping a wall on himself.

The bottom plate should have been nailed down to the line before the wall was built. 2x placed vertically so what ends up as the inside bottom corner of the plate is on the line. 10d nail about every 4', driven at an angle through the bottom plate into the floor. They will keep the bottom from kicking out and also help keep the wall from falling over once it's up. When I used to use wall jacks I didn't use metal banding to strap walls down unless the wall was taller than ~12' (I frame with a boom truck so haven't used wall jacks in a few years).

Now that your wall is sheeted the metal banding might be your best option. Pull the wall back out of the way and nail the strapping to the floor under where the wall will be flat before it's lifted. After that's nailed down (preferably into floor joists) drag the wall back to the line. Wrap the bands up the wall and nail them to the outside of the sheeting, preferably to studs. A nail gun will shoot right through the strap, it might take some practice to get it through without shooting the head through also.

It might be easier for the rest to sheet the walls after they are up. Consider that as an option.

Disclaimer-do any of this at your own risk, I'm some random dude on the internet. Framing is a serious activity and done improperly can result in serious injury and/or death (I have seen both).

To answer your original question Musicinabottle's method works or a do the same thing with a large pry bar.

Thanks for the follow up and for the concern. I do take this seriously and stay out of the way as much as possible. The back wall is up and braced, put up the front wall today (no sheathing yet), just plugging away at this.