when a redneck becomes an engineer

[GSRinmyCRX]

in the process of building our first house from scratch just my father, wife and i. the other day we were setting LVL girders to support the floor joist and ran across a problem. one of the 3x 19ft long beams had a bow in it once we had it installed and all nailed together. not a big deal but long story short it would be better if the beam was the other way around as we could take the bow out with another connecting LVL girder.

the situation:
- the beam is about 325 lbs
- its sitting in a 24 inch deep beam pocket about 10 ft up
- we cant backfill so there is no way to get any of our big equipment close to it
- the door to the basement isn't big enough to get a tractor in

Basically a big heavy beam 10 ft in the air with no real easy way to get it up spun and set back in.

so after some brain storming I came up with this beauty. its my cherry picker mounted on top of my rolling scaffolding. both purchased at harbor freight. the dimensions are almost identical, its like they were meant for each other.

I had my wife come over to give us an extra hand and mostly to be able to take us to the hospital if anything went wrong as I felt this was one of those "hold my beer, let me show you something real quick" type of situations.

we got it all set up and started jacking and believe it or not it worked perfectly. once we got the beam out of the pocket we lowered it onto the platform of the lift, spun it around, back it in, jacked it up, and lowered it back into place.

im not sure what part of me was more proud of this the redneck or the engineer.

here are some pictures.

Thanks for looking.

Levi

 

[58Yeoman]

Whatever works. Looks like you and your dad are doing a great job.

I had a huge rock in the back yard of the house we bought. My wife wanted it in the front yard. I don't have any tractors or heavy equipment. I put my engine hoist in the 5x8 landscape trailer and wrapped the rock with some straps. I had the lift tied down with ratchet straps to the front of the trailer.
Lifted the rock, and the front of the trailer lifted the back of the truck quite a bit. Still, I was able to move the rock to the front yard.

 

[gjz30075]

Genius! I marvel at the fact you got the hoist on top of the scaffold. Those
things are heavy!

 

[jd_1138]

Genius! I marvel at the fact you got the hoist on top of the scaffold. Those
things are heavy!

I would've tilted the scaffold over on its side and mounted the hoist on it there, and then use a come-a-long or a winch to stand it up. Leverage and physics.

The build is looking nice, and it's great sharing the process with pops.

 

[barks]

How did you get the cherry picker on the scaffolding?

 

[GSRinmyCRX]

we had a table that was about half as tall as the scaffold and just lifted it on that then i got up on the scaffold and pulled it up. i am a lot stronger than i look.

Levi

 

[7th Kahuna]

Good Job. I learned a long time ago, the biggest obstacle to doing the impossible is getting started. Unfortunately, it's a lesson I have to keep learning. Another lesson, mark all your crowns BEFORE you get started. Also easily forgotten in the rush to get under way.

Now if only I could actually see your picture. It's missing?

 

[GSRinmyCRX]

the photos are linked through photobucket. not sure why you cant see them.

http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/gsrinmycrx/media/IMG_20160726_191210.jpg.html

Levi

 

[Ilikeike]

That worked out.



We'd use these Hi jacks to lift equipment and beams when we had limited access. You just add additional sections for the lift to climb.

Even when I went to work for another company,I borrowed them a couple of times for various personal projects. One man can move them.
Wish I owned one.

 

[7th Kahuna]

the photos are linked through photobucket. not sure why you cant see them.

http://s1259.photobucket.com/user/gsrinmycrx/media/IMG_20160726_191210.jpg.html

Levi

Must be the latest update to my antivirus protecting me from all undesirables who post tool photos to the photobucket service. One of the first updates after I installed it, blocked Craigslist. Nothing I did, short of turning it off, would allow me to pursue my tool addiction. It knows me too well.

That worked out.



We'd use these Hi jacks to lift equipment and beams when we had limited access. You just add additional sections for the lift to climb.

Even when I went to work for another company,I borrowed them a couple of times for various personal projects. One man can move them.
Wish I owned one.

My dad and I set a beam 15' up earlier this year with a pair of scaffold jacks. Much the same concept only each jack rides up a pair of 2x4s screwed together. We set the beam where the scaffold plank would have gone and used ladders to support ourselves. Work great, and was fast, but the Hi Jack looks a lot safer.

 

[pstnbly]

Nice foundation. Just make sure you put in all the required blocking.

 

[LXCam]

Yeeee-haw!!

 

[1redTA]

engineers don't actually do the work, just the design��

 

[Coolabah]

Nice work ! .....Thinking back on some of the engineers I have dealt with - Redneck trounces white-collar any day ! Yeh , its easy to design but harder to adapt to the site conditions, and you did this without losing a finger or toe, and man it worked really well ... so , win-win !

 

[ADSR]

Looks good!

 

[KM223]

Working smarter not harder! Nice!!