Framing the second floor

I drove up to the construction site over my lunch hour yesterday, and this is the scene that greeted me as I came up the hill. It is starting to look like a house!
The framers were finishing putting up the rafters for the roof (as opposed to trusses, which don't leave usable attic space). The space at either end of the house upstairs is unfinished attic; only the center of the house has any finished upstairs rooms, which consist of the kids' rooms, a bathroom, and a loft.

This 2nd picture is taken from the top of the stairs, looking east (past the kids bedrooms on the right, towards the small unfinished attic above the mudroom. You can see where dormers are going in on both sides.

The last photo is the framers, Dean and his crew (on the left is Ryan, in the middle is Luke the Blackfoot, who did not threaten to scalp me for stealing his soul!)

Boom Truck Part 2

Since our last posting, the framers have put the floor onto the 2nd floor, and are ready to put the roof beams or rafters into place. This time, we had more work for the boom truck to do (Bob, the boom truck operator, was back again for this second operation. Great guy.) The first beam into the air was the glu-lam beam across the 2nd floor loft above the great room, another heavy 23 foot beam. The first picture is Dean straddling the wall and helping to put the beam in position. For orientation, the first photo is looking west. The second shot is positioning the next beam across the east end of the house (which will be an unfinished attic). Dean and Luke are on the ladders (remember Luke is the Blackfoot Indian), and Ryan is on the ground (very unusual, he is usually walking the walls!)

The next picture shows the view of the front of the house, from the north side, with Dean in front.

The last picture is the view from below, on the landing of the logging road. This is the side of the house visible as we drive up the road. The nicest view will be from the south, where all the windows face; my (Becky's) next trip up will be to try and get some southern views (since today's shots were all taken by James).

The Great Wapiti Wood Massacre

We started onto the second floor today! The plans call for a long (23') beam to support the ceiling over the great room. The engineer called for a beam that weighs 1300#; the framers didn't think their crew of 3 could lift it into place, and would need a boom truck to lift it up. The beam was delivered today, and the boom truck lifted it into position.
The first photo is the boom truck lifting the beam off the ground; in the foreground is Dean the framer.



The next photo shows the beam lifted into position over the great room, with 2 of the framers standing at the ends to guide it into position.














This 3rd photo is Ryan, balanced on top of the big beam. He should be a gymnast, constantly walking on top of the walls and beams (Dean keeps telling him to use a ladder). To be a framer is to have no fear of heights.
The fourth photo is Luke, who is a Blackfoot Indian. Last week, James watched him do a sun dance, trying to get some better weather on to the site (last week the framers had snow fall on them every day. April weather, eh?). So today when James snapped this picture of Luke up on the beam, he complained that James stole his soul. When James offered to sell it back to him, he grabbed his hammer/hatchet from his belt and said he collected scalps! (Thus the Wapiti Woods Massacre)