3,2,1, Lift-Off

Photos by the Missus

Got the lid put on this afternoon! The weather the last few days has been exceptionally windy but today it was just about perfect. It was a little breezy but things calmed down just about the time we got everything hooked up. The job went smooth as silk. It took a little while to rig the job but when he took the slack out of the straps it came right up without even so much as a groan. Once he got it in the air he backed up a little and let it down right in place. I had tag lines on the corners already and some blocks with a taper cut on them fastened to the walls so it just slipped right into place. They changed the rigging and then I cut the lifting cradle loose and they lowered that down onto some blocks. After they left I ran some screws into the holes I had pre-drilled into the top plate and there it was. Just like I had planned it!

The job took about two hours which was what I had figured. They were here at 2:00 and the big truck pulled out a little before 4:00. So even with travel time, I'm in under three hours. I'm not sure what the bill's going to be but I'm sure they'll treat me right. They said stop in in the next few days to square up so I'll swing by tomorrow after work and take care of that.

I'm going to start putting the base piece for the outside sheets on tomorrow and get the last purlin on the side facing the house. I'm thinking about taking a half day on Wednesday so I can get a good run at the sheeting and finish nailing the top plate down before we have any more big winds. The back wall needs a little adjustment but I think I can put a big clamp on it and get the plates to line up that way. If not I can rig something up and dog it in. I'm going to put a few more sheets of OSB inside as well. Eventually I want the inside on the bottom all closed in. Don't know if I want to insulate the whole thing but if I screw the sheets of OSB on, it'll be easy enough to take them off later on. With sheets of OSB on the inside and the sheet metal on the outside, it'll be hell for strong. I can paint the inside white later on and it'll be nice and bright in there. I do have a couple little windows I might put in the back wall. I can frame those out later.

So now it's back to work. Winters coming and I want it all closed in before it gets too cold. We've got a long weekend coming up. I wanted to get away with the Missus for a couple of days but if the weathers good, I'd like to get some progress made on the barn. She told me today she's planning on flying to Houston to see a friend next month, so she's going to get a little vacation. The Building Trades instructor can get my concrete poured now, so as soon as I get some sheet metal on and the lifting cradle dismantled, she'll be able to park out of the weather. There was frost on the truck windows the other morning so the cold weather's not too far off.

All in all, it was a very good day.