11.14.2014

Although it was a chilly day, we had none of the snow that has plagued other parts of the country recently.  Good thing because today was steel truss delivery day!  These trusses will go on top of the second floor - again to make sure that Jim has nice open areas in both workshop spaces with no big support columns.  It was part of the steel package that we take delivery on these trusses this year even though we won't be using them until next year.

Jim went out to the site to make sure things were ready for the delivery.  He wanted to put some wood supports on top of the gravel pads for the trusses to sit on.

Not sure how they time it to the minute, but again as the clock clicked to 1:00, the crane pulls in first and the steel truck right behind him.  Seeing that they are coming from opposite directions both probably 30 minutes travel time away, pretty impressive!

This steel guy didn't jump up on the back of the truck to help like the last guys did, so Jim had to do all of the work strapping the beams in the right places so that the crane could lift them.

Attaching the straps to the crane on one side...

...and then the other.

Up they go, with Jim directing.

After the trusses were off the truck bed, Jim had to scramble down and tie a guide strap to the end.

Then the steel truck moved out of position.

Jim guiding the trusses.

The crane operator is really nice, but he moves very quickly - too quickly for one person to try to handle everything.  But Jim guided the trusses into place.

The steel guy eventually stopped watching and walked over as Jim was trying to get everything centered and in place.

Down they go onto their resting place for the winter.

Whew....all done and in place.

Then the crane folds itself back up.

And he's on his merry way.  There's a minimum 2 hour rate you have to pay for the crane, but even with all the set up required, he was gone in less than 30 minutes.

After warming up in the truck and eating lunch, it was back to work.  While he was waiting for the steel in the morning, Jim had been working on cutting more end pieces for the decking. 

Jim came up with a very ingenious idea - again one of those pre-planning things.  Jim decided he wants to be able to run conduit on the underside of the steel decking for electric wires.  Otherwise, they would be hanging underneath.  So Jim marked the pieces, got his hole saw out and cut a hole in some of the end caps.

After testing them out to make sure they would work, we had an assembly line going.  I marked each end cap and Jim cut them.  Then we got up on the deck to place them.  The one thing we couldn't control was the location of the shear pins.  So for a few of them, we had to cut offset holes to be able to work around the pins.  This will make it so nice - before the concrete pour, Jim will put conduit thimbles through these holes and they will be available to use if he wants them.  Altogether, there will be 8 conduit passageways over each beam.

It was too windy and started to snow, so we couldn't do any welding today.  You can see little snowflakes in the picture below if you look closely!  We definitely have to get used to working in cold weather.  It takes its toll on your hands after awhile.  But we got lots figured out and our steel is happily sitting on the lot - so another good day!

 

High 37/Low 18 - breezy and chilly with a few snowflakes in late afternoon