7.20.2015 - Truss Day!

We got to the site early this morning to make sure everything was ready and in place for the trusses today.  Jim got a call saying that the crane could come a little early if we were ready...Jim told him that our help was supposed to arrive about 11:15 so if the crane could be there then instead of noon, that would be great.  It takes them quite awhile to set up so we figured we were good.  Jim was going to call the landlord and see if he could be there a little earlier.

I decided to make a quick trip home - as I was leaving the apartment, the landlord was walking in!   I asked him if he got a call from Jim and he said, yes, but there was a water leak in the basement of the building.  Great timing.

But fortunately he got to the site before the crane and with enough time for Jim to walk him through the procedure.

The crane showed up - as he was turning around, I was a little nervous at this point.  You can see it looks like he's going to back down that little hill...probably not a wise thing to do.  But he got himself situated okay.

Setting up all the outriggers to make sure everything is very stable.

Dropping the lines for the first truss!

Jim had to wear pretty much all the hats in this operation except for operating the crane!  He started out hooking up the lines to the trusses.

Then while the crane was lifting the truss up, Jim was scampering up the hill to get up on the deck and in place.

Here comes the first truss!

Setting it into place.  Once it was in the right position, they had to put giant bolts through the openings Jim made in the bearing plate to attach the truss through the top of the track.

After that was done and the lines released for the crane, Jim had to start working on attaching the brace.  Here one end is screwed into the plate Jim had attached to the stud...

Then he had to run down to attach the lines to the next truss and start the process all over again!  Jim alternated sides and worked towards the center to keep the loads equal.  Thankfully the scaffolding was on wheels so I could move the towers back and forth.

Attaching the top part of the brace to the truss...

Attaching the brace on the second truss...

Signaling to the crane driver to lift up the truss....

Here comes the next one!

And setting it into place...

It sure was a sight to see these giant trusses swinging in the air.  The crane operator was really good at getting the trusses lined up and in the right place for them to reach them.

Jim had to take the lead and grab ahold of the truss and guide it over so that Wade could grab his end and then they could set it into place.

Signaling the driver for the next truss...

Finally the last truss is being tied up and ready to be lifted.

Setting the last one into place.

WOW!!!  How different it looks now!  You can see that all the braces are up - Jim put one per truss and switched sides each time.

After everyone left and we got a chance to sit and eat lunch, Jim was back up on the scaffolding tweaking everything.  This was no easy task either - everything needs to be totally square and plumb, otherwise things won't be square when we go to put the decking on top.  So there were a lot of dimensions to worry about and it's not like you can just lift the trusses up and move them around!

But within a couple hours he had everything finished and had put the stringers through the trusses - one on each side and down the middle.  Those will eventually have to be welded down.

It really takes on a different feeling now - it feels like there's a ceiling above you!

Somehow Jim had enough energy to clean up the area where the trusses have been stored for the last 8 months or so.  This is valuable real estate for stashing other building materials.

Picking up all the concrete blocks...

 

We spent the last part of the day organizing the back of the box truck and getting it ready to hit the road to pick up our foam for the ground floor from Nudura in New Hampshire.

 

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