Putting the I-Beam In and Building the Roof

Last Thursday was the day when some of the building crew came out to put the I-Beam in.  B&G Metals delivered the beam earlier that day and our neighbor, Mr. Hamill, (and two of his friends) came and took it off for us.  

You're probably wondering how we managed to get a multiple hundred pound beam into our addition.  Well, one of the building guys, Mr. Woodson, works for Dominion Power and was able to use one of their trucks.

Getting ready!

Josiah was excited that he got to get up on the big truck! :)

Picking it up!

 Coming over!

Caleb was actually taking all of these pictures and I was watching from the inside.  It was slightly scary seeing the huge beam swaying back and forth...it definitely provided for a few tense moments!  If that beamed crashed into our house we would be in big trouble!

Re-adjusting before trying one more time (it took a couple tries :).

Getting it set in place!

 The beam  had a scaffold placed underneath it to keep it in place until we could get the supporting columns made.

This is a better view of the entire 26'  beam.

 Adjusting...

Once the beam was in place, Seth got to move the crane away from the beam!

Seth loves doing anything involving big machinery!

Since the beam was done, Mr. Woodson went to pull out of our back yard and drove over our fallow garden (that was covered in weeds).  Even though the ground has been unused for about 2 years, it was still soft and the Dominion truck got stuck!

Daddy went and got some mulch to put under the tires.

I left to go to church with Hannah and a friend so I didn't see the truck get out. It was gone when we got home, so I guess they eventually made it out of the garden!  :)

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The crew came out again on Saturday and put the columns under the I-Beam and started building the roof!

The first project was taking out the window in Mama and Daddy's room.  (Remember how it had to be removed because it was in the way of the roof line?)

Nick, a friend from our church, worked on taking out the nails around the window frame.

When the nails were out, Mr. Woodson removed the frame.

Then (not pictured) they nailed some OSB over the hole to keep the bugs out!

Seth taking a breather. :)

Measuring...

 ...Cutting.

 And the first rafter is up!!

Handing up a rafter.

Measuring some more!

After about 3 hours of work, all the rafters were up and they started nailing some OSB down.

 The crew had to leave early that day, so the roof isn't completely covered right now.  This Saturday, though, they're planning on completing everything regarding the roof (including shingles!).

Kimber :)