Do you like beams??
The beauty of taking a day off is that I get to post about what I did yesterday!
I may have mentioned a temporary “wall” that we needed to build under the porch, so we could remove the existing (inadequate) supports, and replace them with something more robust.
The wall is what I put up yesterday. The story in pictures:
The bottom beam is one of two 21-foot 6×6’s that Bruce Tweedie had lying around the lumberyard, thought I might find useful, and offered me at a discount. The porch is 25 feet. I figured one of these would work as the foundation plate (for just a few weeks at most) of our “wall.” On top of it is the top beam under construction. It will comprise three lapped layers of rough-sawn 2×6.
Another view of the beam under construction.
The finished beam resting on the sill timber.
Working alone, I would have to lift this beam 50 inches, hold it in place, and put studs under it. At a rough guess, it weighs almost 300 lbs. So I mounted a bracket at each end.
The bracket at the other end had two supports, so the beam would never be at too oblique an angle, and so I could lift it in stages.
Lifted to the first stage.
Lifted on the other end to the second stage.
Ready for the final lift.
Both ends in their top positions.
Now to jack it up to the porch floor joists.
The first stud in place.
Jacking the other end.
The second stud in place.
Both studs shown. I left the brackets in place so that in case something failed, it wouldn’t have so far to fall (hopefully). You can see a bit of deflection at the center of the span.
Jacking the center to make it straight.
Two intermediate studs, and the angled braces at each end to reach from the 21-foot sill to the ends of the 25-foot beam (and to limit longitudinal flexion).
Panorama of the finished wall, including a central stud and more angled braces.
I put a single angled brace transversely to guard against the sill timber kicking out (since it’s not really anchored on anything except the bare ground, with gravity and friction).
The view this morning after taking out two of the existing 4×4 posts.
Today’s Eye-Candy
