BIG NEWS

Sorry about the delay, folks - I started drafting a post a week ago but it was so depressed/depressing (more rain, and then a couple inches of snow) that I didn’t publish it.

BUT AFTER YESTERDAY, THERE IS BIG NEWS:

US Puts Man on Moon

Pharoah Khufu Builds Pyramid

Six Guys Roll the House

In the middle of the day, the house, nearly in place. Many steps led up to this, and many followed.

Read on…

Here’s how it went:

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Last Monday, Justin had phoned to say that his uncle was driving up to take a look. Maybe Wednesday would work, or maybe Thursday. Or Friday.

Frankly, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Since I had sent the ‘drain ditches' message, the first snow fell, upwards of 4” around Forest Lake and parts north.

Then at 3:19 on Thursday afternoon, my phone pinged.

Needless to say, I rearranged my schedule, set the alarm and arrived onsite about 8am. And watched as six guys, two trucks and a Bobcat worked their magic.

8:20 Two things have to happen:

Bill, down in the hole, supervises the buildup of 4 stacks of cribbing while Justin and Paul (topside) need to get the house rotated almost 90 degrees to line up with the hole. It’s still very muddy, so they used extra crib timbers to assure solid support.

If Plan A doesn't work, try B, and then C...

They intended to zigzag it into place (parallel parking on epic scale) but the tractor got stuck a couple times, so after a lot of cussing, they found the winning solution: run a cable from the winch truck through a pulley on the tree (aka “deadman”) to swing the east end of the house around.

10:07am - lined up at last

…even so, the dollies sank into the soft spots where stumps had been torn out. Those panels under the wheels help spread out the weight.

Cribbing's ready

Stacked, measured and leveled, the cribbing awaits. Good time for a donut break. (Note to self: Lindstrom Swedish Bakery has the best old-fashioned donuts in Minnesota).

10:20 time for the Red Beams

One end at a time: jack the house up to the right level, then slowly but surely poke a steel girder through the space between house and earth, all the way over the hole to the far stack of cribbing. It looked smooth and effortless, but included a couple bouts of sledge-hammering to straighten it out before it came to rest.

11:02 - the second Red Beam

I should note, each of these girders is about 36, maybe 38 feet long — has to span the width of the house plus the safety margin at the edge of the hole plus the width of the cribbing. (Note to self: get a Bobcat. They seem pretty handy….)

9 minutes later:

Mario confirms the second girder is in its designated spot. Not sure what he’s doing hanging there, but all these guys were super-attentive and diligent in their measurements and watching whenever the really heavy stuff (which is ALL of it) was in motion.

Sunshine

11:14am: both girders are in place, and the sun’s coming out. Yee-ha, making good time.

How we roll...

The actual rolling: there are 4 shoe-box sized skate-like things that go under the end-to-end beams and ride ON the red beams. The Bobcat pushes from behind —gently. The red beams must be absolutely parallel and level.

Synchronized come-alongs

Eventually, the Bobcat was extended as far a it could go, and couldn’t push the house any further. So the guys used come-alongs to pull the house the last couple feet on the beams.

1:26 - fine-tuning

The cribbing’s already about 9 feet up, and the guys (Paul and Justin) need to finish laying up and leveling the cribs so the house sits exactly right. The other half of the crew is packing up equipment.

There’s still a ton of work to be done. The foundation guy says he’ll get started next week and now that the house is 10 feet up in the air I won’t be able to go back in until it’s set down on its new basement. Meanwhile there’s the power company and the HVAC and on and on… Oh, and winter.

But here’s the reason for it all: a panoramic view from the tip of my property around to the house on its temporary stilts.

Not every day will be as sunny as this one turned out to be, but I am well satisfied with this one.

Next time: more photos of the interior, and some of the ideas I’ve been brewing up.