3rd Level Floor: Deck

I trim deck joists and posts.

3rd Level Floor: Joists, 2nd Half

3rd Level Floor: Starting Sub-floor

I hoist OSB (OrientedStrandBoard).


This next was shot from ladder up the adjacent tree.

Level 3: More Joists

Another smoke-choked sunset.

Level 3: Starting the Floor

2nd level's ceiling is the 3rd-floor joists.


20-foot 2x8s are heavy, and the floor's ~20 feet up, so I rigged a hoisting system (block&tackle) from a cable which extends from the central post to a big tree.


With 100 lightning-sparked fires in Trinity County, the mountains were obscured all day, becoming again apparent only post-sunset.

Level 2: Posts & Beams

The temporary ramp eventually will be stairs to the porch.

Level 2: Interior Bearing Walls

I add 2 interior bearing walls.

Posts

My friend Larry & i raise 2 HEAVY 6x6 posts. We only dropped the long (20') one once. Its top marks where we'll (soon) see the roof peak.

And More Walls

Remember i was applying sidings & windows on the floor before raising each wall, since they're so high up in the air. But these walls that are accessible from the porch can just be framed now, siding later, so they're FAST.


2 stories mostly done, 1 story & roof to go.

More Walls

Windows Delivered

Lifting Walls Solo

The 'tower' that i was using to pull walls up via block&tackle was heavy & unwieldy. Hence a new 'scissors' method. The wall base is hinged. The come-along pulls a temp mini-wall towards the real wall, levering it up. The other misc ropes are just backup, and to keep the raised wall from toppling right on over the side.

Some Progress

This has been a week of experimentation, learning how to lift heavy walls alone.

The standard wall-building technique is to do only the frame, raise that, then add the plywood/windows/etc later from the outside. MY problem is that once i'm up to the 3rd floor, it's not really feasible to apply ply & windows that hi up from the outside, without a lot of scaffolding (and even then it's heavy, scary). So i plan to build each wall, complete, on the floor, then raise it to position.

I hooked a block & tackle to a temporary 'tower' of 2x6s. The hoisting was nerve-racking (what if something breaks?), but successful.


Three walls up, many to go.


I like the way it looks. Remember, there's 1 more story to go above this.