Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Beam in Thine Eye

There is the distinct possibility that you, one of my beloved and gentle readers is sick to death of reading and seeing photos of this re-model. Trust me, so am I, but it’s pretty much all I have on my brain right now (besides deadly spiders waiting to pounce on me, that is) So I’m trying not to go into excruciating detail and spare you, gentle reader about exactly what’s going on and the progress of the re-model. It’s better this way.

But this is just pretty amazing.

A part of the plan in the re-model was to remove as many walls as possible in the upper level of the house and end up with a very open floor plan. A couple weeks ago, I took off all the drywall, which made me deliriously happy and covered from head to toe in sheet rock dust. Anyway, the walls we are removing are “load bearing” so in their place we are putting a ginourmous beam and post extravaganza.

The beam weighs in at over 1400 pounds. It’s a beast. An I-beam girder affair. The steel posts have been re-enforced at their bases with re-bar and new concrete. Frickin’ amazing. Dude came and made a hole in the foundation, dig a DEEP hole, expertly tossed in some re-bar and poured new concrete.

Here is a “before” shot, looking down the hallway toward the bedrooms. The two “flanking” walls are the temporary walls which are holding up the ceiling/roof. That big “hole” running down the ceiling marks where one of the old load bearing walls was. At the end is where the new steel post will sit. The gap is where the new über-beam will go.

The only problem with the temporary load bearing walls/studs is that all large items (old couch and chair and a couple bookshelves are utterly stranded on one side of the walls. They can’t fit through. Neither can the shop vac. Oh well.

This is the beam in place. All that stuff underneath it (hydraulic jacks, railroad ties, shimming plywood and 2x4s) are holding it up and in place until our G.C. can get the new posts installed tomorrow. Though because our contractor is a very bright fellow, he figured out a way for the beam to hang down only 3-4 inches, instead of 9-10, which is awesome.

It took three guys all day to get that thing from the truck and up into the ceiling. Many cuss words were spoken apparently. They were very worried about the beam falling forward or back and careening through the floorboards into the basement. Our house now reeks of oil and creosote the old railroad ties were soaked in. Ugh.

Anyway, it’s amazing to see the house getting all nekkid in front of us and slowly getting dressed again.

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Holy Crap! Look at all this STUFF down here. It's awesome!

 

Really, I'm glad you made it down here. Almost no one ever comes down here. I'm like in a freaking dungeon down here. I get lonely. But not you. YOU made it all the way to the end of the page. For this I think I've a little crush on you. I don't know, is "love" to strong a word to use in this situation? Well, if it's not "love," then it's very strong "like." I'm totally in like with you for coming down here. You are awesome. Please love me back! I know, I know, I shouldn't be all needy, it's not attractive at all, but you don't know how it is to be stuck down here. Who scrolls all the way to the end of a page anymore these days? Anyway, thanks for shedding some light down here in the depths. I appreciate it. Shoot me an email and I'll send you a dollar, OK?

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