I had a pretty epic day of work on the garage today. Finished the wall framing, drilled and set the wedge anchors to tie the wood walls to the concrete, did some finish work on the exposed central beam, then moved that 400-pound beam about 50 feet into the garage and lifted it 9 feet up to the second floor level. I had been wondering if I would be able to move that beam by myself... now I know!
Setting the garage door headers. I attached a 2x4 to either end and tilted it into place, then used wood screws from the top to suck it up tight to the top plate.
Garage-door-wall framing complete; headers in place and supported by jack studs.
Just another view after adding the second top plate all around... ready to get to work on the beam!
The center beam: trimmed to length and notched to clear the top plate.
Now for the fun part... painting my house with fire! I'm using an adaptation of the Japanese shou-sugi-ban technique. The Japanese have been using fire as a means to preserve wood for hundreds of years. Usually, it's used on siding, and usually, the char layer is left in place. I'm using a similar technique, but brushing off the char layer and washing with water to remove the soot. This leaves a beautiful chocolate-brown color and an awesome depth to the grain where the softer layers char much deeper than the harder ones.
Here's a shot of the finished surface. I'm planning on using this finish for just about all of the exposed wood in the project. To see what I'm getting myself into, I timed myself on this first beam. It took me about an hour and a half to torch-and-brush three faces of this beam, twice, and to wash the soot off at the end. Not too bad... I can live with that.
Getting ready to move the beam. I loosely lashed the 2x4 on top to give me something I could get my hands around. Then I stood over it, and lifted and moved it, 6 inches at a time, into the garage.
After I got it close, I was able to lift one end and slide it into the stud bay, followed by the other end and another slide to rest it on the concrete wall. Three feet down... five to go!
After getting the studs in place on either side of the beam and end restraints in place to keep it from sliding out of the walls, I screwed a 2x4 to the side of the beam so that it would swing into place after I had lifted it a couple of feet. It worked just like I had planned... I love it when that happens.
The other end a couple of feet closer to the finish line.
Getting close... and racing the sunset!
The grainy texture in this photo isn't a misguided attempt at using one of the artistic filters on my iPhone... it's a by-product of taking a photo when it's almost dark and then turning up the brightness so it's not just a black blob... This one is here just to prove that I actually got it done!
There are a few milestones in this project that I've found myself wondering if/when/how I'll be able to complete. Successfully forming and pouring a 9-foot-tall concrete wall was one of them. Getting this beam in place was another. I'm feeling a very pleasant sense of relief and accomplishment this evening.
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