For those of you that have been following along for a while, you already know about our Great Room with our pine ceilings, and large beams.  In case you missed those posts you can find them here and here. Today I am going to tell you about our 36 ft long beam installation.It all started when my Hubby was explaining his plan with our soon to be neighbors. They live in a house that his grandfather built back in the 50’s.  He wanted to cut a pine tree that was planted at the time their home was built and use it as a beam in our new house.  They gave the go ahead and my hubby started cutting.  He actually cut two huge pine trees down, one shattered on impact and the other we had it milled to size, 14″ x 10″ and 36ft 6″ long.

Before he installed it in our great room he used it for another purpose.  He rigged it to help hoist and stabilize our attic trusses during construction.

Think of a mast on a ship.  He attached the beam to our house straight up in the air, installed the attic trusses and then removed it when they were secured.  He is so smart!!

So this is the day it was finally getting installed.  My hubby put in about 16 hours of prep before installation day.  He rigged 4 sets of block and tackle, and rented an indoor scissor lift to help steady the beam as it was hoisted up.  He also installed angle iron inside the webbing of the trusses to help distribute the weight of the beam.

He estimated it weighing in at a whopping 900 lbs!

Good thing we enlisted a group of able bodied men!! My dad and my oldest brother.  (I would like to know what was going thru their minds when this pic was taken!)

And the Hubby and his dad and step dad. To start, the guys hoisted the beam onto the bobcat.

Then held it steady while my Hubby put the lift under the beam. All hands on deck!

Once the beam was on the lift, the men steadied the beam as my hubby worked the controls.

At one point my hubby had to climb the lift to manage the controls…good thing he climbs trees for a living!

My dad.

Hubby’s dad.

My older brother.

And the hubby’s stepdad.

As the lift went up the team held the beam steady and the block and tackle helped distribute the weight evenly among the men.

Once the beam was at the top, my Hubby used the ropes to secure it in place, then climbed up into the attic trusses to secure it.

He used an impact wrench, and used a total of 60 16″ long by 3/8″ lag bolts.

Assuming the beam weighed 900 lbs, each lag bolt only had to support 15lbs per bolt, which is more than sufficient.

Did I mention he climbs trees for a living?

And there she is!! The beam was fully installed in about 7 hours, and runs the full length of our Great Room.

We also installed a pine ceiling and other beams in the room, and used a red oak stain.  I plan to paint the plates black soon.

We still need to hang ceiling fans and finish the lighting.

So great right?

This couldn’t have happened without a great crew.

And we wouldn’t have these awesome pics to share if it wasn’t for my mom-in-law!  She braved the cold weather to document this event for us, Thank You!!!

I know this was a lengthy post, but I hope you enjoyed it.  Please stay tuned, there is plenty more to come!