My father and I-he 72, me 46-are faced with the task of moving three 6 X 12 X 16′ timbers into place in a new basement. Two meet end-to-end on an interior wall which bisects the basement the short way (basement is 24′ X 32′). They butt into the third which is recessed into notches at the intersection of the main basement with a smaller section (12′ X 16′).
Timbers must be flush with sill plates so whatever hoist mechanism is used must be taller than basement walls and ideally mobile so that at least one end of the timber can be easily rolled into place while in theory the other end could be placed on the wall and slid into position.
We are scratching our heads trying to figure out how to move these 200 +lb monsters into place.
I thought of utilizing a 1000 lb furniture dolly and constructing a small gantry rig on top of it, tall enough to allow a block-and-tackle rig below but seems like it might be precarious unless it included a substantially wide base, well-secured to the dolly.
Is there a tool to rent for this, short of a boom truck?
I’m taking any and all ideas, as usual.
Replies
T
Genie lift.
http://www.genielift.com/en/products/material-lifts/genie-lift/index.htm
A bucket of Chicken and a cooler of beer should get the job done without all the head scratching...surely you can find two other guys with 20 minutes to spare
In addition to the 2 good suggestions already you could use 2 qualcraft wall jacks.
Perfect world I'd prefer manpower.
Geometry is your friend. Work it one end at a time and use your head. 3 of us got a 25 foot 850 lb beam up in pockets 9' off FF using nothing but scaffold bucks and some muscle.
winch stacker/genie lift
Apologies for late reply. Five years ago the two of us might have said, what the hell and thrown it up in one pocket and wrestled the other end into place. However, this house is entirely dependent on my back so all risks have to be minimized...
A 1000 lb genie lift/winch stacker is indeed what we used to get the job done-thanks.
The winch stacker we rented gets the load up to just shy of five feet. Because the bottom of the carrying timber had to be over eight feet, I stacked crib blocks on top of the forks to make up the difference. I used a ratchet strap to keep it from wobbling while maneuvering the beam into place. it worked really well and gave us the luxury of being able to adjust our shims without having to manhandle the beast over an over again.
My only gripe is that the wheels don't allow for much flexibility side to side so it was important to have the stacker in near-perfect position prior to hand-cranking the beam to the right height.