Well, i wish i could report back that the genie lift did the ticket and everyone needs to rent one. I will never know, because all the rental places were closed thursday afternoon to today. Not wanting to waste valuable time off over the weekend, I tried my hand at manhandling things into place. I took the 14' 3x6 rafters and made a temp platform on top of the already standing frame. From this, i had a somewhat stable platform to build the king post assembles horizontally and tilt into place. These were just about all i could handle on my own. I test fit the king posts separately before tilting into place, and it is a good thing that i did. Their tenons were about 1/4-1/2" too long. I think this was more a conflict with the rounded interior of the mortise left by the chain mortiser. I guess i forgot to chisel those mortises square. Next, the part i was most concerned with was the ridge beam. Its a 14' 6x6 that thankfully shed a fair amount of water the last 3-4 weeks. About a month ago these were standing trees, and its shocking how much lighter they became as time progressed. Still, its a big green beam and too much for one person. I managed to see-saw it up onto the platform. Too bad i didnt take photos at the time, but i never work with a thousand dollar bill in my pocket. I clamped 8' studs horizontally across the king posts. One side i did about 1/2 way up the post and the other i did about 1/4" below the tenon shoulder. From there, i picked on end of the ridge beam onto the lower stud and scooted it back so it started to counter-balance its own weight. From there, i was able to lift it up to full height and repeat for the other side. While this was still quite difficult, it is a great trick to keep in mind. I saw two guys on youtube do something somewhat similar when lifting up a beam. Only, it was a two man team lifting up one end, repositioning the clamps, going to the other end and doing the same.
It is almost there. I have two more rafters to lift up into position and then its on to more familiar woodworking. I bought 600 board feet of 6/4 from the same sawyer to make my own ceiling and flooring. In hindsight, i should have ponied up the $500-600 differential to have pre-milled material. Oh well, live and learn. I was being a typical cheap SOB and thinking i would fly through this project. Now that the unrelenting heat and challenge of solo-ing the build beat me down a bit, i wish i could finish this up quickly.
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