Roselea

Author: Shaun

  • Seventh And Final Leg Is Standing Proud!

    On a rather warmer day, we got the seventh and final steel leg hoisted and positioned in the required place.

    We prepared for this operation by making two bracing beams using a couple of 63mm CLS timber pieces with metal strips screwed on each end to provide the anchorage. These bracing beams are only temporary to hold this leg in place while we make further precise measurements to each and every leg before we bolt them all down into the concrete.

    This final leg is our third heavy duty version (weighing 160kg) and it all went just fine with no signs of tension or trouble with our repaired crane wooden leg.

    Leg-7-in-place

    Leg-7-in-place

    We verified the position of the previous pair of legs (number 3 and 5) to make sure they were in the correct location (only needing a slight adjustment) and then we were able to put on our bracing beams from those legs to our final leg to secure it and hold it stable. But we were concerned with a potential mishap if we had any strong winds and it may have caused  a possibility of pushing this leg (number 4 it is) over sideways so we tied two lengths of rope and anchored back to the concrete wall (just like tying down a tent with guy ropes).

    Leg-7-with-guy-ropes

    Leg-7-with-guy-ropes

    We then went back to the first pair of legs to start the exact process of measuring distances and angles to confirm the positions of the legs against the drawings. We used a laser beam to project right across from the Kitchen front wall, skimming pass the two steel legs and reaching the other side of the Great Room. We then measured from each corner of the Great Room to the laser beam and both were very, very similar (5564mm) and the gap between the laser beam to the side wall of the extension was 40 to 50mm which conforms very closely to the plans – phew thank goodness for that!

    We then made sure that the distance between the legs (number 1 and number 7) were the same at the bottom and at the steel lintel (measuring 2327mm) which is within 1mm of the precise number off of the drawings.

    But we were concerned about the verticality nature and our digital spirit level was saying 89.85° for these legs and we wanted to make sure that both were 90°. For every 0.05° out, then there would be an offset of almost 5mm (precisely 4.8mm) at the top compared with the bottom, therefore that 89.85° value would indicate that the top of the leg would be over 14mm further apart compared  with it’s neighbouring leg and our steel cross struts wouldn’t connect together and allow our bolts to go into the holes!!

    After some discussion, we came up with the idea of clamping pieces of timber between the legs at the top at the exact distances so that we can be reassured that the bolt holes will line up with the I beams and the cross struts when they get hoisted into place.

    All this careful considerations was needed because we want to drill the mounting holes into the concrete to bolt down the foot plates of our legs and have them much more secure and stable before we haul up the very heavy I beams on top of them! But of course, if we bolt down the legs and then find that the tops are NOT in the correct positions and we couldn’t line up the bolt holes and locked the pieces together .. we would be rather annoyed! Hence why the deep thinking and discussion session we had to solve this problem. We will implement our solution on Monday – Phew!

  • Our Wooden Crane Leg

    As reported in the previous blog the wooden crane leg was damaged, we spent the last hour of the daylight to repairing the damage .

    About two thirds the way up the leg, is a joint. The accident caused a crack in the smaller 63mm CLS timber that bridges the joint in the larger 89mm CLS timber. We decided to fix it by taking two more pieces of the 63mm CLS timber, about 600mm long each and gluing these on both sides of the back supporting timber and against the front 89mm piece. We used dozens of clamps to squeeze all the surfaces together for the glue to gain plenty of surface area to stick to.

    Repairs-on-Crane-Leg

    Repairs-on-Crane-Leg

    We will leave it to set all day Friday as the low temperatures will slow down the setting time for the glue. We only need for this crane leg to survive  five (or perhaps 7) more lifting operations and that is the end of the homemade crane unit! Just annoying that the wind had picked up today and caught us unaware and crashed the leg over!!

  • Third Pair of Leg Are Up and Connected

    This morning, in a freezing strong wind, we connected the second pair of legs (number 2 and 6) back to the first pair (number 1 and 7) using U Channel steel elements. They are 4.77 metres long of a u shaped piece measuring 100mm high by 50mm wide and made of 8mm thick flanges on the top and bottom edges and the vertical webbing is 5mm thick. They weighs just about 50kg each.

    Then, we put between the second pair of legs a thin metal strip to tie the legs together. This strip would normally be screwed down into the first floor joists but that isn’t in place yet!! This strip is 2.4metres long of a 5mm thick steel by 50mm wide. It was screwed onto a piece of 63mm CLS timber to help in lieu of the floor to stop it buckling if the legs tried to lean into each other.

    Four-legs-up-and-connected

    Four-legs-up-and-connected

    We finished off the morning work by moving along the scaffolding tower to the next pair of legs to do.

    After lunch, we hoisted up the third set of legs (number 3 and 5), these being also of the light duty square box steel measuring 100mm by 50mm with 5mm wall thickness. Each of these legs weighs 65kg. it was blooming chilly, well freezing actually, in the strong breeze up there on top of the scaffolding tower!!

    Next we hauled up two more U channel steel beams to connect these legs back to the previous legs (the second set, number 2 and 6). These horizontal steel pieces were the same specs as the previous u channel shaped beams used, so we now have a continuous connection from leg 1 to leg 2 and onto leg 3 and the same on the other side from leg 7 to leg 6 and on to leg 5.

    The final job was to put the tie strip between these third pair of legs, just like last time.

    Six-legs-up-and-connected

    Six-legs-up-and-connected

    We did have one incident at this point, the wind picked up a bit and blew over our tall wooden crane leg and caused some minor damaged two thirds the way up. We had moved it out of the way and it was sitting on its spreading out support arms but there was enough strength in the wind to knock it off balance (especially with a metal bar unbalancing it at the top) and it came crashing over and landed across one of the steel I beams and ramming the steel bar down onto the concrete slab. Fortunately, we were not in the way of this crash!.

    We finished off the afternoon by moving the scaffold tower over to the final position for hoisting up the seventh and final leg, which we will tackle on Saturday.

  • Next Two Legs Goes up!

    It wasn’t so bad today in regards to ice, there were still patches of ice here and there but they were just melting and breaking up as soon as you stepped on it.

    So we started the day by adjusting the position of the first two legs (the heavy duty ones at the Great Room end) and got them almost exactly in their correct positions.

    Next, we assembled the crane and hoisted up the next two legs, which are the lighter duty steel legs positioned at the Kitchen and Hall boundary, and hauled them into the correct point of the concrete.

    Legs-3-and-4-Up

    Legs-3-and-4-Up

    We stopped for a late lunch and the afternoon, we will be spent doing other tasks, so we will continue tomorrow, Thursday morning.

  • Too Icy and Risky

    Our concrete slab is frozen again and there are too many patches of solid ice. Again, we abandoned the outside work.

    Tomorrow, there are other meetings that have to be serviced so no work for Tuesday either.

  • That’s What We Call Frozen Solid!

    Today, Sunday, we woke up to a world of white over everything and a real chilly snap in the air .. this is indoors we are talking about!

    We were going to carry on with the assembly of the steel framework, even though it was Sunday so we could catch up on the lost days earlier in the week but fate has intervened again!

    The outside temperature right now is -3°C at 9am and that’s barely warmer  than the -4°C we had during the dark hours!

    So No Work Today! We call this a stoppage because it interrupted our plans!!

    Oh Well!

  • Hurray! Two Legs Are Up and Tied Together!

    Yippee! The temperature overnight was warm, positively balmy at 5°C and the water lying around on our concrete didn’t freeze again and nearly all the remaining ice had melted by the time we started our work at 10am today.

    We brought out our new homemade crane mechanism and got it assembled and installed at the top of the scaffolding tower.

    First-leg-lift-ready-to-lift

    First-leg-lift-ready-to-lift

    First-leg-lift-the-top-of-the-crane

    First-leg-lift-the-top-of-the-crane

    First-leg-lift-ready-to-lift-2

    First-leg-lift-ready-to-lift-2


    We then attached the end of the hook which had the wire going down through its pulley and back up to the winch. This setup provides double lifting strength at half speed which is good so we can monitor carefully what is happening and be able to stop and reverse if necessary.

    So having tied the top of the leg to the hook, we started carefully lifting it up. The scaffolding tower was holding firm and was not moving, the long wooden leg as part of the crane mechanism was solid and showing no signs of distress so we carried on winding in the steel cable into the winch and finally got the whole leg upright and dangling from the winch all by itself. We then lowered it back into position on the X marks the spot!

    First-leg-lift-halfway-there

    First-leg-lift-halfway-there

    First-leg-lift-upright

    First-leg-lift-upright


    This steel leg is one (of 3) of our heavy duty legs weighing about 160kg and 5.4 metres long. It stood there on the concrete quite well and was pretty stable all by itself, but we weren’t taking any chances so we clamped a short piece of 2inch by 2inch timber horizontally onto the scaffold tower and the sticking out end was tied to the leg with rope, all this near the top of the tower as possible. That was that Leg done.

    After lunch, we repeated the whole process over again, moving the crane unit over to the other side of the scaffolding tower and then lifted the 2nd heavy duty leg up into place and got that one tied to a second similar support arm sticking out the side of the tower.

    Then we tied the two steel legs together using the steel U channel piece which will serve as the lintel over the Great Room entrance to the hallway. This lintel is 2.5metres long and it is 150mm high by 75mm wide with a flanges of 10mm! that piece of steel weighed 45kg as well!!

    (No picture I accidentally deleted it…)

    Finally, as to finish off the day’s work, we assembled the second scaffolding tower, put the wooden platform in place at the top and installed the safety bars and kick boards around the edge of the platform.

    We were working completely in the dark by the end, but were well lighted with our super-duper 300W LED flood light! Tomorrow we will get up the next two legs and get them tied together AND back to the other two legs we have already erected!! Yippee!

  • Day 3 of Freezing Temperatures and Ice Stops Work

    Here we go! Here we go .. again! It was such a lovely sunny morning to the start of the day but we had freezing temperatures overnight and it refreeze the water on our concrete.

    We talked about putting down loads of salt to try and melt the ice but we decided that we didn’t want the steel legs sitting in a salty solution for weeks and weeks while we built the house up, around and over the steel framework.

    So, frustratingly, we had to abandon this day too!! Roll on Saturday and let’s see what we get .. this time!!

  • Day 2 of Freezing Temperatures and Ice Stops Work

    Again, we waited in vain for the temperature to rise enough to melt all the ice. The sun was very strong but it only melted the ice where it was deeper and floating on existing water, but the ice directly frozen solid onto the concrete held on for dear life!

    So the outside work was postponed and we did other housekeeping tasks instead .. in the warm!

    We keep our fingers crossed for tomorrow! It should be warmer! Or Not!!

  • Freezing Temperatures and Ice Stops Work

    We decided that it was too icy in the freezing temperatures we had over night (well below zero all night) and the concrete has lots of patches of frozen water all over the place.

    It would have been too risky to be playing around with pieces of steel framework that weighs hundreds of kilograms, trying to hoist them up etc.

    So after lunch, after waiting to see if the ice will melt, we decided that the day was lost to the weather.

    The forecast says that the next 2 days could be warmer with lots of sunshine so we keep our fingers crossed and we can resume progress.