I think I've mentioned that there was a concrete beam in the middle of one of the floors that needed to be recovered in a wood veneer, since we have exposed beams in that area. After weeks of anticipation, today was the day that Umberto and Friends installed the "trave" (pronounced "TRAH-veh").
The first thing we knew about that was on our afternoon jaunt up to the house to check on things. There it was, on the back of Umberto's truck! The house was entirely empty, though, so after a quick look, we went for coffee. And happened to see Umberto on the way back home.
We complimented him on the beam, and asked when it was to be installed; turned out that he was walking up there to get started! Michael ditched us to go earn the money Umberto and I were busy spending, and I tagged along to see the fun.
And fun it definitely was: first, we had to open up the baby gates on the scaffolding and put up the winch.
Two burly fellows brought the beam from Umberto's truck into the courtyard (the one with the red beard, incidentally, is Umberto's cousin and the son of the man who delivered our firewood this year). After a good deal of scurrying around, it was time to pull one end up onto the scaffolding.
The whole crew came upstairs to carry it into the space:
Then it was time to put it into place. Oops, it was too long! Out came the chainsaw.
More fiddling. Another go with the chainsaw, this one simultaneous with additional hammer-drill brick removal.
And, it fits! It's up! There were a few adventures with the jacks, but now it's up to Bogden to put in stones and mortar for its final installation. Tomorrow, we will have walls defining the two bathrooms on the main floor.
Love,
Alexandra
P.S. The helpers were actually the people who created the false beam. They reported that my particular tree was from France (an oak) although they also can get them locally. One of them circled his arms to show the original trunk diameter: call it 2 1/2 feet.
The first thing we knew about that was on our afternoon jaunt up to the house to check on things. There it was, on the back of Umberto's truck! The house was entirely empty, though, so after a quick look, we went for coffee. And happened to see Umberto on the way back home.
We complimented him on the beam, and asked when it was to be installed; turned out that he was walking up there to get started! Michael ditched us to go earn the money Umberto and I were busy spending, and I tagged along to see the fun.
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| Note the hand chiseling/chainsaw work |
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| The beam is in the upper-right-hand corner of the photo |
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| The pile of rubble taken out covered the length of the dining room |
Two burly fellows brought the beam from Umberto's truck into the courtyard (the one with the red beard, incidentally, is Umberto's cousin and the son of the man who delivered our firewood this year). After a good deal of scurrying around, it was time to pull one end up onto the scaffolding.
Love,
Alexandra
P.S. The helpers were actually the people who created the false beam. They reported that my particular tree was from France (an oak) although they also can get them locally. One of them circled his arms to show the original trunk diameter: call it 2 1/2 feet.
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ReplyDeleteAlex Kime Chicago