"keyridge" wrote in message
ups.com...
Building a 12x16 shed. Need to raise the walls but too heavy to safely
lift and set in place on my own. Other than begging the neighbours, do
you have any recommendations or equipment suggestions to do this on my
own?
Seems like whenever I have to lift something extremely heavy, I would rather
'finess' the item than have the help of others. Even moving heavy
machinery, if your helpers are not experienced somebody will get hurt.
I am no He-man, but raising walls up to 40-50 ft length, 10 ft. high is no
issue for a single individual.
Follow all of the bracing suggestions by poster "BobS", posted above mine.
ADDITIONALLY, if you are building the wall on a wooden floor, simply align
the wall before the lift so that when vertical, it will be in its final
position. BUT FIRST, toe nail your bottom plate, at a 45° angle to the
subfloor. Toe nail in a direction such that, when you lift, the nails will
bend right at the final location of your inside face-of-wall line. When
finished, either leave or remove nails. Keeps wall from sliding whil
lifting. You can adjust final location of wall with a 2 lb. hammer.
To raise a long wall by yourself, simply nail a short (1-2 ft. long) 2z4
along side you studding near the top plate. Do this about every 4 to 8 feet
on center. Go to one end of the wall and lift about 6 inches to a foot by
whatever means (muscles, lever etc.) available. As you lift 6" to a foot,
let this short 2x4 swing down to the floor and become a 'stand' to hold up
the section you just raised. Go down along the wall near your next brace
and raise that section an equal amount. Let the brace swing under to become
a 'stand'. Repeat down the full length of the wall.
Now go back to the beginning and nail on swinging braces that are about 2
feet long, repeat along full length of wall, repeat your lifts, etc. As an
expedient, I usually use a three foot piece of scrap 2x4 and nail it at the
one foot point. On my first lift I rotate it using the one foot leg. On my
second lift I flip it so I now have a 2 foot leg. etc.
After you have the wall up about 45° it becomes lighter and lighter. While
I have never 'lost' a wall that I was raising, I make sure to stand in the
window openings while I am lifting in case it comes crashing down.
THE CHANCES OF THE ABOVE METHOD HURTING YOU IS MUCH LESS THAN PLYING FRIENDS
WITH BEER.
I'm getting to be an old fart now and avoid the foolish lifting I used to do
when younger. I can't recount how many times I was moving something with
levers, rollers, rails, planks, etc., when one of my buddies would suggest
"why don't we simply pick up each end" ?. Yeah, back then, we could each
pick up about 300 lbs., and I can still do half of that today, but, I have
time and would rather move things by myself inch, by inch. Takes longer,
but much safer.
Ivan Vegvary
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