Got Wood?

An unfortunate photo

After weeks of patiently waiting, my specialty lumber order finally arrived.  To say I was giddy when I saw the truck pull up would be an understatement.  It probably didn't hurt that the truck was gigantic!

When it pulled up in front of the house, the conversation with my wife went like this:

Me:  "They're here, they're here!"

Wife:  "What's here?"

Me:  "My beams!"

-wife looks out window-

Wife:  "HOLY CRAP!  How much lumber did you order?!?!"

Me:  "Relax, its not all mine...just the beams wrapped in white paper at the top"

Wife:  sigh

Me:  "Keep the dogs inside!  I'll be back"

-I run out the door like a boy who has just seen Santa Claus-

Wife:  "You need a coat!"

Me:  "I'll be fine...it's not that cold!"

As I approached the truck's cab to speak with the driver, I was surprised to see it was actually Anthony (the husband of my co-worker).  He also had is daughter in the passenger seat (in an age-appropriate car seat, nonetheless).  Happy to see a familiar face, I invited his daughter into our house to play with Cecilia and Anthony & I went back to getting the lumber pack unloaded.  Anthony hopped in the fork lift and made quick work of getting the beams off the truck:

Those are the 24' long kiln-dried douglas fir beams that will span the top of the mancave

That is the Douglas fir T&G Decking that will sit on top of the beams

Easy does it

I'd be lying if I said i didn't have "man-envy" watching Anthony operate the fork lift--he handled that thing like it was his bi#ch.  I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't nervous the entire time...all I could think was "Please god don't let the beams tip and come crashing down."  But fear not, Anthony is a smooth operator...it was like butta!

What I failed to photograph were my 2 buddies (Steve & Keith)  who showed up about 10 minutes later to help me carry the beams into the outbuilding and get them on top of the mancave.  Anthony was kind enough to stick around to give us a fourth set of hands...he climbed up on top the stud walls and helped guide the beams as we lifted them up there.  I also wanted to get photos of this process, but I didn't think it would have been very cool to walk away from a gigantic 24' long 4" x 8" beam while Steve and Keith were lifting it alone just to snap a few photos.  As it was, I am pretty sure Keith & Steve did about 85% of the lifting anyway because my crippled butt didn't feel like I was carrying my fair share of the weight.

We managed to get all 10 beams on top of the room in about 30 minutes and then the guys were nice enough to help me pack the decking into the shop as well.  We placed all of the beams to the far right so that I could slide each beam into place one at a time and fasten it with brackets:

Just look at them, aren't they glorious!

With the beams and decking moved into the shop, we did what any self-respecting group of guys would have done....we went into the house and had a beer.

In retrospect, I don't think a measly beer was fair trade for my buddies taking time out of their Saturday to  help me lift these giant beams, but hopefully once the cave is done I can bring them back for some R&R--mancave style.  Thanks, guys!