I should have taken some pictures of the before. There was 2500-3000 pounds of wood hanging fourteen feet in the air that needed to get to the ground without tearing something or someone up. It was old and wobbly and was getting unsafe for humans to be on. It seemed a rather simple proposition initially. I thought “just tear it down and build another one.” While that was a generally true statement there is a lot more involved. Needless to say there were at least two incidents were I needed to run, then jump down the hill to avoid falling timber and broken body parts. But after the dust settled it was down and we were still whole.
Next came the multiple trips to Home Depot. Partly because I could not carry everything on the trailer and partly because there is always something unexpected or forgotten. One load of four.
The next step involved figuring out how to hang 2500-3000 pounds of wood back up over empty space. We had six and eight foot stepladders, some scrap lumber, and a poet who is not friendly with heights, shaky ladders, and wobbly frames.
But in the end you do what you have to do to build the supports. I was promised that all of this was the hard part. I forgot to mention what it was like to set the 6×6″ post on the side of a hill with nothing to hold on to. I was glad is was done. And it was perfectly square and level and solid when we were finished. It took a day and a half to get this far. I was hoping my friend was right about the hard part.
That is Chris, the brains of the operation. He was right about the process. Once we got the floor joists in the floor was a fairly easy job. I have always admired people who are craftsman, who can take raw materials and create useful things. It is his poetry and creativity and a mind who thinks of the world differently than mine that made it possible. I think in terms of words and concepts. He can envision a shape and a process and make it materialize. The hundreds of things he knows without thinking. He just does. It is his poetry, his art. And he figured out a way to hang 3000 pounds of wood in the air.
That is my oldest baby. 6’5″ 240 lbs. He showed up and helped with the floor. Several hundred screws later that part was done. It is solid. I could build an addition on the platform. We upsizes all the lumber and the supports. The main things this project made me realize is how much I appreciate people who are masters of a craft and that I am older than I remember. In the midst of this work I pushed myself like I was thirty. Never thought much of it. I spent much of my young adulthood working construction, offshore in the oilfields, I have always been active. But Sunday evening I remembered those times where a long time ago. I can still do it but not for as long and I need some rest in between. Be Groovy. 🙂
I love the exhausion which results from really hard labour…
I was acheing
Aching is good too – it reminds you of what you have achieved.
Yes mam
That was quite the adventure! Was that you up on that ladder? I’d have fallen off, our of sheer height fright. Great good you fellows did!
I’ve always thought I should have been a man. I can envision how things go together, but I don’t have the strength to be able to do the physical work.
You free to do some work up here? 😉
Yes sugar. That was me.
🙂
Wow. I’ve never built anything like that, and I’m not a good poet, so you have my admiration!
Good looking job. My days of deck building a gone due to a number of reasons but I still remember the work involved. The part about shaky ladders fits me to tee. Doesn’t matter how sturdy the ladder is I have reached the age and physical attributes that causes the shaking to start as soon as my foot reaches the first rung. Just goes to show you that poetry has no limits!!
It was fun. I enjoy making things. The guy who helped me is a master carpenter and can do just about anything. I so admire folks like that.
Yes, it is fun to build something and be able to share it with others. I’m replacing the carpet in our house with hard wood flooring. I never gave thought to posting it on my blog. Thanks for the idea and look for the first update in about a week.
Very cool!
Not appearing to be rude but all Americans as I remember are tall, very tall, I loved that. You have by the sound of it a wonderful Family that care about you, not many do these days, those of us who have are indeed lucky, would you not say.
I’m not very practical. My brain doesn’t connect well to my fingers. I like doing it though but my wife tells me not to bother.
Good to see you are better at it than me.
My three boys all tower over me. Only my daughter is my size and she makes up for that with her personality!
There is truly a poetry in physical work and the creation of structures!
Holy smokes! The baby boy is as tall as his daddy! Great pictures. Is your lot like right in the woods? The ladder gods must have been with you that weekend. 😀 But they got you back in the end!😜
Its a neighborhood with trees. Wanting to sell it and get back to the real country.