Weekend of 23/24 March 2007 Greg and Buddy came over on Friday and we worked on getting the paralams up on top of the walls to form the floor of the loft. On one of the beams, an 8 foot long 4×12, we got one end up on to the top of the wall. Then Pop controlled that end and Buddy and Mark worked to lift up the other end. I was holding Buddy’s ladder because it was a little bit wiggly. The beam end got away from Pop and pulled him off the ladder from about the 3rd step. The ladder fell over and the beam end fell onto Pop. Pop’s end of the beam hit the ladder and also hit him in the back. Because Pop’s end had fallen, Mark and Buddy lost their end, and it crashed onto the floor. When it hit, it broke the 3/4 inch plywood subfloor where it landed. Because the beam the hit the ladder first, it didn’t land with it’s full weight on Pop. But it’s full weight crushed the ladder and bent the hinges of the ladder. God was watching over us. A couple of minutes later, we got the beam in place. We put up 8 beams and that took most of the day. After Greg left, Mark and Pop and I humped a truck full of wood up to the new construction so that we were ready for Greg on Saturday. We finished about 7 pm. Saturday, John came up with Greg and Buddy. Greg’s goal for the short day (he needed to leave about 2p) was to get the TJIs (floor beams of the loft) in place and the loft sub floor sheeted with the 3/4 inch plywood and to get the second part of the stairs up to the loft. We got the basics done of the sub floor before lunch, and after lunch, Greg and Buddy got the stairs finished. Since I was to be gone for the next week, and rain was predicted, it was very important that the tarps got put back into place. John graciously agreed to stay a couple extra hours and help with the tarps. Everyone worked like demons to get the tarps back up before we had to stop work at 4p. Thanks to John for staying late.
