Loft Conversion - Gies a lift mate

The time has finally arrived for the steel to be lifted into the loft space.  This is certainly one job that couldn't be done myself and thankfully i have really willing and helpful family and fantastic friends who all came along on the day to help out.  Most importantly my friend brought his hiab truck along to do the big lifts.

You may recall from an earlier post that there were two 7m long steel beams and a 6m long flitch beam to be fitted into the loft.  The steel beams were split in to 1/3rd and 2/3rd sections which will be spliced together in the loft.  Each of the long sections of steel weigh 205Kg, the smaller 1/3rd sections weigh 100Kg each and the flitch beam weighs approximately 250kg.  These, combined with 10 of the 6m long C24 joists which needed to be lifted in meant that in total we need to lift approximately 1 tonne of materials into the loft space.

Thank heavens we had a crane! 

Before the steel was lifted into the loft the padstones and bearing lintels were fitted into place.  These will take the weight of the steel beams and the loft floor which will be hung from steel beams.  This will mean that the weight will be transferred down the walls and onto the foundation of the building.  At the other end the steel beams will rest on a larger lintel section and steel shoe which will be bolted to the party wall.  Again this is designed to transfer all the weight down to the foundations.

The 'easiest' way to get the steel, flitch beam and joists into the loft space was by opening up the roof, lifting each item up and sliding it into the loft space.  We used the winch in the loft space and a steel roller plate to make it a bit easier to pull stuff inside.

From the inside

This is the flitch beam being slid into the loft space through the opening.  The crane took most of the weight and there was two people inside pulling the stuff in.  Once over half of the beam was inside the loft the chain was taken off and the winch inside the loft was used to help pull the beam inside.

I love how this picture makes it look as if i simply slid the steel beam into the loft space.  However, the reality was quite different and it was a heavy going 4 hour long job just to get it all up and in, with an hour and half each side of that to open/close the roof and erect/dismantle the scaffold.  If it hadn't have been for my mate and his crane this job wouldn't be happening and if it hadn't been for my brother, father-in-law and a few other friends the steel wouldn't have made it into the loft.  The exact opposite of Dae It Yersel :-) 

The short section of steel is now in place, resting on the lintel bearer.  The next steps are to line and level everything up, fit the steel shoe then lift the larger section of steel into place and bolt it all together.

Thank heavens for family and great friends.