Like a boy on Christmas morning, I jumped out of bed early and was ready for the day! 6am! Aw, man!! None of friends were to be over until after 10! I can't wait! I can't wait! Because today is the day! The day I have been waiting close to a year and a half for. The day I lower my old beauty onto her new foundation, straighten her old bones and have her standing tall once again!
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| Waiting to be taken off the box! |
I try to slow myself down. I make a hearty breakfast, drink 4 cups of coffee and pace around the yard going over the plan about 10 more times in my head as to how I'm gonna make this work. You see, not only do did I need to lift the structure up off its shoring box, but the walls need to be given a good push and pull in order to straighten out and the entire structure needs a strong nudge to shift it about 4 inches counter clock wise so it sits squarely on its foundation. Over the years this old girl kept settling, shifting and twisting herself to the northwest. When I cut her off her old foundation there was such an amazing series of chiropractic "pops" as each stud and rafter released years of stress. I swear I heard her give a big sigh of relief. She has had a year and a half of traction to give those old bones a rest. Today she starts rehabilitation to stand up straight on her own feet again.
My help arrives! My friends Anthony and of course Keith. I can always count on Keith! My friend Paul provided later back up. I gather them in the backyard and in great excitement I laid out my plan. It involves a couple of jacks and some 4x4 posts and carefully coordinated lifting and pushing and lowering. After I enthusiastically explained this rather easy process I turned to see the concerned looks in my friends faces.
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Anthony (in red) and Keith seem a bit uneasy of my plan.
Larger jack in position |
"Really! It's a piece of cake!" I assured. However, they were not as easily convinced as I was. I was ready to dive into it! I had waited all morning! But, I had to let them wrap their heads around it and talk it through. I guess I had to respect that. Give them some time to figure it out with me. We're all in our 40's now and we don't need to put ourselves in any situation that may result in our needing a chiropractor ourselves. But the coffee was flowing through my veins topped with inpatient excitement. OK! OK! lets get moving.
Oh, but it's never as easy as you imagine it. So many little things get in the way. Especially when the space is filled with a bunch of crap to start with. So we knew what the first task was. Empty this baby out. (you think I could have done that while I paced around waiting for everyone to show up.) I thought many times of getting a temporary storage space for this stuff. But that would only encourage me to collect more stuff which would not be good for my sanity or my marriage. (I can't wait to get rid of that tent!)
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| Anthony preps the sill plates |
After that, we finally figured out our assignments and a plan of action. Anthony was to cut additional sill plates and drilled holes to cover the bolts.
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| Need a little more bracing |
Keith positioned the jacks at the best lifting points and fit the sill plates into position. I tightened the hold down bolts and did any of the last pick up framing needed to stabilize her walls. We had four jacks all ready to go.
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| Second jack in position. |
We then slowly lifted her off the box, just a few inches. This was probably the most nerve racking part of the process. Like an industrial balancing act, there she free floated for a while as we positioned all the sill plates. The sill plated gave us a little trouble as each wall more or less had their own height they needed to be lifted to. Anywhere from 1-1/2" to 5".
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| Had to use the jack from my truck. |
It took us a number of tries, lifting and lowering to adjust each stud with small cuts or adding some more plates and shimming to get everything somewhat level. Sill plates in place, it was time to bring her down to stable ground. She gave us little resistance as we pushed and pulled her into place. She gently touched down and the infamous words rang through my head, "Houston, the Eagle has landed!"
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| Paul adds a helping hand. |
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| Safely on it's foundation! |
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| This baby isn't going anywhere! |
I wish I could say there was a joyous celebration. However, the days activities had exhausted us. There was some back slapping and a moment of pride filled gazing upon our accomplishment. Anthony had a sick child to attend to, Keith was nursing a sprained ankle and I had neglected my family all day. It was time to clean up and call it another day. I could go to bed that night finally with the confidence that the garage was finally secured to it's foundation, embedded in the rock, planted firmly on the ground and now standing tall.
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| Taken a year ago, you can see how the middle of the roof sags and slumps in the lower left. |
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| Now she stands straight. No more sag! |
