More On Garage Building

We have been busy this weekend building on the garage. The stairs have been temporarily abandoned since the support beam is up. I pray to God it is in the right place. Now to move on to bigger and better things--Trusses!

We had to buy engineered trusses--another one of those city planning department things that make you roll your eyes and mutter "whatever"--and they were delivered Wednesday. They actually come with directions on how to put them up, though they were pretty vague and assume we know more than we do.



Notice the large Warning at the top. It goes on to warn that "the consequences of improper handling, installing, and bracing may be a collapse of the structure, or worse, serious personal injury or death." Great. I'm wishing I hadn't read the directions since all it did for me was make me fear for my life.

I took a stealth photo of my husband consulting with the neighbor(who is not named Mr. Wilson) on how to erect the trusses.



My husband, oldest son, and myself put the trusses up all by ourselves. It was a little hairy doing the first 2 before we had good bracing, but there were only a few screams (me) and "it's going to fall over and we're all gonna DIE!" (me again) was said just once. Just kidding, I didn't really say that. I only thought it.

First the truss is put into position then lifted into place with a very complex tool. A 2x4 with a little piece of wood nailed to it. The people on each end hold the truss while it is being lifted by a third person. Person three has to be careful not to fall through the hole left for the stairs. Then person one climbs up on the ladder and nails the bracing board to the truss at the proper distance from the one next to it. Next, that person nails the truss at the walls and readies the next truss while the second person grabs some brackets to nail up while she is waiting. The third person stands there holding the lifting board, waving it around and being annoying until person one snaps at him. Once 5 trusses are up then the waferboard sheeting goes on to make them sturdy.







The sun was going down so we only got one more piece of waferboard on before it was too dark to work. It was a very satisfying day.