Some frames up!

Early this morning I went out to the Rental center to pick up a scissor lift.
I had to return the trailer after dropping off the lift at the house, but I wasn't quite know if the 500lb (227kg) weight limit would be enough to lift the frames. So, before returning the trailer I hooked up to the end wall and started bringing it up. It went up just fine, but then I realized I couldn't really go back down - and now I was stuck up at the top of the lift.

Not so smart...

Good thing I had my phone, I called my daughter (Heather) and asked her to wake up her little sister (Leanna) and send her outside to help. She came out and we worked together to move the frame around really slowly until we could get the bolt holes lined up. After she snugged up some foundation nuts, I was able to drop down a little bit and secure the end wall to the lift to keep it stabilized while I went back to town. Once that was done, I figured out how to climb down the raised lift so I could get back to town.

After returning, it was time for the next frame... Just one thing - it's almost twice the weight of end wall. Much closer to 700lbs (3189kg) but I'm optimistic and was hoping that whole "weight rating" thing on the scissor lift was just a safety precaution, but no such luck. The lift was not strong enough to raise the frame.

Well.... now what am I going to do?

Step 1: Get my body weight out of the lift and operate the controls from a ladder on the side of the lift.
Step 2: Use car jacks to push up on the outside corners of the frame to take some of the load off of the lift.
Step 3: Raise the scissor lift three or four inches (75-100mm).
Step 4: Repeat Steps 2 & 3 while making sure nothing is getting hung up or twisted in the process.

The first 9' (2.75m) or so is the hardest part. After that height the scissor lift mechanism has better mechanical advantage and can lift more weight which means I can now climb onto the platform and slowly raise the load.

And when I say slowly, I mean raise it ever so slightly - trying my best not to upset the balance then back up little bit, then raise a little bit, back up a little bit. The whole time I'm just waiting for the thing to tip over and come crashing down with me coming along for the ride! That's really nerve wracking, especially when you start getting up to the 20' (6m) height. Anyway, it took about 30 minutes of patience to get it raised into position and then another few minutes to get it bolted down and secured.

What a relief when I could finally relax the strain on scissor lift and confirm the frame was standing on it's own! Afterwards I spent some time putting up a few purlins to brace the structure before repeating the whole process on the second middle wall.

All three frames went well, now all I have to do is the south wall and it's half the weight.
I'm saving that one for tomorrow.

Time to relax!!