Setting the Beam

Most of the action so far this week has been in the old house. Roger keeps plugging away at all the changes in the stone walls. Dan and Garrett are framing the second floor and attic. All this rough framing is the skeleton for 2 big new closets and Mother's bathroom.


And this will be the laundry room:


Fabian came over and helped me paint some more color samples on the windows out front. Meanwhile, it seems as if the cleaning faeries visited us last night--the whole house looks refreshed with all the dust, trash, lumber and stone gone.

But the main event was setting the beam in the entrance hall.


First they had to build a temporary support system before they cut away all the existing beams (logs, really) to create an opening for the staircase. These beams are chestnut, and they were very hard to cut through. The last two toward the new construction were made from ordinary framing lumber, and the last one had previously been cut away so it was too short. John removed those two beams and went out to the barn to scavenge two appropriate beams for this space.


Then John and Dan crafted a stunning support beam for us out of old cypress boards from mushroom houses that John bought on eBay.


They mitered the edges of boards which they used to encase a 4X8 liminated beam.


Next, they lag bolted the ends of the cut beams into the laminated beam so they can take down the temporary support structure. The cypress makes it fit right in with the rest of the exposed beams, and it looks like it's always been there. This beam will actually be the riser of the top step in the new staircase.

This space is so much more dramatic than I am able to capture in a photograph, but here's the best I could do:


There's a vaulted ceiling which will have 2 skylights, beautiful exposed beams, the stairs will be extra wide, and the second floor will be a library with a railing along the stairwell. I'm sorry words and my pictures don't do it justice. You just have to see it.