Now it’s just a regular house

Now it's up

Now it's down.

This morning the house was gently lowered down the last inch and a half.  Now it just a house that happens to have a painted upstairs.  No more big steel beams holding  up the house and with potential space underneath.  There is a framed first story and half a stairwell open to the upstairs.  The house lined up perfectly with the  lower story.  Not really that hard since we built the first story off plumb lines from the original house in the air.

Big beam on bottom, new. Two little beams with bolts on top, old.

Once the house was down we moved on to getting the 40′, 2200 lb I-beams out.  Unfortunately, we had to cut them in half because of the proximity of the neighboring houses.  This does make them much more manageable for my yard art project they are destined for.  Just as that was finished without setting the house on fire, the crane arrived.  I love the crane.  Even with the beams cut in half they were a hand-full.  With a good crane operator and a sling, we had them on the ground in a stack in nothing flat.

Too bad we couldn't ride on them.

Now we can finally add some closets to the original house (the upstairs now) with it sitting in its rightful place.  There is framing to finish and a swing-set for my car to build with the leftover beams.  Oh, and all the finishes to pick out.  That will be some fun.  No honestly, it will.  Almost like picking up a house 15′ in the air.