Raising Day

It is the morning after raising day. I am sipping my daily tea and staring in wonder at our creation. It is still there! It was not just a wonderful dream!

The night before raising day I slept soundly. We worked our butts off getting ready for the big day on Friday. Warren and his dad picked up the machinery that was delivered at the end of our very long driveway—two man-lifts and a high-reach forklift. It took the two of them about 45 minutes to drive the man-lifts to our building site, and then Warren spent about 30 minutes driving the slightly faster forklift up. Then he and I lifted every wall plate, top plate, purlin, and joist several times to sand out any kitty paw prints, dings, etc., place the braces in their perfect homes, and stage them. Hours and hours of sanding, lifting, sanding, lifting. We were pooped! We took a bath at the end of the day and had dinner (oysters and blueberry pie) at Warren’s dad’s place.

Carefully selected brace arrangements.

Peculiarly, it was the night after raising day that sleep alluded me. I kept replaying the day over and over again in my mind, overcome with emotions—jubilance, gratitude, disbelief, satisfaction, humility, awe. Our neighbors, friends, and family all really came together to help make this day perfect.

All week the weather forecast threatened rain Saturday morning sandwiched between days of no precipitation. Rain would have upset our detailed plans, but I just had a good feeling that we were going to luck out. Sure enough, the weather “forecast” had changed from showers until 11 AM when we went to bed to partly cloudy and dry when we awoke! When we sprung out of bed at 6:30 AM we stepped outside to a beautiful, sun-speckled dawn, the first of many blessings.

Warren worked on a few last minute odds and ends—taking the tarp off the main deck, getting the angle-iron bracing ready, etc.—before I forced him to come in and ingest some food. I knew if I didn’t he’d be too excited/focused and would certainly forget to eat (as it was, he barely touched his eggs and toast).

Starting point in the morning.

The assembly crew started arriving at 8:30 AM. Once everyone was properly coffee’d up, it was straight to business. These guys were another blessing; they were incredible. Warren convinced three professional assembly technicians from his work to come hang out all day on a Saturday to help assemble our timber frame. (I was given insider information from a third party within the company that they are the very best of the best!) These men assemble much larger projects and operate machinery of all kinds including man-lifts and forklifts as part of their jobs. They proved to be incredibly proficient and efficient and were so fun to watch in action on the machinery! I will be honest, when Warren told me several months ago that these guys said they’d come do this thing with us, I was skeptical. I was sure they would flake. Warren persisted that these guys would pull through when it came time for raising day, and sure enough! He was right; they were here and put some hard-working hours in. Our high-reach forklift driver had knee surgery… the day before! So he was definitely committed. In total, it took less than ten hours (including breaks) to assemble the frame, and that would not have happened without these three gentlemen. All the spectators were quite impressed with them, and Warren and I are so appreciative of their time, knowledge, and skills. I’d also like to mention their physical strength. These beams are not light, and I saw one of them literally one-arm a purlin into place (like a one-armed shoulder press). No joke.  

Assembly crew assemble! Clamping the metal angle-iron supports.

Only two other people were here as the first bent was raised and placed. T and A brought a cooler full of refreshments as well as tables and chairs and a lot of energy. They were here from start to finish. T wore his signature orange jumpsuit and rubber boots. With T and Warren to complete the assembly crew, the five men wasted no time in getting the first bent up! They braced the two joints where the outside posts meet the rafters with steel angle-iron for added support because they are not designed to take the load required to stand the bents up. They then hooked two straps from the collar tie to the forklift, and up she went! It was a moment of trepidation for me—what if the strap snapped in two? What if a joint failed under the forces as it was raised? Of course she proved to be sturdy, but there are always those what-ifs during big moments like that. Butterflies tickled my insides (or perhaps that was just the baby kicking in sympathetic celebration?) as those first three posts slipped into their respective mortises on the deck of the house. When in place we discovered just how tall our home is! Laid on the ground, it didn’t look nearly as big.

Positioning the first posts into their respective mortises.

More people started trickling in as the mid bay and west bay wall plates and top plates were installed. Most of our house is composed of classical timber frame joinery, but these pieces feature hidden bolt connections for added strength. There was a moment of dread before these went up when one of the man-lifts wouldn’t start, but a quick jump was all it needed. (Whew!)

All the machinery in action installing wall plates!

As soon as these were in place and the whole bent temporarily braced, up went bent two! By this time there was a crowd of spectators. We didn’t send out a formal invitation to anyone, but people heard about it by word-of-mouth and came to share this special day with us. Especially with all those people watching, Warren and I experienced a moment of minor panic as the forklift slipped out of gear with the second bent fully suspended in the air midway to the deck. The machine would not budge. It was impossible to lay the bent down where it stood. Fortunately, our driver spoke with the rental guys and figured out how to get the forklift moving again. I am not sure what happened or how he fixed it. Some safety stop? I think the machine stalled because it was on a slight incline, and they were able to fix it by lowering the boom a bit. In any case, crises averted! On with the show!

This is just about where the high-reach forklift stalled for an agonizing few minutes.

As the frame went up bent by bent, our crowd of spectators included people who not only jumped in any time the assembly crew needed a hand moving a beam or the like, but they were also oiling the tongue-and-groove subfloor/ceiling. Warren and I knew that a lot of people wanted to come and help at the raising party but also knew there would be much down time as far as needed man-/woman-power. Thus we set up work stations where people could oil a board here and there if they were so inclined. The idea was that if they wanted something to do, this would be a huge help to us! If they just wanted to spectate, that was great too! People were on board though and got the ball rolling with the oiling. They painted until we ran out of linseed oil! It started as an enormous stack of wood, but now there is just a relatively small stack left to finish. Some people came for the whole day, some people came for just a bit. It was a party!

Lots of things happening all at once!

All smiles from the sister!

Taking a break from oiling to simply enjoy the show. :)

Here I must mention my incredible mother. She was basically our caterer for the day. People brought chips and dips, snacks, drinks, one person brought a pie. It was wonderful. My mom went above and beyond! She planned out a full two-day menu! She made three separate trips out here throughout the day to deliver her homemade meals, which means she spent over three hours of her day driving! For breakfast we had biscuits and gravy; lunch was roast ham with scalloped potatoes and mushrooms, pasta salad, watermelon, marinated tomatoes and edamame, and vanilla bean cheesecake for dessert; and for dinner we devoured hot steak and chicken sandwiches with grilled veggies and provolone on ciabatta rolls. There was also chicken soup that was untouched because everyone was too full for more. Her timing for lunch was impeccable; the assembly crew was ready to break for lunch around 1:00 PM, and my mom arrived literally minutes after the figurative lunch bell was rung (aka the machines turned off). She insisted on bringing food today despite a very small workforce. Monkey bread for breakfast and a big roast for dinner. She says any leftovers can be frozen and used when baby comes in May or June. That is my mom—overly-generous, thoughtful, selfless, kind. A blessing.

All the dogs and me crowding the food table. Thanks everyone who brought food to share!

The rest of the bents went up without any huge catastrophes. A few holes were misaligned and had to be re-drilled. One of the commanders (large hammer for pounding joints into place) took a tumble down the ladder and a metal clamp fell to earth from the rafters, but no one and no thing was damaged. Some OSHA violations were certainly committed including Warren monkeying up the side of a bent to help install purlins into the rafters sans harness. No injuries aside from a few splinters (…as far as I know! How are everyone’s backs holding up today?)

Warren up on the roof with the commander.

Warren still on the roof, still receiving purlins, still without a harness.

The last beams to go in were the floor joists. They were lifted into place by pure woman-/manpower, so it was a group effort. The joists were lifted into the hands of two guys on ladders on either side who then slid them and pounded them into place. It was so fun to see so many of our friends lend a hand in this part of the raising! I tried to arrange the floor joists and purlins in such a way that the ones in a line matched and appeared to be one long continuous piece. Everyone was very patient with me as I made my somewhat arbitrary choices.

Up she goes! The one on the ladder on the left was also in the thick of the frame assembly much of the day.

Warren and I have talked in depth about raising day for years. Warren makes a living as a mechanical engineer/project manager. He also plays those same roles at home on this project as well. The fact that the day went so smoothly and according to our plan is a testament to his skills as both an engineer and a project manager. So many times throughout the day I had to just stop and look around in wonder at this dream come to life. From the frame to the oiling stations to the enthusiastic spectators and food—it was exactly as we envisioned it! There was a moment after the frame was up where I broke down and probably shocked Warren as I burst into a flood of joyous tears. It was such an incredible feeling finally seeing our creation standing.

It looks just like the CAD drawing! But prettier!

 I wasn’t the only misty-eyed one at the party. How special that these people wanted to be there to share in our momentous occasion. It is so meaningful that so many friends and family were involved on raising day and in the past years leading up to raising day. It brings me joy. It brings me humility. It brings me peace to have the support of so many. There was much excitement! I was in daze for most of the day, so I may have imagined it, but I am pretty sure I heard applause a couple of times during raising day.

Friends, family, neighbors.

We performed the topping-off ceremony once all the pieces of our house were in their final places. This is a timber framing tradition that spans millennia. Warren lifted the two of us in a man-lift to the peak of the house to attach a Douglas fir branch. We used a branch from the primary type of tree that was used in the frame. It is said that this ceremony is to appease the spirits of the trees. No one knows where this tradition began, but it seemed only proper to observe it.

Topped off to appease the spirits of the trees.

To everyone involved in the making of our timber frame, a heartfelt thank you. I am filled to the brim with love.

I know there are many months to come of hard work before we get to move into our handcrafted home, but yesterday was the pinnacle of the entire project. It is a day that will always stand out in our memory. It was a blessed day.