Tooling Up – Beams Installed!

Before I actually got to bolting the new consolidated beams into place I treated the bottom foot of some 2×10 interior support posts that I will add to the inside of each existing telephone pole-style post… for a sort of added insurance policy to ensure these massive beams have enough support. This shop is quite old, and although the end posts appear to be very stout, I just want another layer of support just in case.

Since the bottom of these support boards will be resting upon the concrete floor, any power washing or water action on the floor will eventually see the bottom of these boards sucking up water and then rotting away. So yesterday I coated the bottom with some outdoor roof-sealing caulk. Today I’ll use the same water sealer as I did on the roof, and then cover that with some white water-resistant primer.

Here is the right hand interior added post support board ready to be cut to length and installed.

While the sealing paint was drying, I then got to work on finishing up drilling the aft bolt strap that connects the top set of beam bolts to the bottom set of post bolts.

After I drilled the strap and installed the bolts on the right side I primed the post with a couple of coats to ensure it would dry before the interior added post support board was installed.

You may wonder why I painted the entire post? Well, the tar, pitch or whatever coating they put on these poles to preserve them is quite overpowering. It’s not as bad now in cooler weather with the shop opened up and a breeze going through, but believe me, the smell is quite overpowering and it has to be dealt with as best possible.

Eventually, as I get to each post, they’ll all get covered in primer and painted to help seal in that awful smell!

Here is the left side (looking into the shop from front) beam secured to the post via 5/8″ lag bolts.

This makes the beams officially installed! Of course I still have to drill and install the 8 pairs of 1/2″ lag bolts in the interior of the beam at each internal support block point. I also need to nail in hurricane straps on the aft side between the new beams and ceiling/roof joists.

At that point I’ll be officially finished with the beam install and can start dismantling the front and aft temp walls.

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