Let the crane take the strain

Yesterday, with the help of a crane, the remaining 11 cruck frames were lifted into position and braced.

Ideally all the cruck frames would have been prepared in advance and stacked so that they 'only' had to be lifted when the crane was on site. But we aren't working under ideal conditions. The weight of the frames together with the necessity of having to straighten up the cut edges of the rib beams (cuts made on site by Vision weren't straight) before assembly meant that we were only able to pre-assemble two frames at any one time. Once we had 6 frames up there was only room to make up 1 more frame on the plinth wall. The original intention had been to make up the remaining frames on bandstands behind the building. But as the plinth walls were being used to determine the adjustments required to the beams this wasn't possible.

Our neighbour and the crane driver came up with the solution. Each cruck frame was assembled on the plinth wall before being lifted over the fence and stacked in the plot next door. Once the final frame had been assembled and erected the remaining crucks were lifted back over and into place.

It was a long, tiring day but by 6pm all the crucks were up and in place... and looking good!

Kudos to Mark Borely, Richard Small, Lew Foote and Richard on the crane and to neighbours Tom and Bryan Mears - we couldn't have done it without you!

#Woodlands #strawbalehouse #cruckframe