And setting roof trusses for Rice County Habitat for Humanity…..

We wish everyone a safe and prosperous New Year for 2012! 

Now we are busy installing proper structural supports in the living room. The architects specified microlam beams in several locations. But in two locations they specified microlam beams with a steel flitch plate sandwiched between the microlam layers. We constructed this in the shop by drilling holes in the steel plate and bolting the steel plate between the two microlam members. We countersund the bolts so that they will not interfer with the finish trim to be applied to the beams. It is a bit of a job lifting these beams in place, but they will surely take the load once the jacks are removed. At the perimeter of the room we have fastened a microlam ledger to support the new beams. At set locations we also fasten the ledger beam to the existing wall framing using steel angles and through bolts, making everything work together.

Power Engineers is a much larger design firm with headquarters in Idaho. They plan to continue the type of work that PDG has done and I suspect will be adding additional employees at the Northfield location. To help that effort they are leasing a third space above the bank. We are doing some remodeling to make the new space suit their needs. I appreciate that the bank continues the tradition of matching existing trims. We had the custom oak trims made to match the existing profiles in this building.

The first order of business was to remove the existing ceiling finish material and expose the structure above. When that was done we discovered 2×6 joists. Some of the joists had been severely notched by long ago plumbers. Another joist was cracked and had a splice patch nailed alongside of it. Because of the framing, plumbing, existing finishes, etc we will be installing a series of support beams under the joists. But first we are slowly jacking the joists up to try and remove some of the floor sag.

Later in the evening Ellen and I went to downtown Northfield for the annual Winter Walk. It was a perfect night for being downtown. The streets were blocked off and draft horse teams were giving rides in wagons. A special treat this year was a sleigh being pulled by honest to goodness reindeer. There was a giant snowman roaming around saying hello to children.

The public library had a wonderful display of trains. There were several O gauge layouts that were so popular when I was young. There were some HO layouts, and even one that was running on the small N gauge track. But the train I liked the best was the large steam engine tractor. I’m not sure what the scale is, but it was made by a local man in 1961. It burns coal to create steam and is quite powerful. In the library the operator was using compressed air to make everything turn…and to blow the whistle from time to time. It took tremendous skill for the maker to use metal lathes and cutting gear to create this steam engine. It is often at the Rice County Steam and Tractor show on Labor Day weekend.

One of the challenges in remodeling older homes is compliance with current building codes. The one major issue we had to deal with on this home was the bow window in the main bedroom. The existing bow window had four separate windows. None of the windows was wide enough to meet current egress regulations. So we had to remove the bow window and replace it with a newly framed bay window….with three separate windows. This allowed us to gain the necessary width to create a legal egress window for the bedroom.