Timber Frame Barn Raising: Our Biggest Challenges Yet

So what happens when your dream barn turns into an unexpected battle against gravity, logistics, and just the sheer scale of this? We set out to raise this epic timber frame barn with just two guys and we did run into quite a few obstacles so we're going to show you along the way the problems that we had and how we had to overcome them and still get this thing raised. It's big Jay. It's really big Dan and it's going to get bigger. All right here goes everything. All right let's pull this out. Okay and then put this guy down in here. Oh look at you go Dan go. No need for that. Let's come down with this seat. Let's see. Why don't I try it. One, two. Hey there you go. Teamwork. Two guys. What the hell? Where's our third or fourth guy? Okay we're sliding over here. Tracks working. Track it if you can. What's up? Pull up if you can. Good. Yeah. Keep going. That's good right there. Yeah it's starting to look pretty big. I'm running out of board though. Yeah let me get some extension going. Just got to see how this crane handles when it takes the whole weight. Yeah. That's going to be interesting. This little jump right there. It's going to swing out here in a second. Keep my toes clear. Keep your toes clear. Just stay clear of this whole crane and everything. It goes. It goes. Okay I got you. I've got my escape route in my head. Are you going in your hole? You want me to go down for the insertion here? All right. That's the hole for me. Can you get up and hold it down? Hold it what down? Like just make sure it stays on. Does it come out? I need another inch. Hold down. I'm trying. All right I'm over. What happens when you let go? Does it just go up? Nope. You want me to come over there? I do. I can't do this alone. Okay. I don't know if I want you on this side. What's that? Why? Just a little stretch. We're almost there. Let's see. Want me to put some weight down on it? Yeah. Oh I can't see. Oh there we go. Sorry I'm missing the hole. Pull your weight if you can. I can't. I can't do the control. Okay. Hang on. So you want me to go down a little bit? Just go down and touch it. Just I There we go. Okay now I need to break. Oh there it is. Oh ----. Right there. Damn it. I gotta go down a little. Go ahead. Go down. Go down. Go down. Go down. Pull the muscles here. What's going on? There we go. It's in. Fingers clear. All right. Go to the other side please. Thank you. I'm seating. Getting close. I'm an inch out. You're about three inches out. Good. That's a good idea. You're so close. What do you need? Just hold on to that. Got it. It's tall. I had no idea. Seated on the table. Looks like the gate to Jurassic Park. There it's coming. It actually moved a little bit when you did that. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Hold on to it. Okay. Yep. Still. Keep going. It's going. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Every tap's taking it down a quarter inch. You got it? Yep. You should be fully seated. I'm yeah. I'm right on the plate. I'm down. There it goes. There it goes. Should strap this thing off to the truck. I've got nothing on this side. That rope doesn't reach the truck either. No, it doesn't. Let's do this. Would a big strap reach it? It's pretty badass. It's huge. God damn. I don't know what that's going to do without fastening it. Do we get up there to get a strap? I don't know. I don't think my silver ladder will do that. That's crazy though. It's tall. It's so tall. I mean, we're looking at it for months. I had no idea. Scary now. Hey look, anywhere near this big on the table. The first one's always the hardest to get up, get yourself set up, but this thing was big. Yeah, I'm kind of sitting here in awe of how tall this actually is. And we're going to be building a second story above it. Oh, help us. We're going to get the sides put up here. Hopefully that'll go a little bit smoother. And yeah, heavy, heavy, heavy. Pray for our souls. Okay guys, morning day three of the barn build. And I think Jason and I did a pretty good job yesterday about getting up quite a bit of the frame here. What is that? Is that store-bought lumber? Jay, I'm not telling anything. I got the bill. That's $300 worth of lumber right here. The only thing we use this for is for bracing. So I didn't want to waste my good wood and we bought some stuff right there. Now guys, the assembly on this, this is just two guys that were able to do this. Yes, I had a crane, but we put up quite a bit of frame here yesterday. And most of the reason why is that if you look at our other episodes, we check, we double check, and we actually work and dry fit all of our frames together on the table. These things went together perfectly. The draw boys drew together perfectly. And I'm actually excited to get the next step of the frame up, Jay. Let's get this thing built. But for a couple of days, guys, this is a pretty big frame. So stick with us. We're going to get it done today. Not bad for a couple of knuckleheads. Really pinchy. All right, we got to check the peg. Check the marking. We're good, right? P9 it says. Okay. Just make sure at least on post side. So the hole fit in the other one at all. So don't mess you up again. Are you going to be all right? Yeah. Oh, hold on. Just grab, grab. I got to, I got this. Oh ----. Okay. A little bit more bro. There we go. Tell me when I'm through. Very, very thankful. All right. So I got to go to you a little bit, right? Just, I mean, a couple inches. Ready? Yep. Now I'm ready. I'm going to swing a little. Okay, swinging. That's all we need right there. Coming down. Coming down. Six inches, four inches above the middle. Okay. Hitting on the middle. Hang on. Let me take a look. All right. Yeah. Come on down just a touch if you can. A little bit more. Let me try to get mine. Okay. Come on down. You got your rope in the way down there? Okay. We're pretty much just everything slightly tabbed in. You want me to come down and go up? God dang. We should be able to, we should be able to at least tab this thing. From here? Is your rope in the way? Yeah. Well then you're, we're pretty close. Come on down. See what happens. Oh, I'm in my tab. Are you? All right. We'll do it then. What I'm not in is in the knee brace tab. You want me to come down and go up? I'm going to come down a smidge until we hit that knee brace. Okay. All right. We're sitting pretty solid right now. I just can't see if I'm going to make the, I can't tell from here. It should get started. It wants to, that wants to go, my post wants to go that way a little bit. I need it. I mean, you've got a quarter inch here where it's sitting a little tight. If this shifts all the poles. I got you. Okay. Are you in there tight? No, I'm not in tight, but I'm everything's not coming out. I'm just wondering if I can wheel you where you can grab this. I don't think this thing's going to wheel. I can just come down and go up there and come down and are you not able to get it up there? You have the big hammer, don't you? I do, but I don't have the plastic one. Do you want a wooden hammer? Sure. Watch yourself coming down. Oh, does it need pressure while it comes down? Cause I can come over and push on it while you, it's almost like I need to come down and pull this all. I need you to be able to pull this towards you a half an inch. I need to be where you are right there or on there. Okay. Well, you can try to better come down and we'll just move it. Okay. You can see the pole needs to go to. Yeah, I got you. God dang it. What's wrong? It's as close. I don't know. God damn. Shit's strong for real. Cause this actually wants to go that way a hair. The beam does? Yeah. You see what I mean? Oh, we need that, but I don't know if you actually, can we hold on just a second? I can push this. Let me get the dangerous ---- out of the way here. There you go. Everybody's in? Yeah. I mean, it's good. It's a little snug here. Let me see where you're at. You're sitting here. You might try to come down. Okay. You might need the big hammer and start tapping that. There you go. Like that. So that one's yeah. All right. That one's not where I could be sitting up yet. Oh yeah. Sorry. What happens if you do that? That's what I was going to say. It came down a little. Did it? I think it's fighting. You know what? The outside knee brace is not up. Oh, did it bounce out? Shit. Because we lift. fourth day of assembly guys. And yeah, I think we did pretty good. This is a massive, massive building and it came together perfectly. So we're going to just hang the last two sections that we can hang before we have to, uh, let's say reset up. And I'll tell you why. It was a beautiful beast. It's a beast. Who's walking up there. Yeah. Raccoons. This one's I don't know how it can get any heavier. Whoa. Wow. All right. Watch the scrape on these guys. Hang on. Hang on. Uh, maybe not. I gotta go up. What's up? Well, that's why my crane is pulling it that way. I'm going to reset, but I can put this beam in the way here. I got to get up and over this. Can I get right now? I got to get up and over this. Okay. Are you going to reset right now that I need to put? No. Oh, we're good. I don't think so. Oh, okay. All right. I think she just settled in. We're just right above the, oh, there we go. Now we're up above the pins. When you get a chance, I need help getting up onto the sled. Okay. You good over there? Yeah. We need the pry bar. No, I think if we just, if you just help me pick it up, I think it's going to float onto there. One, two, three. There we go. Hold on. I kind of put this like this, so it would just run on itself. I got you. A little ramp action. I'm good. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Get under this. No doubt. One, two. Need the other side torqued around. Watch yourself. Timber tip. When playing with cranes, always stay out of the fall zone. It's a good tip, Dan. I don't think a hard hat is going to help you. I don't think a hard hat is going to do diddly. One, two, three. Don't go off it. Okay. Okay. This one looks bigger. It does look bigger. Welcome to Jurassic Park. There we go. About ready to float. Let's move it forward if we can. Okay. One, two, three. Okay. Minimal damage. Can I come up? Let me see. Yeah. How far do we need to go? Right. All right. There you go. Out of the way. Okay. Cool. Okay. There we go. We're floating. I'm floating. Pretty good right now. Looking pretty good. Let me swing just a smidge to me. Okay. Let me get out the way. There you go. Man, it's close for me. Pretty close. Nice driving, Dan. I'm going up. Go up. I'm over. I'm on the mud. I'm a little shy. I'm two inches shy. All right. Hang on. We're going up a winch. Get your feet out from underneath. Yep. I'm all good. Toes are clear. All right. I'm good. Now we're tilted, obviously, this way. So we are. By the way, we have it rigged. Does it come back? Oh, I see what you're saying. Okay. Let's get somebody pinned first. Okay. You want me to try? I'm going to keep my fingers out of the way, Dan. Oh, I'm right there. I'm coming down slow. Yeah, I'm a half inch off, so I'm in. Okay. Barely, but I'm in. I should be in too. You look pretty close. You want me over there or you want me to watch this? Problem is, for me to get this straight, I've either got to... Do me a favor. Let's get out of there for a second because I got to pull up to get us to... All right. So abandon the hole? Yeah. Oh, there it goes. Floats out anyway. Okay. Now we're going to get your hole in. Go again? All right. I'm going to come down a couple. Okay. Tuck and roll. If I scream, tuck and roll. I will. I'm out of here, man. About an inch. We're in. It wants to float up. Do you want me to come over there? Actually, come. You've got room to come down a couple inches on your side, so come on down. I'll come over. Keep going a little bit more. Right there. We should be close. Yeah, we got to be, man. It looks really close. You're on your edge, right? Yeah. Okay. Oh, shoot. I need my glasses. My other glasses. All right. I think we're right there. The parallax is messing with me. Ready? Yeah. Yep. We're in. Okay. Okay. Yeah. There you go. That's better than what you're doing. A little bit better. I can't get much on it, but don't worry if she tilts. I'm out of here. I'm going to come down a little. Come on down. Yep. I'm good. Come on. What? Yeah. Go. Yep. Yep. All right. Everything's sealed. That's beautiful. I think so. Yeah. I'm down. Are you down? I'm all the way down. You're all the way down. I still got a lot of pressure on this, so okay. Let's get a one of those 20 foot bad boys. Okay. Good. What's that? Oh, I was just pulling. Are we good? I'm going to try to do this. Oh. You like those eight by eights, don't you? I do. We're going. You all right? Yep. I'm going. You yell at me if I need to stop. Good. Hey, mom. I don't know why it's not moving on me here. Oh, I see because we're tilted. Okay. Okay. You keep going. You all right? Yeah. I'm going. All right. Go for it. It's going to be a lot easier on me. There we go. Okay. We're up. Floating. Let's see where we're at here. I am going to have to boom up. Okay. What do you need? Nothing. Hold on to that pole. Got it. Okay. I have to swing a little. Okay. How's that tab looking? We were good for a minute. Okay. Hang on. Let me swing. It says to hang more. Okay. Looking better. All right. I need to either swing your way. I got to suck to make that happen. Okay. All right. I need to do this. I'm going to go up. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I'm going to come down. My feet are clear. Ah. Okay. Coming down. Down. All right. I'm on line here. We're on the peg. Okay. I'm going to go up. Okay. We need to get a strap. I can tell. I know. I just need like a half inch up. Yeah. We'll go right there. You good? The lower we go, the better. Yep. Okay. Okay. Yep. Five inches out. I'm definitely two. You're still two out there? Yeah. I didn't start pulling yet. We're also high. We're going to come down. I can't tell. You are damn close to five inches. Oh, that comes in big time. Okay. Now we're on it a little bit. I still got to go three inches. Yeah. Am I hitting the post? Well, yeah. We're just grazing it, but yeah. I'm going to have to pick it up to make it happen. Yeah. It's because it's going to give you some resistance. All right. There you go. You got to go back up again. Okay. Pin is a little... I'm going to run up and see if I can pick this thing. What do you need? Hang on one sec. Okay. I'm going to be able to... Pulling it in. Okay. That should be no issue. All good? Yeah. What have we got? Two inches? Yeah. About an inch and a half, I think. Do I got to go up or... No. Right now you're good. So give it a crank and... Okay. Hold on. That's all. Hold on. You might want to go up just a touch to make it easier. It's just dragging. Not good. Okay. Hold on. Let's see. What? Almost. One more crank, I think. You got it? I'd say that was all I had. Let me try. I might be able to push on it too. There it is. There it is. Good job. Are we in? Yep. Coming down. Coming down. Nice. Beautiful. So Close? Three feet. Okay. I'm gonna have to boom down. Okay. That's coming in pretty good. I think I got to go up and boom some more. Okay. Booming. Booming. Oh, that's pretty good. Hang on. Come on down. I could pick it up and try to move out. I'm right. I'm all. I'm in. I just have to drop this tab to make this tab over this low overlap. So come on down a little bit. Let me see if that works. I'm not going to be able to go anymore. Oh. You see this tab diving into this tab. I know. Here. Even if I got to go out a little bit, you know what I mean? Yeah. I got you. Do your thing. Still a lot, isn't it? Uh, yeah. If you can swing out further though, I can set this side in and then we can. So just come out another, like a, can you go out like a foot? I think I have an idea that without dropping it, you can drop it a little bit. Oh wait. But if I go in, then that's I've got to be able to pop up a little bit. That's why I loosened this that I can hopefully pull it out. I don't know. That's too much right now. I'm going to come down. Let's see if we ever make it. That's it right there. You're both of yours. Yes. We're both in, but I don't know if you're going to have much. Why don't you give it a try? That's why I have the rope. I've got to be able to pull this wall out. Yeah. Okay. Oh man. That's a lot of tension over here. Am I high enough though? Oh, you know, you might be right there, Dan. I can move this pretty good. Stop moving. What? Huh? It's moving. I'm just stuck right here. I'm trying to come over to assist you here. Oh, I see what you're saying. You want to pull me in so I can deal with this stuff over here to help you? Going off the edge there. I don't know. Good. All right. All right. This thing is in the way. It shouldn't be once we get. I see what you're saying. I got you. Okay. So we're going to have the problem here. We're having is now that I'm up here. When you, when we, when you pull that, we end up being an inch lower than the tab. I'm just going to have to at the right. We're going to have to get where we need to be. I'm going to just come. Okay. Yeah. And I need to, I need it. I can't get much talk on it this way. So actually, you know, if I sit on the beam, I might be able. Oh, I can't. We're not stabilized. All right. I'm about ready to, this isn't helping either. Tricky. Yeah. I have no, I think the other method worked better. Yeah. There you go. What? Let's see. I'm thinking about strapping it to the Tukahatchee. Hang on. What? I don't think you'll be able to hold it. Huh? We're almost there. Ready? Yeah. Oh, you got to let it down. That's the thing. Tell me when. Okay. Let me see if I can get it seated. Right. It needs to go. Yeah. Oh ----. I don't have any leverage. The car keeps rolling. Your knee brace is in. This one's, am I sitting out a little? I still gotta go that way, right? We do. I'm going to put more weight on it. Yes, please. There it goes. You're in. The whole thing slid in. All right. There it goes. Oh, well. If I pull on this, just tell me if we wiggle at all. Very little wiggle, but it does a little bit. Okay. Not much. Okay. It shimmies more than wiggles. We're really there. We're there. I haven't checked even the flushness of the holes, but these are ready to go. One of the most massive, massive problems that we faced here, just being two guys, is all of the walking around and up and down ladders on this one scaffolding that we have for this giant frame here. Yes. When you have 400 other people, someone can get this handed to you. No, up and down, up and down all day long. So honestly, guys, this is where we have to stop at this point because my crane is at the maximum reach of where we're not going to be able to put the roof on. I'm not renting a crane. I have a crane. So this is where we stop and we start to rebuild the back section and we'll move our way forward to our crane can get it. And we'll just keep going with this massive barn, Jay. And more up the ladder, down the ladder. We're going up and down.