Oversized Mantel

artisanstone

Here's a sequence of installing a 2,700# stone as a mantel, 12 ft. in the air, inside a house.

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Bill Baddorf
Bill@artisanstoneworks.net
www.artisanstoneworks.net
www.stonefoundation.org

CJKarl

I have a 1400 LB mantle coming up. I told the quarry to cut it into thirds.

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BuiltByMAC

Good job! That's a beefy looking lift, too - must'a been a job just getting the lift itself set up and into place...

Was that a manual come-a-long or is there a motor I'm not seeing?

Mac

Railman

It's manual. In the last pict, he's cranking on the handle...second pict shows come-along handle.

artisanstone,
That looks a bit scary!
Is that your hoist, or rental?
Will the center of mantle be supported when done? I'm not a mason, but that thing would be bad news if the mantle center cracked at a later date!
Thanks for posting picts.

I used to do a fair amount of crane work when framing for 20 years. I was taught to always use a spreader above the load. It distributes the weight evenly over the load, keeps the pull line square to the load, keeps load level, stops chains from sliding, & is simply much safer. It's easy to do, & is cheap insurance to keep from losing control at an inopportune time. I would have either used either all chain to lift, or all straps, so as to not have strap stretch more than chain when lifting.

Obviously you "got r done" so all is well!
Joe

artisanstone

I guess it does look a little bit redneck. That is my bridge crane. I had an engineer friend design it specifically for this job and I purchased the materials/built it. I used the chain for the lifting and the strap was just backup. I was a little nervous when I did this (3-4 years ago) just thinking of the possibilities. The hoist is manual, and rated for 3.5 metric tons. It attaches to a 4,000# trolley which hangs from a cross beam which is supported in turn by 2 2,000# trolleys. Essentially, I can move the stone back and forth as well as forward and back. I built columns up below the subfloor to carry the weight. I think next time, I may just set the crane on heavy sleepers and spread the load over a bunch of joists.

__________________
Bill Baddorf
Bill@artisanstoneworks.net
www.artisanstoneworks.net
www.stonefoundation.org

artisanstone

BTW, My next goal is to build an entire fireplace out of stones this size/weight. I just need the right client.

__________________
Bill Baddorf
Bill@artisanstoneworks.net
www.artisanstoneworks.net
www.stonefoundation.org

Railman

artisanstone,
You did a great job on building that hoist! Nothing redneck about it! I was wondering how you get the beams & trolly set above the posts. That must be the hardest part of setting up.

I was kinda wondering myself what you were bearing it on, before you posted about shoring it up to floor below.

That is one nice looking fireplace!
Joe

artisanstone

In the last pic you can see the smaller hoist arm we use on scaffolding. It sometimes has a winch mounted on it, sometimes a pulley. We used that to lift the components of the crane. The crane is designed to use regular scaffold x-bracing to keep from racking.

__________________
Bill Baddorf
Bill@artisanstoneworks.net
www.artisanstoneworks.net
www.stonefoundation.org

CJKarl

Just checked out your website. You do some way cool stuff.

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There's Always A Market For Quality
http://www.kaufmannmasonry.com/

CJKarl

A lot of that stuff, you just can't use a level and strings.

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There's Always A Market For Quality
http://www.kaufmannmasonry.com/

doubleaction

If you had some 4x4, braced with 2x that would be redneck.

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