Handling a large oak beam

[RogerS]

I'm having delivered some oak beams, the largest of which is about 13 ft x 8 " x 10" and I calculate the weight of this to be about 140kg.

It will be delivered on the back of a flat base lorry without a crane. I need to get it off the lorry and then up the sloping drive (which is made of very loose gravel/rubble...definitely a weak surface) and then into the house.

As it's going to be happening during the day, getting hold of the local rugby team isn't an option.

What is there that I can economically hire to do the job? Travis Perkins Hire Shop are sadly out of their anti-gravity slings

 

[ByronBlack]

You could hire some large polish ex-military builders - we have loads of the fella's aroud here at the moment, lovely guys, thrice the size of us average humans ;-)

How about a couple of pump-trucks? Or do you need to raise these aswell?

 

[RogerS]

Pump-truck? Is that the thing you stick underneath a pallet? If so then the wheels are too small and will sink into the drive!

Like the idea of Polish muscle :wink: As an aside, they've moved on from the picking fields locally as it's too hard work/not enough money/better pickings elsewhere

 

[paulm]

Roger,

If you can locate a supplier of railway sleepers locally they may be able to hire out a sleeper dolly, basically an axle with a couple of wheelbarrow type wheels on mounted centrally under an angle iron frame and a handle that projects to waist height.

Not suprisingly used for wheeling sleepers around and as long as you can lift the sleeper on in the first place and mount it fairly centrally then the dolly takes a lot of the hard work out of it.

Failing that I resorted on occassion to lifting one end of the sleeper and walking it upright before letting it fall forwards in the direction I wanted and it was a suprisingly effective method of moving them over short distances of ten or fifteen yards. Obviously not the safest way mind !

Cheers, Paul.

 

[jasonB]

Plastic soil pipe works for me. A few short lengths and the beam will roll or slide on them. On short grass I have been able to push 10ft 8x8 with one finger.

A lot depends on the slope of your drive you may need to rig a snatch block and rope to pull it up once its on the rollers. something to stop it rolling back down is a must.

To get it of the lorry it is easiest to just roll it quater turn at a time until it drops of the side of the lorry, thats how I usually do it, just watch yourself when it drops.

From experience you will not really be phisycally able to pick up one end so a pry bar and a few blocks are the best bet to get it up onto the rollers.

The other alternative which I have used for assembly is a mini digger with a nylon strap around the bucket.

Jason

PS I think it will be nearer 200kg as fresh sawn oak is about 1000kg/m3

 

[JFC]

Cut them in half .




I'll get me coat .

 

[RogerS]

JasonB and chisel - two excellent suggestions...all workable, I reckon. Pictures to come!

JFC - I'll see you later :lol:

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

If I am understanding Chisel correctly, then maybe another place to try would be the local carpet shop? the dollies they use to roll arond the rolls of carpet may be suitable?

 

[Barreller]

Put one end on a sack truck and then strap it down. You might then be able to lift the other end with the help of a strap over the shoulder. Then wheel away. I did this with a 150mm by 150mm by 5.5 metre oak beam and it was easy.

Steve

 

[DomValente]

Personally I'd go with JasonB.
When deconstructing and rebuilding barns we used rollers, if the ground was gravelly wheels were a pig.

Dom

 

[dickm]

I've used various forms of home built trolleys for this sort of thing, but found the type of two wheeler that garden centres often use is best if you can get hold of one, because they have large balloon tyres. Otherwise, if feeling really wealthy, one of those Honda tracked carriers will go practically anywhere carrying up to half tonne, and can be hired from HSS.
Or best of all, a friendly local farmer with smaller rough terraing fork truck?

 

[Slim]

I had a similar problem when I built a large retaining wall with oak beams, probably of a similar size. I wasn't there when the delivery was taken and the customer told the driver just to dump them at the bottom of the drive which was probably about 50m long (and uphill). We humped them onto a trailer and drove them up, one by one.

 

[RogerS]

Thanks again, everyone, for the suggestions. Anything with small wheels will get bogged down. I did find a large wheeled trolley on ebay but reckon I'll go with JasonB's suggestion.

Of course, I could go for this

 

[JFC]

Why not just chuck shuttering ply over the drive and use a small wheeled trolley .

 

[ByronBlack]

Roger, with all the will in the world, I don't think a paper-model helicopter will do the job.

 

[RogerS]

Why not just chuck shuttering ply over the drive and use a small wheeled trolley .

Cost?

 

[jasonB]

The good thing with the soil pipe is that even if the pipe gets bogged in the gravel the beam will slide over the pipe as there is very little friction.

Jason

 

[AndyBoyd]

After our Italian supplier delivered them and he dumped it at the the bottom of our drive, I ummed and erred about how to move them to where we needed them (for our renovations on the chestnut roasting house, 2 of the main beam had nearly burned through after 250 years of said chestnut roasting :shock:

I eventually having tried plastic pipe as rollers Roman style (after all when in Italy) , (just ground to a halt in the gravel, and the beam slipped back on the stuck pipes as they were so slippy) lifting and tipping it over end to end (just once nearly managed it and it nearly landed on my leg) :shock: I just got an old climbing rope tied it to the car, tow hook and dragged it into location, I repaired the drive by filling in the furrow with some sand and them re brushing the stones back in place. The oak beams were so tough they were not damages at all.

So brute force won the day and eventually with a good block and tackle I hoisted it in place.

Now I think about it a block and tackle is also a good way to shift big things (find your local scout troop and ask if may borrow one) Mine has 3 wheels so the mechanical advantage is quite impressive - but boy do you need a long rope.

 

[AndyBoyd]

Why not just chuck shuttering ply over the drive and use a small wheeled trolley .

Cost?

You only need 2 sheets Roger, just keep moving them

 

[JFC]

About £15 per sheet .