6900 Hunters Knoll Remodel Project

December 12th

Completion date estimate +42 .. and counting...

Tower and Hydraulic Lift delivery day!

    After weeks of logistic obsessing about
    getting my two 1500 lb loads (one from
    Fresno, CA and one from Wichita, KS)
    to be delivered on the same day -- we won!

    Here's the truck delivering the tower
    and the lift.
    Here's Rick (the forklift guy) picking
    up the lift (for the garage, remember?)
    from his flatbed truck.
    Here comes the lift up the driveway.
    Since the slab in front of the garage
    hasn't been poured yet, the best we
    could do was to slide the lift into
    the garage.
    Well, it's in! Where it will stay
    for a week or so until the garage
    is finished. We'll just work around
    it. Now, on to the tower...
    Here comes the hard part. The
    tower crate is 3' x 3' x 23' and
    weighs 1500 lbs. All we have to
    do is lift it off the truck, bring
    it into the back yard, position it
    precisely to attach to the base and
    lift it into place. Simple.
    Well, it's off the truck and onto the
    forklift; here it comes.
    Rick is rotating the tower around
    preparatory to putting it down in
    the side yard.
    Repositioning the forklift at the base
    of the tower, Rick now plans to drag it
    into the back yard.
    The tower still has to be rotated
    90 degrees from where you see it; we
    decided to uncrate it here to make it
    more maneuverable.
    Gael is clearly thrilled with the
    idea of the tower going up. Really.

    (She hides her "thrill level" quite well)...
    At least the bottom of the tower is
    "aimed" properly at the base. Vince is
    leveling the base mounting screws. The
    tower needs to be plumb, of course.
    Rick (on the forklift) operates that
    thing with the precision of a surgeon.
    Here he and Angel are getting the base
    positioned perfectly for attachment to
    the base.
    It's almost attached. It pivots upright
    on two of the bolts and then the other
    ten are placed with the tower vertical.
    Watch...
    OK. The pivot bolts are in and the
    forklift's job is done.
    ..And so we bid a fond farewell to
    Rick the forklift guy. Without him,
    no tower, no lift. Thanks, Rick!

    And now, tower going up...
    We've attached the (you should pardon
    the expression) "erection device" and
    Winston has started cranking the tower
    into its upright and locked position (sorta
    like an airline tray table...) It's up about
    30 degrees at this point.
    And here, at 45 degrees...
    And here, it's up and bolted in
    place. We connected the motor
    and this is me operating the
    switch that drives the tower to
    its fully extended height of 72
    feet!