The beams used to make the Oak frame are very large and very heavy and not the sort of thing that you want to be lifting by hand on a building site so the first job of the day is to get the crane set up in the correct place to offload the beams from the delivery lorries. The crane is then used to move the beams into the correct place so that they can be fixed together.

The crane looks to be quite small, about the size of a medium van, but then the outriggers are extended to give it stability.

Then the crane driver extends the the boom and it no longer looks that small!

As I mentioned, the beams are very heavy and arrive in 2 loads so that they can get up the steep slopes to the site.

The crane makes short work of unloading the bundles of beams from these lorries and stacking them on the site.

We finish up with lots of bundles of Oak beams on the site, all with our name on them!.

I have to go to the hire shop for a generator and some other bits and pieces and by the time I get back the main posts are already up.

The crane lifts the apex to the front frame into place.

and is then fixed to the frame.

The rear apex has already been fitted to the frame.

Is this really only the second day? The site seems to have changed a lot in just one day.

As you can see, the weather is not very good and the wind is due to pick up later in the day but we hope that this will not be bad enough to stop the crane before the days work is completed.

The sling braces are the beams that rise from the side posts to support the rafters.

The sling braces are assembled

and then lifted by the crane

into the oak frame by the main post

where it is fixed into position.

The next job is to fit the rafters to the sling braces.

The rafters are assembled

and then lifted by the crane

into the oak frame by the main post

where they are fixed onto the sling braces.

The beams are lifted by the crane

into the oak frame

where they are fixed into position.

All the oak beams are now in place and the crane has completed its job without any delays although it has been raining on and off during the day.

While there is still some light left the frame is checked ready for the final few jobs tomorrow.

The team set off back home to leave us to admire their handiwork.

We are delighted with our Oak frame and everyone who has seen it has said how good it looks.