Beams and Columns: Part I

With the arrival of the steel beams and girders, this is the first day of the installation. If all of the pieces fit together without a hitch, we’ll have two floors and a roof-frame erected in the next two months. There are parts of construction that are detailed and slow to show progress, but steel erection happens rapidly and the transformation of the job site is quite dramatic. This building, is quite literally, on it’s way up.

The steel beams are carefully unloaded from the truck bed and placed on wooden timbers (below) so that the crane cable can easily be attached for lifting. Yes exactly, watch your toes.

The steel erectors guide the beams into position with the help of a lassoed rope and signaling directions to the crane operator. Once the beams are closely aligned, several bolts are inserted in the connector holes to hold the members in place as the next piece is craned in.

When there are beams weighing several tons each, aligning the connectors hole-for-hole can be a delicate maneuver, sometimes requiring the persuasion of a heavy steel spike and brute force.

As the lead steel erector places the steel beams, his partner follows behind inserting the remaining bolts. Later, all of these connections will be finished off with full weld beads.