When faced with foundation repair or remodeling work that requires me to go under a house with a crawlspace, my most-prized tools are my roller conveyors. As shown in the drawing, I load soil or concrete into a site-built plywood box sized for the clearances dictated by the depth of the crawlspace and the size of the opening in the side of the house. With a rope on each end of the box, moving material becomes the easiest part of the work. The bonus part of the job is getting to ride in and out on a piece of plywood. Watch your head.
Conveyors can be useful in other parts of the house, too. On one job, we used a section supported by a pipe scaffold to roll a 31/2-in. by 24-in. by 26-ft. section of LVL beam into an attic. It worked like a charm.
Roller conveyors are widely used in industry and are not hard to find used. New ones are expensive but could still pay off on the first job.
—Jim Good, Fox, AR
Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #193
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