I’m about to start a new house and would like to keep the labor costs down. I’m always looking for better and more efficent ways to do things. I picked up Larry Hauns framing videos and found the only time he had more then two guys framing was of course raising walls. Has anyone used the Proctor wall jacks? It seems that two guys can lift a wall with relative ease. I’m not proud and will take any advise I can get. Thanks in advance.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Deckorators Voyage decking, which is mineral-based rather than made of a plastic or wood composite, is lightweight and doesn't expand and contract as much as standard composite decking.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
I won't speak to the wall jack issue but my back and other body part still remember how lucky they were when three of us grabbed a way over built (for three people) wall and lifted. Only luck kept someone from getting seriously hurt. I have seen the video on those and (jacks) and they sure would have been handy that day. It was way too heavy to lift but I was too far under to stop when I realized it but nothing broke.
john
We are using jacks by Tranzsporter. Google for them and you will find.
They are sold by, among others, Black Bear Ladder of somewere in Maine. Less expensive than Proctors, and even better in some respects. I paid $725 for a pair of 16s, delivered.
The first wall we lifted, framed in 2x6 and loaded with windows and heavy headers, fully sheathed and housewrapped, was 45 feet long. Easy as pie with two people.
Gene Davis, Davis Housewrights, Inc., Lake Placid, NY
Edited 6/8/2005 6:05 am ET by Ima Wannabe
I paid about seven bills for my Proctors so not much price difference
well worth it to save a trip to the doctors
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
andre.... lot's people have used and continue to use Proctor's..
not only can two guys raise a wall... but even one can, working alone..
they give you as close to ultimate control over the wall as you can get..
even safer than a crane ( nothing overhead )
"...safer than a crane ( nothing overhead )"
We had a wall panel slip off a hook once. Crane guy had it WAY up in the air for some reason. Swung it over the deck to set it at the back of the house.
The panel came loose and hit the floor. It was a 16' long 2X6 wall panel 8' tall, with OSB on it. So it had enough weight to drive itself through the subfloor and a couple of floor trusses.
Anybody standing under it would likely have been killed.
Bumpersticker: I brake for…wait…AAAH!…NO BRAKES!!!!!
I went for the Proctor wall jacks a couple of months ago. They were only used for the really long walls and sit around idle most of the time, however, I wouldn't be without them. We are planning to use them to set 3-18"x30' LVL's for an under ridge support [don't ask me I need the under ridge support, ask the engineer :-) ], and we're also planning to use them to lift some long porch LVL beams 10' up. When this project is over, I won't sell them, but plan to hold on to them because of their versatility.
Roger <><
Roger,
I've got a stupid question for you.... I've got Proctors (20'ers) and use 'em all the time for gables and long walls. Considered using them for a monster ridgebeam not too long ago but brought in a boom truck instead. All right.... here goes..... how do you brace them so they don't take a dive and yet not have the bracing in the way of what you're lifting straight up?
I actually havn't done this, but I got the idea from a web page that talked about other uses of the proctor wall jacks. The idea is also similar to a gin pole setup (see article: FHB May 1982 Raising Heavy Timber by Trey Loy)
Place the jacks in the ridge line straight up and down slightly off center from where you are lifting
use a 7 or so inch long x 1/2 bolt in place of the pin connecting the two tubes
bolt a 2x6 brace at a diagonal back of the ridge line (on each jack to help keep the jacks sturdy)
put one or two 2x6 diagonal braces perpendicular to each brace above[at this stage your jacks are in position to lift straight up and down]
put your ridge at the foot of the jacks and attach to the lifting bracket/"hook"
before lifting, brace off in front of the ridge with a vertical 2x4 off-set from the ridge centerline by 1/2 the width of your ridge [this will keep the ridge from flopping forward as you jack it up]
jack it up until it's where you want it (may even be able to set the stop where you want the ridge to stop)You could also add bracing in front of the jack once you get the ridge up high enough.
once you have the ridge up there, get some stiff knees under it to make sure it's stable before removing the jacks.
This is what I'm planning on doing. Make sure your bracing is real solid; test it: jump on it, have "Bubba" run into it or something. Be careful.
Roger, thanks. However I think you've confirmed my fears... it's all in the bracing. See, the thing about bracing is... how much is enough or too much? No matter what you're doing, right? Too much bracing eats up time=labor=$$$$. Not enough bracing equals anything from frustration to a life altering experience occuring while you watch your $1000 wall jacks and an $800 beam demolish half the house you just framed while putting half your crew on the 15 day DL.
That's what happened when I contemplated using the jacks for the 48' double 16" lvl ridge I set on the last house. $200 for a boom truck... no worries... done. $200 in labor goes pretty fast when you're fiddling around trying to build a radio tower out of 2x4's that pretty much needs to withstand a scud missle strike.
Sometimes those jobsite "cost benefit analysis" done unconsciously while I'm concentrating on sixteen other things actually pay off.
Edited 6/10/2005 3:35 pm ET by dieselpig
Thanks for the info guys.
A pair of wall jacks are in the budget. As this was my first post on FHB, and with the exception of one post on tdr this stuff is new to me. I'm sitting in my leather recliner in the gold country of the Sierras and reading a respose from Lake Placid and thinking what a small world this place has become with the net. Thanks
again for taking time to responed.
Welcome. By coming here, you hit the motherlode!