After having our first neighborhood party yesterday (which was great fun; we have such good neighbors), we began work on the vigas (wood beams) today. We needed to move the first two, which will be beams that run vertically from floor to ceiling to support the clerestory windows. (The rest of the vigas, which are roughly twice as long, will run along the width of the ceiling in the great room.)

Even though they are smaller, these first two weigh roughly 250 pounds each, so we had to be clever about how to move them.

First, we took them off the pile and stood them up, no small task in and of itself.

Then we built a contraption to balance the viga on the wheelbarrow.

Our poor wheelbarrow!

Then on to the slab.

Obviously, there were parts of this process that remain unphotographed because it took both of our focused attention (and brawn:).

Now, we’re leveling off the bottoms to prepare for mounting them to the slab, which will involve drilling holes and epoxying bolts in.