I finished the first floor SIPs on May 5. After that, I needed to put up joists to support the second story, and the second story flooring, where a little help from the family sped things up immensely. By May 21, I was beginning to get the bottom inlet nailers for the SIPs in place.
Getting the SIPs up to the second story was another matter, because even though none of them were full 4×8 panels, they still weighed a lot more than a sheet of plywood. So I built a weird temporary block-and-tackle rigid “crane” that let me hoist panels up to where I could slide them into place.
After this it was reasonably straightforward to cut and route the second floor SIPs, hoist them up, and put them into place. One extra precaution involved temporarily attaching 16′ 2x4s onto the outside of the structure so that when the sip was raised, it couldn’t accidentally fall over the edge.
The SIPs on the south end of the west wall, however, were more difficult since there was no floor in this area, which is intended to have a “cathedral ceiling.” To make working on this side easier, on Jun 1 I built a “temporary” floor that was hung from the south wall and the triple joist supporting the kitchen ceiling. Although it was made from smaller members (I had a lot of leftover long 2×4’s from the first attempt at the first floor) I added some extra support to make sure it was sturdy enough.
The top surface was made from leftover plywood from the original first floor as well.
This made it straightforward to lift, move, and place the remaining SIPs. On Jun 5, with just one weekend to go before I started my new full-time day job, the SIPs were finished.
