"A One Man Gable End Operation"

This gable end has an overall length of 40 feet and a height at the peak of 7.5 feet. It was constructed of a 2x6 top chord, 2x6 bottom chord, 2x6 king post (vertical center web member), and 2x4 web web members. I used 3/4" ply for the gussets and 2" ring shanked nails. The exterior sheeting is 7/16 OSB. No glue was used on this gable end. The overall weight of this was undetermined but has been classified as "How Bigga Boy Are Ya" heavy! (click on photos to enlarge)

The story is significant because it shows how it is possible for one man to raise a large gable end using a few tools, time, patience and yukonization. I hope that some of you can benefit from this but, I caution you to be extremely careful!! I do not recommend this practice to anyone and remove myself from any and all liability if anyone is to be injured or killed conducting these steps.

The first step to raising the gable end is to, somehow, get one of the ends up onto the top plate of your wall. The gable end was built on the floor of the second story and then slide into position so one end could be placed on the top plate. You can see that the exterior side of the gable end was sheeted prior to raising. This is important because as you can see, when one end is raised up, the whole thing flexes in a way it is not designed to withstand. The exterior sheeting helps to hold the thing together while in this horizontal state.
Photo 1
Photo 2
The first thing to do is lift one end up as high as you can get it. I used a short ladder to set it on (photo 3). This way I at least had it pointed in the right direction. Then I wedged a 2x6 in between the top of the wall and the floor so that the leading edge of the end could be "ramped" the rest of the way onto the top of the wall (photo 4). I had to reinforce the 2x6 ramp as it was too flimsy to hold the weight of the end.
Photo 3
Photo 4
Next, using a wall jack on the other end I was able to push the gable end up the 2x6 ramp and onto the top plate (photo 5) Photo 6 shows how that one end is finally resting on the top plate. At this point I needed to figure out how to hold that end up there because it wanted to slip back down off the top plate. So, I had to have Tonya hold it in place with a rope. Hay, I said this was a one man operation. I didn't say anything about not using a women to help.
Photo 5
Photo 6
The other end of the gable needed to be lifted onto the top plate of the other wall (photo 7) For this I used that red wall jack in photo 5. The more I jacked, the higher it got and the more it flexed. A lot of jacking and pushing went into this step. Make sure your walls are braced so the gable end does not push them out when it is resting on the top plate and flexing.


Photo 7
Photo 8
Once both ends are up on the top plates I flipped the peak into a downward position to take out all of the flex in it (photo 9) Then I pushed both ends to within about a foot of the end wall. Then, using the red wall jack, I jacked the peak up to horizontal. The bottom of the gable end is now resting on the end wall so there is no more flex.
Photo 9
Photo 10
Before I was able to get the end raised all the way up the bottom chord slipped off the end wall and the whole thing started to flex. Luckily the wall jack prevented it from flexing too much and I was able to get it secured for the evening.
A few things to remember:

1. Before you finish raising the end all the way up be sure to install temporary vertical supports on the outside of the end wall to stop the gable end once it reaches its full upright position.

2. If noone is helping you, be sure someone is within ear shot incase something bad happens. It's better if someone helps or at least watches. That way if you render yourself unconscience during the process, someone knows what has happened.

3. Never, ever trust any tool or equipment to hold something in place or work like it's supposed to!

Three simple tools were used. Inclined plane was the 2x6 ramp. The lever and wedge was the wall jack mechanism. Technically that makes it a compound machine rather than a simple tool.