A Quick Update

The walls are down and beams are up... Finally. Here's how it went down in a nutshell:

On Friday we took a steel pipe, that El's brother was able to find us, to a metal shop in Isabel, LA. They cut the pipe to size and made a 8" x 8" steel plate to weld to the bottom. We brought a pre-fabricated plate to attach the beams to the column and that was welded on the top. 

Cutting the pipe.

The next morning we started early on removing the rest of the wiring and switches from the wall and built two temporary walls, since the wall we're removing is carrying the load of two separate parts of the house.

Nine 2x6's attached to the ceiling joists held the
ceiling over the living room.

A second wall in the foyer was built to
carry the load of the other side of the house.

With both walls up, we were able to install the first beam. We finished at midnight - the temp walls would be taken down the next day...

One wall down; one to go.

 I have to admit, I didn't help much building the second wall. I was busy removing the carpet from the bedrooms and also digging a trench from the kitchen wall to where the island is going. I got about 9" before passing that job on to El's mom, who drilled about 800 holes in the concrete so that it will be easier for me to break up with the compression hammer. We also decided to relocate the floor outlet about 4.5 feet closer to the kitchen... yay more concreate breaking.

The second wall only had to be supported on one
side.

Going, going, gone...

Success! One weekend and both walls are down. The only thing that needs to be removed now are those two temporary studs that sit between the foyer and the dining room, next to the column/post. We'll actually support that load with a short beam running above the ceiling, so the only thing hanging below the ceiling line will be that one long beam pictured above. I'm really excited about working more in the attic where it's 120 degrees... 

I'm ready for this project to be over. We're almost done. We just need to finish breaking the slab for the electric, finish the plumbing and electric in the kitchen, sand the door trim in the whole house, hang, tape and float sheetrock, paint, install baseboards, install new floors, install moulding, install the cabinets and countertops, put in the new exhaust for the range hood, remove the old chimney from the roof and when that's all finally done, pack all of our stuff and move into the house and that's it.