The end wall of the farmhouse project is a single panel Hydromax hydraulic lift door. It covers forty-four of the sixty foot span. Until it was installed, the entire end wall was basically a hole. The door arrived on a few weeks ago and has finally been assembled and installed. The hydraulics are not in yet and the door still needs to be “skinned” like the rest of the building but it is in.

The process took the better part of a day for four guys. First, the top half needed to be mated to the bottom half and then spliced together. The documentation was a bit thin as it assumed the installers were from the factory. But we managed. Once the door was whole, we added the top hinge and then the vertical frames. The entire unit is lifted into place and at this point every hopes all the measurements are right as the assembly is about 4000 pounds. We had a bit of difficulty as we used a boom lift. A crane would have been easier since it would have given some lateral adjustments whereas we only had vertical and depth movement. We eventually used pry bars and a small manually winch to shift it into position.

All was good but not perfect. The vertical “I” beams were about 1” too long so they needed to be notched with a cutting torch. Finally, the door was in place, squared, and plum. It was blocked at the bottom and the boom lift held it tight against the building’s framing. The day ended with the welder and an assistant tacking the hinge at each of the vertical beams from the building. Another day of welding remains where the side frames will be welded into place, reinforced, and the hinge will get its finish welds. The attachment points will be wire brushed clean and the sprayed with primer.

For those Warner Brothers fans, I took a cue from the 1949 Rabbit of Seville and edited the day’s work into 2m20s video. Enjoy !