Aloha Dan, Yes, I remember the back ache I got from reading your original post, but I didn't know the shape or size of the thing, only the weight. I thought it might be hollow and wider. Hmm, back to the drawingboard, Betsy At 03:58 PM 5/3/2010, you wrote: > > >Betsy, > >The pig is a five foot long, thirty inch high, eight inch thick, >approximately 450 pound, cast iron radiator. I removed it from my >living room, and when faced with the prospect of trying to get it down the >stairs to the street, and onto a truck, I opted for the somewhat easier, >and much riskier plan of sliding it down the basement stairs. Here is a >post I wrote about it at the time. > >Well, I now have a 400+ pound, cast iron, radiator sitting in my basement. >My buddy Mark came over on Saturday and we pulled off the rigging job of >the decade. At least my rigging job of the decade. > >First, I had to empty out a cupboard in the kitchen and move the cupboard >out of the way. > >We ripped a 4X8 sheet of 3/4 inch plywood in half and then ripped one of >the halves in half to make a 24 inch wide, 12 foot long ramp. We laid that >down over the steps. You know, stairs are a lot steeper than you realize >when there is a ramp down them. We kept joking that we would make the >Darwin awards if saw dust caught fire and we couldn't get out of the >basement because of the ramp. It was quite challenging getting up and >down that ramp. I opted not to take Mark up on his offer of giving me >every dollar in his bank account if I would put on roller blades and go >down the ramp. He even allowed that I could put a mattress against the >wall opposite the bottom of the stairs. > >We screwed a 2X4 along the outer edge of the ramp to prevent the radiator >from skidding off the open side of the stairs. > >We screwed a 2X4 down the middle of the ramp to join the upper and lower >sections together. > >We wedged a 2X4 between the bottom of the ramp and the wall opposite the >bottom of the stairs to keep the ramp from slipping. > >We took to 2X4s 5 feet long, laid them parallel to each other and 18 >inches apart, outer edge to outer edge. We then put 18 inch long 2X4s on >top of those, connecting them together. We put three screws in each >corner. So, the cross bars were above the floor by the thickness of a 2X4. > >We drilled two holes in each crossbar to accept the legs of the radiator. > >We brought the sled upstairs and eventually managed to manhandle the >radiator up onto the sled with the legs fitting nicely into the holes in >the crossbars. Have I mentioned that this radiator is friggin heavy? Then >we screwed big hooks into the sled rails and used >those to anchor a strap around the radiator to keep it from falling over >side to side. > >We then slid the sled over to the basement stairs and lined it up. I used >my rock climbing know-how and gear and tied a line onto the radiator. I >stood a 4X4 outside the kitchen window, it went from the ground up above >the top of the window so you could pull it and it wouldn't pull through >the window. I wrapped some flat webbing around the 4X4, ran two steel >carabiners through the webbing, and attached my belay device to the >carabiners. The rope went through the belay device and the carabiners. >We were now ready. > >We spent some time going over what we might have forgotten. There were >many ways this could go wrong, but at least we were pretty sure we >couldn't get injured. We could do a whole hell of a lot of damage to the >basement, but we would be well out of the way. One thing we were really >worried about was the radiator getting hung up on something. If it got >jammed on the way down, we were seriously screwed. It would be >extremely difficult, and not a little dangerous if we had to try and >manipulate the radiator while it was on the ramp. We briefly discussed >if it was a possibility that the 2X4 sled runners might snap as all the >weight of the radiator would be on a very narrow point, or line, across >the runners as the radiator tipped over the edge of the beginning of the >stairs, but we figured they were strong enough. > >Well, after running out of things to discuss, we figured it was about time >to go for it. I manned the belay, Mark manned the radiator, and Teresa >manned the camera for evidence at the coroner's inquest. > >Mark slid the sled forward to just before the center of gravity. He >lifted up the back end as I kept tension on the rope. With me belaying >the radiator, he was able to nudge the radiator forward until the sled >eased over and laid down on the ramp. From there, I was in control and >could easily belay the 400 pound pig down the ramp. It slid right over >the center 2X4 that was joining the upper and lower ramp segments >together. There was a bit of a bump there, but it did just fine. Within >a moment, the pig had bottomed out at the bottom of the ramp. > >I gave the belay line to Teresa and Mark and I eased our way down the ramp >and off the side of the stairs. With Teresa belaying from above, Mark and >I eased the pig forward until it was sitting fully on the basement floor. >We untied it and slid it over against the wall for temporary storage. >FWEW!! It took several hours of preparation and only about five minutes >of excitement, but the pig is now safely ensconced in the basement. > >We had beers all around and went out for dinner. > >Today, Teresa and I put the house back in order and we are fast >approaching doneness on the living room. WOOHOO! > >What a deal. > >-- >Blue skies. >Dan Rossi >Carnegie Mellon University. >E-Mail:<mailto:dr25%40andrew.cmu.edu>[email protected] >Tel:(412) 268-9081 >
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
