Part of the job was to open up the floor plan at one end of the house and replace the old, cramped kitchen ...
... with a spacious great room.
Before removing the interior bearing wall, we built temporary supporting walls on either side.
We removed the exterior portion of the old ridge, enlarged the opening at the gable, and added exterior braces to support the overhang.
Once the end of the beam had been guided into the hole at the gable, the crane operator set it down on the plank.
The worker on the staging moved the strap from the center of the beam to the end closest to the crane.
Then, the crane could push it in most of the way.
Inside the house, we used 1-inch-diameter pipes to roll the beam into place.
The pipes also proved useful in steering the beam.
We used a pair of jacks to push the beam up tight against the rafters.
Then, we installed Parallam posts at each end.
The exterior was trimmed and stained to match the house siding.