Once the glulam beams arrived, the team members had to install the beams onto the posts that connect the house to the concrete footers. These beams make up the main structure of the house.
With help from several other team members, Superintendent Mike Boteler, used a forklift to guide the beams into place. Moving 50-foot beams is no easy task with a forklift that is only about 5 feet wide, but the Maryland team made it work without any problems.
"Each beam weighs 1200 pounds, but on the forklift, two people could easily slide the beam back and forth," said Assistant Project Manager Dan Vlacich, who helped with the install. "The whole process was a lot smoother than we expected."
Project Manager Rob Murray and Faculty Advisor Dr. Kaye Brubaker attended to help and inspect. The day culminated a team photo on the newly installed glulams. Vlacich summed it up by saying, "it was amazing to sit up there on the glulam and finally see part of our house take shape."
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