The beam I built from two 14ft. 2x10s. Thought it would be hard to get it under the place.
Used pieces of PVC pipe as rollers to slide the beam under the place. I cut an old piece of PVC into short lengths for rollers. It was surprisingly easy to move the beam under the place. I had thought it would be hard crawling around on hands and knees pulling the beam under the place. Only had to crawl under a couple of times to put rollers ahead of the beam. Was able to push it in most of the way while standing outside.
The beam in place. I got it up on the "social equals" and jacked it up in place and blocking under it to hold it up. I lifted one end at a time onto the lower blocks and then onto a 4x4 before finally up on the top blocks. After jacking I put pieces of wood under the beam to keep it up in place. Also put some screws thru the beam into some floor joists to make sure it won't move.
The reason I decided to put the beam under the floor. It looked like the floor was starting to sag from the weight of the cast-iron stove and the stone hearth pad under it. It won't be long before we'll be firing up the stove again, so I better get busy cutting firewood. Had to buy a new chainsaw 'cause my old one died.
