Advice for moving a house?

[farmergirl]

My dear neighbors have offered us a house! for free, but we have to move it. They live 1/2 mile from us, the road is paved from their driveway to ours, so it will be a very smooth ride once we figure out how to load up the house on some sort of trailer. This little house is actually a 16 x 30 ft addition that they had built on to their doublewide mobile home. The mobile home burned down two years ago, but the firefighters managed to keep the addition from being destroyed. It is really a cute little room, has nice windows and even a sliding glass door where the entrance to the old mobile home was. Our neighbors have a new house now, and looking at the old addition makes them heartsick over the loss of their pets and belongings from the mobile home fire. They just want the building gone. I figure there has got to be SOME way to get this thing moved over to our place. I will use it for extra storage space and maybe a guest room.

[crehberg]

I hate to break the news, but you are going to be getting involved with some pretty strict DOT laws. Maybe since you're in Texas, you can get a little leniancy....but I have a feeling you may have to hire a professional mover. If nothing else, you're going to have to do a lot of reenforcement if this addition is like others I have seen before on mobile homes. Plus, you need to look at how tall the addition is. Will it hit any light wires on the move? Do you have a vehicle with enough "umffff" to move this deal, if you're planning on doing it yourself? Is your driveway going to be able to handle this load (width and weight wise)? I don't want to discourage you, I just want you to see that it will be difficult to do. Maybe you would be better off dis-assembling it and recycling the addition to build your own?

[raymilosh]

Figure it to be 12 tons more or less.
Buildings are also very flexible, so the trailer must be completely rigid and supportive of the house. when moving my house, (30 x 30) it took a house moving company several weeks of work. chimneys were removed, the house was lifted, a trailer of i beams was constructed under the house, wheels added and a large tractor trailer pulled it. then it was set down over the foundation i had constructed. It cost me 7.5 K in 2002.
Yours seems to be significantly easier. a 20 ton crane could potentially lift it onto a trailer then set it onto an already constructed foundation. I'm thinking a set of 2 ibeams with cross bracing would need to be placed under the building first and the crane would lift the beams with the building resting on them. that would save you tons of effort and money. Call a professional and ask them what they would charge and what your options are. It's free to ask.

[watcher]

You might be better off taking it apart, moving the pieces and putting it back together.

[farmergirl]

We live in the STICKS, where hours go by with no traffic. There is no through traffic anyhow, just people who live in the neighborhood, so I'm not too worried about the DOT.

[agmantoo]

The 16 ft dimension is not a problem. the flooring joists are oriented in that direction most likely. You need to verify that. The length is a small problem in that you must be able to support the length of the building and it will take a flat trailer that long or a couple of rails on a smaller trailer that is 30 ft long and you must get more than 1/2 of the 30 ft length in front of the axle center. Ideally if you are going to do this yourself an old mobile home frame with a couple of axles and that should carry the load the short distance. Using cribbing methods raise the building. Get a large farm tractor and connect the trailer to the draw bar and back the trailer under the building. Let the building down on the trailer frame and you should be ready for a very slow trip to your place. Have someone to follow in a "flag car' with their flashers on.

[Old Vet]

Their is a lot more than just jacking up the house and putting it on a trailer to moving a house. You would be better to have a professional move it for you then you can do the hard stuff yourself like plumbing and electrical work. A freind moved a house and it only cost him $2,000 and they had the foundation made for it in that price.

[farmergirl]

If it can't be done for under a $1000, we won't be taking advantage of the kind offer. I was hoping for a "there's a will, there's a way" sort of answer. Big farm trucks, from fancy to doors held on by baling wire are all around in these parts, as are flatbed trailers of all shapes and sizes. The house is so close, yet so far away!

Forgot to mention, this addition has no plumbing, and the electrical has already been detached from the main house.

[OntarioMan]

Break the problem into smaller pieces. I.e. a 16' x 30' building is easier to move if it is in 4 pieces - and requires smaller equipment.

[raymilosh]

agman's suggestion of using a mobile home frame is great. You should be able to find one. then it's a matter of knocking out the endwalls of the foundation, picking up the building and backing the trailer underneath. Pulling with a good sized farm tractor is the perfect option for such a short trip, too. If you work toward that solution, it should work, and itrequires no renting or building equipment. Coming up with cribbing and a few bottle jacks and someone with experience with moving buildings would also go a long way.

[Old Vet]

Originally Posted by raymilosh

agman's suggestion of using a mobile home frame is great. You should be able to find one. then it's a matter of knocking out the endwalls of the foundation, picking up the building and backing the trailer underneath. Pulling with a good sized farm tractor is the perfect option for such a short trip, too. If you work toward that solution, it should work, and itrequires no renting or building equipment. Coming up with cribbing and a few bottle jacks and someone with experience with moving buildings would also go a long way.

That will be the hardest part. Be careful if you have to jack the house up then it will not be steady and it may or may not like to be jacked up and it it sure is heavy if it slips and falls. Get a quote from a mover and it may be that he can do this for 1,000 or less.

[farminghandyman]

a longer than normal goose neck trailer should do the trick, or if any one has one of the machinery mover trailers they made at one time to move machinery before they made it road able, they had a low flat bed that would slide off the wheels so you could pull the planter or what ever up on and then pull it back up on the wheels and move it down the road with the machine on it side ways, they were about 30 foot long and 12' wide,

but a 24 foot goose neck trailer with ramps are nearly 30 foot long,

if all else fails one could skid it on some heavy beams, with spacers between the beams,

steel I beam would be better than wood but more than likely wood would make it. If it was on dirt or gravel,

if one needs to "roll" it a few lengths of pipe would roll it under the beam and then move them forward, (that is how they moved our house with a team or teams of horses in 1906), put lumber down for a track and had placed 2x14 up under the house floor joists and rolled it to where it is now.

[farminghandyman]

If there is power lines that would be a major concern as well, you would need to know you will clear them, of if your going to have to have them shut down and raised,

[Highground]

Jack it up, support it, cut it in half, get a trailer under half, let it down, haul it away. Repeat.

Simple.

[DavidUnderwood]

The house I live in now was moved here.
Gideon moved it for me, pretty reasonably.
We did a lil horse reading. It was originally
about 26X36, and we moved it about 5 miles.
I worked it over inside and out. Couple years
later I add on about 400 sq ft, and built a back
porch. To date I have less than $10,000 in
it on a 3 acre lot. On the tax books at $80,000.
I feel fortunate to have had this opportunity,
and I owe Gideon big time!

[agmantoo]

Method #2 from me. I reread your posts the trip is only 1/2 mile in rural, very rural area. Get two power poles in the 40 ft length range. Make a travois style sled and slip the poles under the structure. Let the building down on the skids. Do some cross bracing front and back to hold the skids parallel to each other. Get the largest farm tractor in the neighborhood (1oo+ HP) or a big road tractor wrecker and back up to the smaller ends of the skid poles. Connect a chain to the 3 point lift arms and lift the poles a bit making runners out of the poles. Just skid the building to your place such the distance is short. You will not wear the poles out in this short trip. Realize the building will settle back into place once a level under penning is back in place.

[foxtrapper]

Originally Posted by farmergirl

If it can't be done for under a $1000, we won't be taking advantage of the kind offer.

Well that kinda takes care of the notion of trucking it away. You ain't getting it done for less than a grand if you hire.

Crazy out of the box notions? A hundred handles and a hundred people. Everyone pick it up and carry it down the road. Can be done, has been done. Wracking is the main problem this way.

3 points define a perfectly flat plane. Very usefull tool for keeping things from twisting.

[crafty2002]

I have moved two houses in my lifetime.
The main thing to start with, is as some one else has already asked, is whether there are any power lines in the way you can't get under and if they are, are they coming from a trans former or going to a transformer??
If it is coming from a trans former to a home, it's 220 - 240 volts. You can have someone on the roof wiirh a 2x4 with a y nailed on at the end and they can raise the wire and walk the roof as the hous passes under it.
If it is going to a transformer it is hight voltage and that my freind will follow the moisture in a dry piece of wood and literly knock your shoes off of you. That is a no, no, no, no, no, and some more no's to boot.
I am a pretty good electrician and I saw a man killed from a line that was 22,000 volts and I don't fool with it. Period, point blank. End of subject.
If there is a transformer at the receiving end, you will have to get a permit to move the house and have the electric co op to drop the lines while you pass. The cost for that varies so I can't say what it will be where you are.
So with that out of the way, moving a house is a manual labor type of job.
It is pretty straight forward but put a big plus on saftey.
If you can get a trailer that hauls heavy equipment that has a 30" span it shouldn't be that big of a deal if you take your time doing it.
Rome wasn't built in a day and that house won't get moved in a day either.
One good thing you have going for you is time. You aren't under a dead line to kill your self getting it moved. And don't let anyone put you under a dead line unless it is like a year from now.
The more extra hands you have the better. For the materials I would need if I moved the house would be about 150 -175 rail road cross ties.
40 to 60 - 6"x6"x8' s cut 2 feet long.
8 - 4"x4"x8' cut 2' long.
16 2"x4" x 8' cut 2' long
Several bundles of builders shims. Bought or cut. I always cut my own unless I am in a big hurry. Best cheapest wood for tham is from Pallets.
4 - 10 ton bottle jacks.
8 men to help.
A lot of wifes bringing the sandwitches and cold drinks or water.
Some steaks, potatoes, rolls and beer at the end of each day.
With those things, It would be a two day deal. You better offer a pig on the coals for the last day, else you might not get no help, LOL. It has worked wonders for me.

Set up 4 peirs, centered on the sill, on each side of the home using the cross ties. The first layer should be the width of what ever the lenght of the ties are with a solid layer of ties laying on the ground.
All the rest of the layers will swap directions each time and set at the ends of the layer below.
Build them up until no more will fit.
Then you start on the inside with 2 of the 6x6" 's turned opposite of the cross ties and build it up, back and forth, until the jacks will fit under them.
There may be a need to use 4" x4" 's to get the right height. You just mix and match but always keep the biggest at the botton and the smallest near the top.
Jack one side of it up about an inch then move to the next side.

My time has run out here. I guess I will need to finish later but it isn't hard to move that small a house a half mile. Heck, I just wenched a 12' x 16' building up onto a trailer and moved it about 7 or 8 miles. Yours is less that 3 times that.
Any way I have t run but will come back.
Dennis

[Gideon]

I move lots of smaller buildings/houses/and most any kind of structure-even brick/block ones. Most any farmer should have a couple of hydraulic bottle jacks that you can borrow/rent and two should do it.
1st. build a temporary wall on the open side complete with "X" braces to prevent the floor from rising and and to keep the walls straight. I like using screws instead of nails-easier to remove and they hold both ways.
2ond. jack up the outer(heavier side) first and build two or three double block piers of cement blocks(be sure to have them centered under the outside sill or they will allow the building to kick)(I put a 2X6 on top of the pillar in the center to keep the weight centered).
3rd. After raising the outside-jack the trailer side and back your trailer under it. I like to place 4X6 timbers across the frame to extend the support and ease the unloading. Estimate the weight and center it on the trailer. It will not be centered width wise. If posible load it so the wide side will be on the "mail box" side when traveling.
4th. Take it down the road early on Sat morn or late(@6:30) some weekday-not Friday or Wed evenings. Have a dry stick or PVC pipe to push up tele lines if they are too low-not likely with a 16 wide. Take it slowly and watch for drunks and other nuts. Best to have wide load signs and red flags and a couple of escorts. Be careful and if you have more questions just E me or PM. wc
ETA--noticed it is 30 long. I would use three jacks or place a section of 4" angle iron on top of the jacks to distribute the load better. Go to four piers instead of three. As you lift the heavy side the building will tilt toward the mobile home. If it is still in place the bottom may slide away from the trailer and lean the front piers. You may have to jack it only part way up and go to the other side to make it safe. We use 3' long Oak timbers for shoring as they are much safer and provide a wider footing. wc

[crafty2002]

Gedion, I disagree with you on two points. The first is your dry stick. That will work fine, as I said if the wire is leaving the transformer and going to the house.
But it there is a transformer in the yard where the house is, it is a high voltage line and should be respected for what it can do to you. Those line carry 15,000 volts or better and the juice will follow a stick you call dry in a heart beat.
The man I said was killed from high voltage had his suit on. They are made to with stand that kind of voltage, but the out come of his being electicuted was there was a pin hole in one of his gloves and that is where the juice got him at. When you put those suits on you start sweating right then and I made a few hot taps before this happened and I know, you start sweating as soon as you get the gloves on, must less the jacket.
It can be freezing outside but you start sweating and 22,000 volts will come through the smallest of holes.
Never touch a high voltage line with anything, period.
Like I said, 220 - 240 volts is ok. But unless you are on the taking side of the last transformer, that's not what you have.
Even if it is an 8,000 volt line it can follow the smallest amount of moisture in a stick. And you will pay for it.
I hate to go back there, but I think it needs to be said.
I didn't know the man that got killed and I know this is gross, but it knocked his boots off with the meat inside the boots. He came off the scaffold like a rag doll dead as he could be before he ever hit the floor.
Well that's enough of that. Brings back a bad time in my life.

The next thing is someone that don't already know how to move a building to use blocks to do so.
I set up mobile homes part time as a kid. I probably helped set up 50 to 75 of them. Nothing like 20 bucks for a Saturday night back in the 60's. I was the n word rich.
I saw many a pillar bust under pressure and I saw one trailer come all the way back to the ground and we had to use a 6 foot step ladder to set the blocks for the last piers in the back.
We heard a pop and the boss yelled for us to get back which I had already done. Maybe a minute later there was another pop. While we were looking to see what popped, there were two or three pops and then all of them popped. It came down through all the blocks like they were dirt or something. and rolled down the hill until a tree stopped it.
One mobile home destroyed. Total loss.

A house weighs to much to put on 6 or even 8 piers using blocks in my book.
I am not saying you haven't done so. I could do it and I guess you could too, but we know how much pressure to put in the rigth places. We were taught how to do it. These are first timers and blocks are not the right choice.

That is JMHO, but I sure don't care to be the one to do something that could get them killed in a heart beat.

Dennis
Wit that said, I will stick with the cross ties because they don't crush under pressure. And I have never seen a company that moves homes use anything less.