Anybody here ever moved a house before? I was offered the job of moving a 5000 square ft house from one end of town to the other 15 miles away. Any tip on preparing the strucutre to be moved would be nice.
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call a house mover
call a house mover
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
call a house mover
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
What they said.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
My opinion... if you could do the moving job, you wouldn't be asking.
You can, however, do the prep. You need to disconnect all utilities completely. Remove any sewer connections, gas connections, water service, underground or overhead power/phone/cable, etc. Completely remove any masonry chimneys, unless your mover tells you they can lift them. Remove the bottom courses of siding around the perimeter of the building so that the movers have access to the crawl space or basement. Brace up any overhanging elements such as the porch roof.
If you hire a good mover, they'll come out to the site and walk thru the prep work with you, so that you're ready when they come. Check out these guys:
http://www.nickelbros.com
More prep entails planning the route (clearances to traffic lights, power poles, trees, etc), getting a permit from the city, making arrangements with the police for traffic control, power company, phone company city, utilities and cable company to raise wires, tree service to trim trees overhanging roadway, getting liability insurance to cover mishaps, etc., etc., etc.
Get a good prybar.
Now start pulling boards apart.
Oh, and number the boards so you can put them back together again, at the other end of town.
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
I've never moved a house but I used to do a lot of work for a house mover here. Mostly just put them back together (which is the hardest part in my opinion). But I can tell you that you need a semi with several million$ liability ins., lots of house moving dollies, jacks, licensed driver, etc. If the house is 5000 ft. it will have to be cut at least in thirds, possibly more. If the local mover here was to do the job it would cost around $35000 - $50000just to move it and put togdther and level it. That would not include any inside work or landscaping. If the client wants a turnkey, he calls a contractor to give him a bid,tacks on his and it winds up 90% of the time the client could have built a new house cheaper. Most older houses that are moved are leaky, hard to level, and not up to code.
Talk them out of it.
drive fast ...
turn left.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
About 40 years ago, a friend of my parents made a good living buying houses to be moved, and moving them on spec. He did the prep, subbed out the acutal move, then built the foundations with the house up on cribbing, had the mover come back to lower it, and then gave it the finishing touches to make it ready to sell. If the house could be moved in one piece, he'd leave it up on cribbing 3-4 ft above final position, and just drop plumb lines to do the foundation. If he did one too big to move in one piece, I didn't see it.
If the house is lath and plaster, pull the baseboards on the ground floor and rake out the plaster to about 1/2" above the top of the sole plate. Rake out any existing cracks to about 1" wide. This will minimize the stress on the plaster, but you may well still lose some during the move.
-- J.S.
Thanks for the advice John. I am subbing the move, for I do not have the insurance nor the means to move the structure. I am just building the foundation and repair work. I appreciate the feed back
I've worked on/watched 10 or 12 houses being moved. Looked like a piece of cake - nothing to it. The reason it looked like that was these guys (and it was the same company doing all the moving) are masters of planning and execution with highly specialized skills and equipment. When I've heard what it cost to move some of these structures, I was shocked at how inexpensive it was. If no one has suggested this, call a house mover.
Like the Tucson, I shall rise again from the ashes.