I own two adjacent pieces of property. The guy that sold me both (at the same time) built a 24 ft X 30 ft 2 x 6 wood framed garage “on the property line”. While nice for him as it was accessible from either property it is preventing me from selling one the the properties since it is partly on both (properties).
The garage has two 7 x 9 insulated doors on the long side and a man door with windows on both gable ends; its about 8 years old.
It is on a poured cement slab, no curb, the base of each wall is pressure treated and bolted to the slab.
I want to move it about 100 ft (only!) down a moderate hill and completely on one to of the properties (another cement slab).
There are no local house movers anywhere close to me and I want to do this relatively cheap and not disassemble the garage if possible.
Is it possible to do myself or should I “import” some high priced help from the big city (3 hours away).
One of the reasons I don’t want to disassemble it is that it has really nice architectural shingles on the 6/12 pitch roof.
fwiw its in NW Ontario Canada, just north of Kenora.
Thanks.
Edited 2/5/2009 5:23 pm by kenora
Edited 2/5/2009 5:24 pm by kenora
Replies
Do you have a ready source of timbers for bracing and skids, or will you have to buy them?
I have access to lots of 2 x 6 dimensional lumber and 8 acres of standing spruce, pine, birch and poplar...
Well, there ya go. X brace every concievable corner and rt angle, redundantly. Horizontal and Vertically. Jack it up, starting with pinch bars and wedges or jacks to the lifting beams you scabbed onto the interior studs..and a little at a time and going round the perimeter, get it on cribs to allow the spruce,pine, poplar poles to act as rollers.
Tie it to a truck and drag that bad boy to it's new home, leapfrog the rollers.
Keep an eye on everything that could pull loose, studs to plates, rafters to plates, all that stuff..and go slow. It's a process, not an event.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
A good friend of mine did something like that with his house. Granted, it was a small house. But he built a basement beside it, built skids out of 2 x 6's, and then used comealongs and coffin hoists to skid it over onto the basement. Everyone thought he was crazy and it wouldn't work, but it did.
I yanked a 24' long wall off my buddies shed, trying to drag it..we hooked up to the band and yanked that sucker and the wall right off. Not a good day.
I confess, I was only about 18..LOL But that Int. Scout 800b could pull the QE2 into drydock if ya wanted.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Yeah, the trick will be to finding something to hook on to. Maybe he could build a big dray under it and pull on that. He could pack an ice road over to his site and skid it on that. I bet if you got the road nice and smooth, you could pull it with a Festiva. This is starting to sound fun.
Edited 2/5/2009 6:11 pm ET by Marson
forgot the first step - take the garage doors out. Better to have them out and stored than to have them fall out during the move, and getting the tracks out of the way makes it easier to handle the building.
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There ya go thinking of all the loose ends again. Glad yer on the ball..I am bouncing back and forth from the shop and haven't been paying enough attn.
"Oh yeaahhhh, the Doors!!!! DOH!"Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
At least you don't go hitting the caps key and leaving it on!(easy to do on my laptop without noticing)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Love your statement:
It's a process, not an event.
I gotta remember that!
It applies to many situations in life, I have learned.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Brace it off good take a large 3x and bolt to front of garage (take doors off) make sure the front is strong and set 3x low on the front jack it and put some round poles under it it will roll. Did this with a 8 or 10x 20 building. Pulled it with a 720 John Deere. Moved about a 1/4 mile. Just make sure its braced good.
Forgot to tell him to film it..could be a 100 grand winner on Funniest Home Videos..LOLSpheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Getting it up off the ground is fairly easy, but moving it is not. A house mover would put it on a trailer (assembled in place under the structure out of I beams and wheels) and move the trailer with a truck or a bulldozer. You will likely end up with some holes punched in the walls. How much do they want to do it?
Any Amish communities near you?
Most of the comments so far have been good; each has pointed out one important aspect of the job. The ice-road is a neat idea--in Newfoundland outports, houses have been dragged right across the inlet in winter by a bunch o' guys with ropes (see the movie 'The Shipping News' if you want to see it done. Hell, see the movie for itself! It's a great one).
I'd suggest you build a sledge with iron-soled wooden shoes that will fit over a wooden railway built out of 6x6's. In that you're going downhill, you should be able to slide the building handily on this rig with judicious use of grease on the 'tracks'. Your motive power can be nothing more complicated than a decent-sized chain hoist.
Oh, yeah--make sure you attach a preventer line to a bombproof anchor on the uphill side before you start downhill. Keep tension on it all the way down, slacking it out as you go down. You don't want this thing running away on you....
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
This could be fun!
Start installing a network of framing inside to hold the floor shape together. Think triangles.
Lift the building and cut all the bolts flush to the concrete. Build a set of rails under the building and to the new site and up over on to the new slab.
Add a skid plate under the building over the rails. Add lots of grease between the skids and rails (this is much needed) You might add some guide blocks to keep it on the rails.
Bolt a chain to the corners of the building and start pulling gently along the rails.
Keep greasing the rails as you go. Lube is the key, and spreading the load.
I did this with a small shed 10 X 20 and only over 25 feet, but it worked great!
been there ,done it,bought the tshirt.
first i'll tell you what i had,24x26 ,8' walls.3 tab shingles,osb sheeting,16' o/h door. i had to move it about 75' down the yard then pull it back maybe 30'.i worked and worked trying to get a idea what this thing weighed,guess 8k lbs.once i picked up i don't think it was that heavy.
first thing i did was go around the strap inside of the walls with a 2x6 screwed to the studs about 2' off the floor. then took a high lift jack [you can buy these for about 40.00]if you had 2 that would be better. i then went in and jacked on the 2x6's and would lift the wall about 3" and slide a couple blocks [2x4's]under the plate and go to another wall and do the same.it surprised me that the structure was stiff enough that when i jacked one side it would lift 3 sides. i did this until i got it up about 14" high,you might want higher if your going up a incline.
once it was raised in the air i put a 16' car trailer into the door opening and centered it up,just the tongue stuck out of the garage. let the air out of the tires.now i had bought 2x12"s by 20' long. laid them edge wise on the trailer and over to the stud and lag screwed the 2x12 to the stud,then did the same to the other side letting the 2x12 overlap each other and screwed them together. can't remember but i think i had 3 of these width wise. then one went off the back of the trailer and caught the back wall. i then run a couple 2x4s at a angle from the trailer deck up toward the rafters,ended up these took way more load than i expected,so you might want to brace it upwards better.
once all this was done i aired the tires up,used the jack to remove the blocks and let it down on the trailer.
now just about now they start predicting a afternoon thunderstorm is moving in.i'm thinking wind and mud. so i fire my bobcat up and hook the hitch and go. in less than 10 minutes this thing is setting where it needs to be.you can move with a truck also ,but it will be a little harder to manuver.
the only thing to watch out for is it will blow you away at how much room it takes to maneuver this thing around. my orig path would of been 50' shorter but i had 2 trees only 27' apart and didn't want to chance it. also i spent probably 3 times more effort lowering it down into the exact spot it needed to be in.
oh,and you have a bunch of 2x12's to sell on cl. larry
YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'T
MOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THE
DUCT TAPE.
I've done that way too, but I'm thinking this guys building is a wee bit too large for that method.
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alwaysoverbudget wrote:
been there ,done it,bought the tshirt.
first i'll tell you what i had,24x26 ,8' walls.3 tab shingles,osb sheeting,16' o/h door. i had to move it about 75' down the yard then pull it back maybe 30'.i worked and worked trying to get a idea what this thing weighed,guess 8k lbs.once i picked up i don't think it was that heavy.
first thing i did was go around the strap inside of the walls with a 2x6 screwed to the studs about 2' off the floor. then took a high lift jack [you can buy these for about 40.00]if you had 2 that would be better. i then went in and jacked on the 2x6's and would lift the wall about 3" and slide a couple blocks [2x4's]under the plate and go to another wall and do the same.it surprised me that the structure was stiff enough that when i jacked one side it would lift 3 sides. i did this until i got it up about 14" high,you might want higher if your going up a incline.
once it was raised in the air i put a 16' car trailer into the door opening and centered it up,just the tongue stuck out of the garage. let the air out of the tires.now i had bought 2x12"s by 20' long. laid them edge wise on the trailer and over to the stud and lag screwed the 2x12 to the stud,then did the same to the other side letting the 2x12 overlap each other and screwed them together. can't remember but i think i had 3 of these width wise. then one went off the back of the trailer and caught the back wall. i then run a couple 2x4s at a angle from the trailer deck up toward the rafters,ended up these took way more load than i expected,so you might want to brace it upwards better.
once all this was done i aired the tires up,used the jack to remove the blocks and let it down on the trailer.
now just about now they start predicting a afternoon thunderstorm is moving in.i'm thinking wind and mud. so i fire my bobcat up and hook the hitch and go. in less than 10 minutes this thing is setting where it needs to be.you can move with a truck also ,but it will be a little harder to manuver.
the only thing to watch out for is it will blow you away at how much room it takes to maneuver this thing around. my orig path would of been 50' shorter but i had 2 trees only 27' apart and didn't want to chance it. also i spent probably 3 times more effort lowering it down into the exact spot it needed to be in.
oh,and you have a bunch of 2x12's to sell on cl. larry
Larry, I have a parallel project with a simular sized building and moving method. Can we have a conversation where I can pick your brain on your move?
I guess a new sruvey creating a new property line to fully inlcude the garage on one property is more expensive than the move and the risks assocaitated with it?
That's funny, my first though was a land swap to redraw the property lines and avoid moving it altogether.
seems a whole lot easier than the move but some surveys may require a whole new shoot and depending on the size of the property and how overgrown the lines are that could outweigh the move risks/costs...
There ya go again. Instead of thinking outside the box, you just go and move the box!I wonder if lot sizes allowable dictate here.
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Moving the garage.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcNTA2HGjqc
yeah, lots of factors involved and it could be that the garage isn't very useful to the OP in it's current locaction.
Helped Dad move a small shop/barn on the back of an '70 F-100. I won't share the details for fear of someone else doing it. Some things that we've done in the past just don't need to be repeated.
Edited 2/6/2009 7:05 am ET by john7g
Good comments and ideas. Bracing for shear would be the biggest concern for me. I have moved a similar sized building quite a bit further over logging roads using only hand tools to lift it (dug holes, jacked, cribbed, jacked... until I could back a 30' gooseneck trailer behind my 1 ton pickup under it, then reversed the process when I got where I was going.
I have done several and found it much easier to use a crane if there is a crane service near by. just notch or dig enough to get slings under everything once it is braced, use spreader bars if you are really concerned about eaves and lift either onto a trailer, or for such a short move a large, but still reasonably sized hydraulic crane could pick it up and set it in one lift.Rob
kenora
Take the doors off and reinforce the ceiling joists, tying them to the rafters everywhere.
Back two trucks into the garage, jack it up a few inches on the truck beds. Drive away, very very slowly, watching everything all the time.
My father did this with a single truck garage. I'd estimate that a two truck job would be about four times as hard to get right, but a lot easier than everything else I've read here.
Ron
>but a lot easier than everything else I've read here.<
easier than getting a new survey?
No, you're right there. That'd be easy, but expensive after all the surveyors and lawyers have been paid.
Ron
Lots of great ideas and it sounds doable...I'll try to post a picture of the garage. This is a few years back when we tyveked the exterior of it.fwiw I looked into a survey...the local guys (only 2 of them) charge $3000 (minimum) to mark the property lines, I would need that to even start the process of changing things...it seems cheaper by far to move it.Edited 2/6/2009 6:27 pm by kenora
Edited 2/6/2009 6:27 pm by kenora
How about this then:
You get two trailers into the garage, tie them together (wheels parallel) and rig up a drawbar or towing bridle to tow both together with one truck from outside. Then jack the garage up on the trailers and off you go.
My father brought his garage home across a river that runs through town. It sure did look strange coming across the bridge. You couldn't see any part of the truck except from straight ahead.
Ron
now i see the pic,forget everything i said,i had the garage pictured 24'wide with a 16' door to back into. 30' long
time for plan b
YOU ONLY NEED TWO TOOLS IN LIFE - WD-40 AND DUCT TAPE. IF IT DOESN'TMOVE AND SHOULD, USE THE WD-40. IF IT SHOULDN'T MOVE AND DOES, USE THEDUCT TAPE.
rightthose three doors in a bearing wall makes it a bit more tricky bracing it.
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gonna cost you that much just for a new slab and site work, not counting the move.and as fast as that terrain seems to fall away, this could get hairy.Seems like you will need a survey to sell anyways if you haven't done that minimal one yet already.Once they do the basic work, it is very little more to work out a new line with you. Then there is a recording fee at the courthouse.
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It could be worth a firteen minute call to your lawyer to ask what your options might be for moving the property line. It's possible that you don't need to do a complete survey to just change the one line between the two properties. A lot could depend on the clarity of your deeds.
Three years ago I had to verify a line between my rental property and the neighbor's in order to know where I could put a leach field. I went to the court house and traced the deeds, found suryeys on abutting properties and then had just the one line surveyed. Cost me $1000 for the surveyor plus $150 to have my lawyer write a line agreement.
Good advice, Fred. My lot "encroaches" onto my neighbor's just a bit. My house was built 20 years before his, next to a vacant lot. My driveway slab was poorly laid out, thus the encroachment.The encroachment is recognized on both of our subdivision plats - I think that, by recognizing it and identifying it as an encroachment, there's no way he could lose this little patch in future years. We've all heard of obscure laws where, if someone uses a piece of land, maybe an access to their property, for so many years, it becomes theirs.Just a little jog in the property line, maybe that garage can stay right where it is.Greg
Whatever you do, we want pics Man pics!!! This sounds like a great project.>>>fwiw I looked into a survey...the local guys (only 2 of them) charge $3000 (minimum) to mark the property lines,What's up with that??? I'm always shocked at survey costs. Even a quick "unofficial" survey of a very small section of my property (a newly developed area with fresh pins everywhere) cost $800. Sheesh.Scott.
watch dam inspectors video thats seems like the way to do it
Hire this guy to move it for you. His equipment costs would be about zero. http://www.maximizingprogress.org/2009/02/stonehenge-reloaded-simple-build.html
Hi
A few years ago I cut loose a 20 x 30 "cabin" from an addition, same configuration as yours, on a slab, braced the inside with box beams, tied all wall studs to the top plate with steel straps, picked it up using a rented crane and operator, and set it down on a new foundation 82 feet away, downhill about 20 feet in elevation. I lifted from under the top plate. I turned it into a garage.
I rigged it so it could be picked up using spreader bars just like setting a modular house. I used a 60 ton all terrain crane set up midway between the two foundations and off to one side a little, so as to reduce the swing radius of the crane.
Cost in 2003 for a crane and operator, portal to portal 4 hours, was $900 in upstate (90 miles north of NYC). I hope this is helpful.
Nick Mercurio
PS to previous email. Here's some pictures of the move:
I like that idea,esp with the uneven terrain on this site.
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