MOVING HOUSE

[inveresk]

Here are some shots of the house moving exercise we undertook last July. We moved the house 300 feet or so, and have just begun the exercise of remodeling. The house is now adjacent to our new workshop office, the odd shot of which was posted separately.

First shots show the preparation to brace the house for the shock of moving. This involved including diagonals where we had roof overhangs.

 

[inveresk]

Next we had to dig then break out the concrete kerb to allow two long steel support beams to be slid under the house. Once these beams were through, they were tied to a cross beam which was used to brace them and which the hydraulic rams were placed under to raise the house off the concrete kerb.

 

[inveresk]

Once the house was raised, temporary buttresses were built under the beams using railway sleepers so the concrete kerb wall could be broken out.

 

[inveresk]

Wheeled dollies were then placed under the beams at the rear end of the house and the front of the beams supported by a tractor unit used to pull the whole assembly up the hill.

 

[inveresk]

The tractor unit wasn't enough on its own to pull the house. The front of it was hitched to an excavator that helped and the two in tandem inched up the hill, taking about three hours to cover the three hundred feet.

 

[inveresk]

Once at its destination, the house was backed into the prepared excavated area and left jacked up on sleeper buttresses so we complete the excavation and complete the concrete foundations underneath it.

 

[inveresk]

The excavator then got busy breaking out the old foundations, ripping out the obsolete services and levelling the ground ready for final preparation for me to sow pasture.

We completed the foundations in the autumn and got the house lowered onto them. We've stood still over the winter but have just begun the house remodel. I'll post more shots as we make progress.

 

[kwolfe]

Looks like a heck of a process. Why did you move the house. Looked like you had a beatiful view.

 

[inveresk]

The house used to be right at the edge of our property close to a road. It compromised our privacy, meant we heard road traffic more than we wanted and resulted in the rest of the property feeling disconnected from the house.

We've moved it up the hill so the views are even better although I do have to take down some trees and limb others to make the best of it. Also nearer the top of the hill means the sunpath is better in winter. Lastly, the house sits more comfortably within the property as a whole and there's a very sweet driveway winding up to it that lends the place some presence which it didn't have before.

 

[DieselPower]

Lookin good from here. I like the new location. Better view and it looks nice with the woods in the back. Gives new meaning to telling someone your moving doesn't it.