Moving metal shed
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BobRip
Elite Member
I have an 8 X 8 foot wood shed with a small car port on the back that is roughly 2.5 feet deep. The carport is totally attached to the shed and hopefully will stay with it. I can just lift one side of the shed with the 422. I guess it weights around 1500 pounds. I am planning to build a garage where it is now, and want to move it about 150 feet. I have a PT422 and a neighbor with a 60 HP tractor with FEL. Any suggestions on how to move the shed would be appreciated and maybe even used.
ponytug
Super Member
Alot depends upon the floor of the shed and the ground you have to cover. If you have windows, and they are removable, I would recommend that you do so. Shut and fasten the door before you start to make the shed as rigid as possible.
If you are going up hill or downhill to get to where you are going, you will probably want to use winches or come-alongs to skid the shed, so that you don't have a tractor or pickup get pulled over or into trouble. If you pull at a flat angle, you can mover really heavy objects from a small stake in the ground. If you do use a tractor on an incline, try to use several pulleys to give it better mechanical leverage, and the ability to pull in a safe direction.
If you have real floor, with joists, you can use some 8' fence posts and drag it on rollers (posts) over to where you are going. Lift up one edge and put the first roller under. Put a tow strap around the back of the 8x8 at floor level, and fasten it so that it can't slip up or down (a pair of 2x4 pieces nailed to the shed to make a slot.) As you start dragging the shed on to the first, add another post every two feet or so. If the ground is hard, you can use four or five posts, and as one emerges out the back, put it in front again, if it is soft, you will want to use more rollers, and if it is really soft, you may want to put sheets of plywood under the rollers (you will need at least three, and preferrably four, so that the seam can be parallel to the direction of pull, instead of across it).
That's Egyptian style moving, and it works well, just be sure not to pull the shed from above floor level, or you will cave the walls onto the floor, squish.
If you don't have a strong floor, I would get three sheets of plywood and put two down edge to edge, and the third on top, covering the seam, and fasten together. 1-2' in from the leading edge, put two holes big enough for your tow strap or chains and and put it under the shed. Pull the sheets of plywood with enough lift to keep the front edge (and tow straps) clear of the ground. Put a second strap around the shed at floor level, and fasten to the chains to keep the shed from sliding off. You can then either drag it, or use rollers as above. You may want to off set the two sheets a little to enable you to build some reinforcing around the edge to stiffen the platform up, or just go ahead and build a real floor with joists and after you skid it over, leave it under the shed.
Alternatively, you can get some 8"x8"x12' and build a wagon floor, an "H" with additional cross bars in fron and in back, with your chains wrapped around the leading bar.
Either way, take it slowly and have someone walk behind the shed to keep an eye on things. You want to watch for it hanging up, and for the shed having issues.
Skids can be really useful to have around if you need to move things. With rollers, you can move really heavy objects a long way.
I'm not really sure what you mean by a car port. I think of a car port as an overhang large enough to drive a car under.
All the best,
Peter
If you are going up hill or downhill to get to where you are going, you will probably want to use winches or come-alongs to skid the shed, so that you don't have a tractor or pickup get pulled over or into trouble. If you pull at a flat angle, you can mover really heavy objects from a small stake in the ground. If you do use a tractor on an incline, try to use several pulleys to give it better mechanical leverage, and the ability to pull in a safe direction.
If you have real floor, with joists, you can use some 8' fence posts and drag it on rollers (posts) over to where you are going. Lift up one edge and put the first roller under. Put a tow strap around the back of the 8x8 at floor level, and fasten it so that it can't slip up or down (a pair of 2x4 pieces nailed to the shed to make a slot.) As you start dragging the shed on to the first, add another post every two feet or so. If the ground is hard, you can use four or five posts, and as one emerges out the back, put it in front again, if it is soft, you will want to use more rollers, and if it is really soft, you may want to put sheets of plywood under the rollers (you will need at least three, and preferrably four, so that the seam can be parallel to the direction of pull, instead of across it).
That's Egyptian style moving, and it works well, just be sure not to pull the shed from above floor level, or you will cave the walls onto the floor, squish.
If you don't have a strong floor, I would get three sheets of plywood and put two down edge to edge, and the third on top, covering the seam, and fasten together. 1-2' in from the leading edge, put two holes big enough for your tow strap or chains and and put it under the shed. Pull the sheets of plywood with enough lift to keep the front edge (and tow straps) clear of the ground. Put a second strap around the shed at floor level, and fasten to the chains to keep the shed from sliding off. You can then either drag it, or use rollers as above. You may want to off set the two sheets a little to enable you to build some reinforcing around the edge to stiffen the platform up, or just go ahead and build a real floor with joists and after you skid it over, leave it under the shed.
Alternatively, you can get some 8"x8"x12' and build a wagon floor, an "H" with additional cross bars in fron and in back, with your chains wrapped around the leading bar.
Either way, take it slowly and have someone walk behind the shed to keep an eye on things. You want to watch for it hanging up, and for the shed having issues.
Skids can be really useful to have around if you need to move things. With rollers, you can move really heavy objects a long way.
I'm not really sure what you mean by a car port. I think of a car port as an overhang large enough to drive a car under.
All the best,
Peter
BobRip said:
BobRip
Elite Member
Peter, thanks for your suggestions. The carport is really just a rack for two PT attachments. It is about 5 feet wide and 2.5 feet deep with a sloped roof over it. It seems to be well attached to the shed.
The shed has a wood floor and 4 runners ( 4 X4's) underneath it. I got some aluminum pipe today, 4 pieces. I think we will use these as rollers. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow. We will try the rollers. It sounds like that should work well. The ground is pretty flat.
Again, thanks for the input.
The shed has a wood floor and 4 runners ( 4 X4's) underneath it. I got some aluminum pipe today, 4 pieces. I think we will use these as rollers. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow. We will try the rollers. It sounds like that should work well. The ground is pretty flat.
Again, thanks for the input.
I've moved an 8'x12' wood shed using pipes from a chain link fence. I was fortunate to be on a paved drive but, it moved so easily, two of us just pushed it by hand. I would think with larger diameter pipe, moving on average ground would be easily accomplished.
BobRip
Elite Member
shvl73 said:
The pipes are sounding better and better. I have a graveled area to travel on. It should not be too bad. The last bit is grass with some downhill slope. I should probably tie it to a tree in this area.
I have a slightly bigger all wood shed that I put 2 screw-in eye-bolts into the ends of the ground 4 x 4's. Then I took another 4 x 4 and put 2 chains on it to the drawbar. I did it this way to keep from putting side-strain on the eye bolts. the up angle on the chain will gently lift the shed enough to skid it where-ever you want to go, using the buildings 4 x 4's as skiis. Take it slow (less than 20 mph) and you'll be surprised how easy it moves.
BobRip
Elite Member
We moved the shed today. Two neighbors came over, one with the 60 HP tractor. What we ended up doing was to put an aluminum pole on the ground and against the 4 x4 runners on the back of the shed. We put chain hooks on each end of the pole, ran the chains along the side towards the front, and pulled and lifted from the front end. I also put my PT422 forks under the back of the shed, but over the pole. I lifted and pushed (just a little push). The big tractor pulled on the chains and we moved off at about 2 to 3 miles per hour (a little faster than I wanted, but what the heck). The actual movement only took a few minutes, but getting it initially lined up and onto the driveway took a while. So we took about 90 minutes to do this. My thanks for all of the suggestions. I forgot to take pictures as it was starting to rain and the focus of the job kept me busy.
Thanks for all of the suggestions, they were a big help. Thanks to the good neighbors to who were even more help and came over on a rainy Sunday.
Thanks for all of the suggestions, they were a big help. Thanks to the good neighbors to who were even more help and came over on a rainy Sunday.