Relocating a 36 x 48 Pole Barn

[RonR]

Before I'd start to move it myself, I'd want to have a great "Plan B" to kick in when things go badly.

Like when the wind moves it off the truck, and it's lying cross-ways in the road and Officer Friendly says you have 2 hrs to get it off the road or he'll call our a contractor that you get to pay for to load it in dumpsters and haul it off....

Not to be negative, but this plan seems to have a lot of downside potential......

Ron

 

[radman1]

I'm with EddieWalker on this one. This is not a move it yourself project unless you want to take a lot of time to take it down and put it back up peice by peice. It took a crew of 5-6 to put up my brother's 60x100x16 pole barn shed in one week and they do it full time and have the equipment. They used their 250 bobcat and borrowed my 873 bobcat to get it done quicker.

When you guys talk about lifting off the roof and moving it, I assume you mean the small shed. The pole barn roof won't take kindly to being lifted off in one piece or in sections. I assume the rafters are probably 8-10' apart on the pole barn shed.

 

[mudcat]

Take it apart peice by peice. The metal can be salvaged by using a pair of large end cutters to cut the nail heads off. I'm not saying it can't be done, I just wouldn't want to do it. If you do have it moved please take pictures and post them.

 

[MarkV]

I just don’t see how it can be done without spending as much as it would cost to take it apart. A pole building will have no structural integrity once it is out of the ground. When a house is moved it has a floor structure to keep the base from spreading and to support huge steel “I” beams which support the load on a trailer or dollies. Not the case with a pole building which depends on the poles in the ground to keep it from moving. I would think you would have to tie the building together from side to side at each post and then run a lot of diagonal bracing to keep it from racking. The cross ties would also have to be strong enough to carry the load on the trailer and the only material that is going to do that for a 36’ span is going to be steel. Not many in my area have a bunch of 36’ long “I” beams lying around the yard.

The overall height when on a trailer would be the next issue in my mind. You have 12’ high walls; 4’ of pole in addition, if a 2 in 12 pitch roof that adds 6’ and then the height of the trailer. That’s going to put it above the ground more than 20’ and it is hard to believe there is not a tree, power line or something that overhangs the road in 20 miles that would not interfere.

Also seems like it could get real unstable on a trailer. With an 8’ wide trailer there would be 14’ hanging off each side. With most of the buildings weight way up in the air I would think even a good pot hole could transfer to much weight to one side or the other. Also I just don’t see how travel speed could be much more than 2 or 3 miles an hour without the building wanting to start swaying. That will be a lot of time on the road to be stealthy.

Don’t mean to be so negative. It just seems to me that there is a large potential of ending up with an expensive clean up and fines that would cost more than taking it apart and putting new tin on.

MarkV

 

[CurlyDave]

I have a general knowledge of carpentry, a CDL, and a desire to complete this task as inexpensively as possible.

For my money, the cheapest way out of here is to kiss off the $600 and walk away.

I can't begin to list the number of things that can go wrong, but the big issue is how long do you think you are going to have that CDL when your state DMV finds out that you were the mastermind behind blocking a road by having a barn get stuck in the middle of it, while overlapping both sides?

More seriously, if you really want it and can't get a housemover for months, go back to the property owner and tell him that you can't get it moved until December. What can he do?

If he sues or claims damages, you can demonstrate that you made a good-faith effort to move it properly. He wouldn't even be able to get it on a court docket until after the housemovers had a chance to move it. If he blocks you from moving it after 30 days, it is his fault it is still there. You get damages from him.

 

[rox]

My first thoughts after I read about the house movers quotation was exactly the same as Curly Dave's. Just go back to the owners and tell them it can't be done until December. Sure there will be gnashing of teeth. Stay cool and calm and get back to them a few days later after you break the news to them. My husband tends to be a real hot head when receiving bad news, but then he calms down and deals with the issues clear headed. So don't necessarily take their intiial reaction as their final decision. And the sooner you tell them the better. $5,600 for the 2 buildings if the house movers move them properly is really a good deal.

Or you can take Eddies suggestion and jsut salvage the trusses and hopefully the poles and call it a good deal. Take down and dispose of the rest within the 30 days.

 

[dtd24]

I would invest in a couple of good magic markers and sazall blades. I have being looking for pole barns to relocate onto my property as well. I would take it apart in sections.

Good luck either way

 

[EddieWalker]

I've come into a stack of old magazines called "Country." In the Dec/Jan 2004 edition there is a story about the Amish in Iowa moving a turkey shed by hand from one farm to another.

It was cut into four sections, each 16 feet by 100 feet, then fitted with planks for handholds. 130 of them carried it by hand almost a mile.

There is a picture of it in the magazine, and it looks kind of like those old viking movies where every one is lined up side by side working in unison. Except these guys are all in black with matching hats.

Eddie

 

[CTyler]

Did you get them moved and if so how?