OT: Moving a small barn on my property

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:20 pm

So when we last left off, our able-bodied movers had wedged the barn between two trees and jack-knifed the trailer into a nice little bind. The left back dolly was in a rut and the building sat crooked because of it.

We cut the tree on the left and Jim jacked the trailer.

We swapped out the 'burban for a relief engine. Meanwhile Jim swings the his rig around and uses the winch to yank the back of the trailer straight and clear of the remaining tree.

After quite a bit of jacking and sliding the rear of the trailer on planks slicked with ivory soap, we had the barn straight and quickly made it down the driveway to level ground.

Jim and Jerome fabbed up a ramp to get onto the slab.....

......and I drove right up.

The trailer got to have an extreme angle, but everything worked well.

In order to get the trailer over the newly nailed down sill an extra-crappy mini ramp was created.

The height shift of having the pull trailer on the slab was oing to be too great for the back of the building, so cribbing was brought in to raise the dollies.

It is quite a sight.

By this point my truck is past the slab and well into the thicket.

Finally the building is close. We remove the pull trailer and Jim positions the 'burban to pull with the winch. This is a more controllable method. The building is now sitting on crib piles and we have moved the dollies to the front in order to help with the slide. The crib piles have two soaped up planks on top in order to allow for movement.

to move the building to the side we tilt the jack and crank- it naturally falls vertical with a load on top.

We also use the winch to pull in a sideways manner.

Once the barn was close we got one corner just right and started setting it down. It was dusk when the building was fully lowered so the photo is a bit dark. We are all tired and happy. The back corner looks like it is flying because it was cut shorter than the other posts- back when we were trying to get it off the original site and it was binding. It will be spliced longer.

nektai · Post by **nektai** » Sun Oct 12, 2008 11:12 pm

Great stuff!

You could make a great commercial for ivory soap. Something like "It helps you finish the job so you can go clean up" the last scene would have to be some sort of party in the newly located barn.

guzziguy · Post by **guzziguy** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 7:09 am

good job. Thanks for the documentary. you should end it all with a barn dance.

once you have it in place and fastened are you going to put new siding on the barn?

Joël

dadude · Post by **dadude** » Mon Oct 13, 2008 8:16 am

Thanks for the end of day posting, I'm sure it was done with brewski in hand
nice work folks!

Yes when's the barn dance?
Dadude

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:22 pm

Guzzi, we'll have a barn dance if you show up. Now you don't have to worry about falling through the floor! New siding and roofing is in the long term plans.

Nektai, definitely like that commercial idea, can we pitch it?

Dadude, You know it and I am cracking another right now.

Here are some pictures of the aftermath.

What was left behind

from below

In place

from the shop

from the backyard

Interior detail aka justification for doing all that work. What a beautifully framed small barn. It is in really good condition too.

I am sure I will post more pictures- there were literally hundreds taken by three different cameras.

Pete

nektai · Post by **nektai** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 8:25 pm

Any sign of the highway department?

They have some work to do!

guzziguy · Post by **guzziguy** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:19 am

I think you should put a solid roof on whats left of the old barn and turn it into a bomb shelter. It would also be a great place to store potatoes and cure meats.

DumDum · Post by **DumDum** » Tue Apr 21, 2009 8:19 pm

Wow! great stuff! Defintely something we all can use when it comes to saving the old barns in the Maine countryside out here. A new home for more machine storage!

How has it been coming along so far? has the new door frame been roughed out and doors built? Any power going into that shed? What will it be used for?

mystry_tour · Post by **mystry_tour** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:09 pm

Hey Pete,
I been slack at the PC latly. I been busy doing gardening and seminars on composting and raised bed gardening.
Damn.....That is quiet a project you have going there. That look fun and sorta scarey. How much trouble would it have been to take it apart and move it, would it have been cheeper or just more time consumming
Reg

DumDum · Post by **DumDum** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:05 pm

Reg,

I'm pretty sure that if Czy took that shed apart and moved it, he would most likely have ruined most of the boards and some of the jointery. I've tried to dismantle a 30x30 barn before near Rochester, NY and the end result was that most of the joints were damaged and would need to be redone into a smaller frame size i.e. 28x28. the boards were all firewood when i was done with it.

Lifting and transporting it in one piece is probably cheaper and defintely less time consuming.

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:46 pm

I have been neglect in updating this thread. The highway department came and demo-ed the lower part of the building and re-graded.

The Barn is roughly framed open and one of my spring projects is moving forward on the siding.

Pics to come, but it will take a little while- too busy at the moment.

Tour, DD is correct- much easier to move than dissemble- especially with my ace up the sleeve.

Pete

crzypete · Post by **crzypete** » Sun May 03, 2009 2:05 pm

Ok, my butt is back in gear. Thanks for the push DD.

When we last left off...... we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Highway department.........

Well, they actually showed up in late November and proceeded to dismantle the basement by hand. Fortunately their timing was good, and I actually got to save many usable pieces of wood. I actually spent yesterday planing the old floor boards of the barn to use as new treads for the staircase in our house. Unfortunately, I did a very bad thing and neglected to take photos of this process- they showed up without announcement and my camera was away for the day.

So, we begin the pictorial journey on day two.

Here is day 2's morning view. They did a great job of removing much garbage and stripping things to the core. There was one guy on the crew who was a one man wrecking crew- he grunted with every feat of strength and seemed to enjoy pushing his body like a human crowbar. I asked the foreman if he ever hurts himself, the foremans reply "he does, but he doesn't know it"

and from below- they delivered the first load of fill on day 1, I think they may have been nervous about collapsing walls or something.

the cavarly showed up soon after my pictures were snapped in the form of a gradall.

A gradall is an interesting machine in that it digs, but the bucket can also twist- perfect for grading slopes on the sides of the road. Now, the guys on the highway crew were joking that the operator of the gradall had retired the day before and this was the new guys first day on the job. I figured they were giving me the business until I saw the guy run it- Yup definitely his first day on the job.

Here's a cool shot showing the bucket twisted- he is using it to pinpoint drop some fill

more

and more fill

at the end of the day, defnitely the guys first day.....

Pete