# House Moving??????



## Glasshousebltr (Feb 9, 2004)

A good friend has some family relocating from Michigan. They're thinking about moving an old house the college wants to unload on dirt cheap. It's a good old house but it's also a balloon frame. The moves only about three blocks and I can guess the power line costs. 

I'll get some pics later but I need some input. Anybody here do any house moving?

About 1700sf. 2 story and like i said Balloon frame.

Chime in?


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## Spectatorz (Jun 11, 2004)

*Go For It !!!*

For what it might be worth,

The process to move that house a short distance as you describe is "All Doable" with Good Planning.
I suggest looking into the Local "BlueBook" for "House Movers" and get the scoop from them.
As a General Contractor, one could Sub the Moving and handle the Prep of the New Site.
Sounds like a Great Project IMHO.

Interested in what you decide to do and how you go about it, for sure.


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## Shamrock (Mar 21, 2006)

I've been involved with a couple dozen different moves. Generally they're pretty straight forward and the biggest issues have always been clearance problems encountered along route. Have yet to encounter any structural issues caused by move and that includes balloon framing. I have not been involved with any that didn't use a new piling and girder system so I'm unaware of any problems that may surface using a block foundation though I can't imagine any significant problems going that route.


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## mdshunk (Mar 13, 2005)

Beyond the technical difficulties of moving a dwelling, there's some legally enforcable code that applies that has been adopted in your state. The International Existing Building Code, chapter 11, covers 'Relocated or moved buildings'.

It's one short page of code, that some nice guy must have scanned it in just now, because it magically appeared in my PhotoBucket album:


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## Driftwood (Feb 15, 2004)

*House Moving ? You Got It Here*

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MOVING HOUSE BY INVERESK 3/19/07. Beautiful house, and setting in the country,NO wires to lift. enjoy ! Drift PS ,You owe Me a root beer !!


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## K2 (Jul 8, 2005)

I helped with a moved house after it was already moved. The house was free. The move was 35 miles at a cost of $35,OOO. New foundation was 12k because it had to have blockouts and then fill ins etc. and just alot of extra work. New plumbing 7k, New Electrical 7k, New hvac 7k, Roof frame modification with engineer's stamp 6k, (my job), general putting the house back together and necessary updates, 15k. Lot, 75 k, Well 18k, Septic 12k.

188k and the house still had no wall insulation and the old double hung windows with no storms. They got lucky and passed final inspection without these things but another inspector could have called them on it and cost another 10 to 20 k because it is supposed to be completely brought up to current codes. 

Bottom line, I believe that plan could have been built new for equal money.

I had another experience with a moved house and it was about the same. If the house has to be brought to current code all you are really moving is a pile of old lumber.


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## wasdifferent (Dec 18, 2004)

Glass,
Here's a link to the membership list (by state) of the International Association of Structural Movers.

http://www.iasm.org/member/index.html

I hope it helps,
Michael


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## MALCO.New.York (Feb 27, 2008)

^^^^^^^A true "Cut and Paste" job here!!!!!!!^^^^^^^

Sounds like advertising????????


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## Mitch M (Dec 4, 2006)

I am a GC and coordinated the move of 10 houses at one time last year. This included helping my client buy the land, meeting with inspections, etc. I had a house mover move the houses it self but I took care of everything else. 

All in all it may not be a bad idea. You "recycle" everything but at some point you have to decide is it really worth the money. Two of the houses that we moved had some damage but not a whole lot. Moving a house that has historical value or sentimental reasons may be one thing but the economics is another. Make sure you evaluate everything before commiting.


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## LNG24 (Oct 30, 2005)

I'll be moving a shed and one car garage in the summer. Don't think its quite the same though. I'll just be jacking it up and putting it on a trailer. Move will take place on the same property, just relocating it. 

I have pictures of a house that was moved across Lake St. Cathrine, VT during the winter. A team of Ox were used to pull it across the ice

We recently had a large multi story building in NYC moved a few blocks. 

I think in every case, the house possessed some kind of Priceless charm for the person who bought it.


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## Barkri12 (May 1, 2009)

Glasshousebltr said:


> A good friend has some family relocating from Michigan. They're thinking about moving an old house the college wants to unload on dirt cheap. It's a good old house but it's also a balloon frame. The moves only about three blocks and I can guess the power line costs.
> 
> I'll get some pics later but I need some input. Anybody here do any house moving?
> 
> ...


House moving has recently been pushed to the forefront of preservation efforts as an alternative to demolition. When the choice becomes to either move a historically significant building away from its original physical and cultural landscape, or see history torn down and buried away in our ever-growing landfills, relocation can be the preferred option.


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## cleveman (Dec 28, 2007)

I was talking to a guy the other day and he told me that the house he was living in (renting) was the house originally intended to be Meryl Streep's in the film "The Bridges of Madison County".

But the guy who owned it didn't like the adultery theme of the film, so he didn't allow them to film in it. So they found another home.

I know the guy who moved it in and is renting it to him, so I asked the tenant how the landlord felt about adultery. He said he wasn't sure how the landlord felt, but in his opinion it was ok so long as you didn't get caught.

That is my moved house story for today.


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## BobsLandscaping (May 25, 2009)

Anybody know the name of the house moving TV show that used to air on the History Channel? I loved that show because of all the Mack trucks in it. Had a couple of really cool single stack B's, a few Superliners, and a prime mover M123A1C. They moved houses, barns, and a lighthouse. Lots of cool Macks in the house moving biz.


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## Cole82 (Nov 22, 2008)

BobsLandscaping said:


> Anybody know the name of the house moving TV show that used to air on the History Channel? I loved that show because of all the Mack trucks in it. Had a couple of really cool single stack B's, a few Superliners, and a prime mover M123A1C. They moved houses, barns, and a lighthouse. Lots of cool Macks in the house moving biz.


 Big Moves 
Jeremy Patterson is the guy that is doing the moves. He is also moving a 3 story brick house for my starting june 1st. Discovery will be there to film it. It will be the longest move by any brick structure.
Cole

http://www.jeremypattersonhousemoving.com/


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## CharlesD (Feb 12, 2007)

I've never moved houses but I've remodeled several after they got to their new lots.
In most cases after the people bought the house, moved it, did the necessary foundation work and repair work that could be anything from new kitchens, baths, sheetrock, roofs and siding, they could have just built a new house.
One fellow was complaining to me about spending 100K for his house after moving it and his words "I've built a new house but it's still an old house."
Every year for several years I went back and added something to the house like porches, or repaired something like rotted floors. It was a money pit.
I did see a brick house built on a slab moved about 10 miles. They didn't break a brick or crack any rock.


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## B.K (Dec 15, 2008)

We moved an old general store last summer. It was 90-95 years old. Right across the main street.

All we needed to do was just move it across the street. It took all day. To get up the hill and over the curb, the building had to brought to the center of the road, let off the truck, shored up, beams taken out, trucked moved into proper position, jacks brought up, beams put back underneath, shoring removed, than finally moved for into the final position. 

Proper planning is definitely needed, just for small moves it can take quite a bit of time. Just something to look into.

Also the city may be the biggest pain in the ass, we had the building shored up and ready to move, and it sat there for 3 weeks, because the city decided it wasn't a great idea to move it at the time they agreed to at the beginning of the build!!

At the end of it, she turned out great, just a little dip in the floor, witch was fixed up by a nice 6x6 post.


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## LNG24 (Oct 30, 2005)

As far as I know, don't yu have to bring the house up to TODAYS code once its moved?


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## K2 (Jul 8, 2005)

LNG24 said:


> As far as I know, don't yu have to bring the house up to TODAYS code once its moved?


In my area you would have to.


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## LNG24 (Oct 30, 2005)

Being in Real Estate also, I have seen homes given away for free because they have to be moved or were moved. The after move renovation costs usually exceed new construction costs because unlike a renovation where only a portion of the house is updated, a home move will require a total upgrade. Much easier to start from scratch in those cases. Of course historic buildings are another story.


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## stevenrichrd (Sep 14, 2011)

*Mover*

I suggest looking into the Local "BlueBook" for House Movers and get the scoop from them


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