Thursday, December 8, 2016

Moving Day 1977

Friend Dave asked about the moving of this house way back in 1977.  A little background.  We were getting ready to ask the bank for a loan to build a house on some land we had purchased, when the house my Mom was renting came up for sale to be moved! So we bought it, and the small one behind it and moved both homes...We hired a house moving company and paid them  $3,000 to move the larger house. It was located on a lot in town where 

What they do is this:
They disconnect all plumbing and electrical.  They put large timbers under the house and they start jacking it up!  They put long beams under the house....then they lower the jacked up house onto the 2 long steel beams with wheels attached,  they hook up a big truck and they tow the house!  At the time we purchased the house it was about 60 ft long and 30 ft wide, 


Here it is right before they pull it out onto the highway, 

Here it goes onto the highway the guy on the roof raises the power lines so the house can go underneath without pulling the wires down. 



here it goes down US Hwy 1



Here it is at intersection of East Dekalb and Lyttleton Streets in our town about 10 miles away from the destination on our land.  They send a flag car ahead and stop the traffic...to allow the house to go through. 

Notice all the old huge cars

The land we had purchased is on this dirt road, here comes the house 


then it's coming down the driveway and turning into position


And here they are setting it up leveling it and they leave it sitting on stack of wood they call blocks.   



my mom posing with the house after the movers left...

 A lot of her furniture was moved in the house! She went to live with my sister in town until her house was ready to be lived in it took about 6 months for that to happen. 

Then we had a block foundation put down and when that was finished and level they come back and lower the house onto the new foundation...rebuild the top of the chimney and we had put up the fence for Sundance's pasture...its now a wooden fence. This was about 3 months after the move. 


here it is in 2014 we enclosed that open porch on the end, that is now my bar room...




Here is the bar and the 3 windows that look out over the acreage



The we added the screen porch and sunroom to the back of the house if you recall the house is FACING the land not the dirt road, and its still a dirt road!!.....its been sitting here for 40 yrs in a couple of months...and here is why we decided to do it this way...we had a mortgage for 10 yrs of only $110 a month!  We borrowed enough money to put the house back together and every year we did something else, like put the new siding on, a new roof, adding the screen porch to the back, putting in central heat and air, and had all the windows replaced with double hung vinyl....and y'all know about the recent things I've done to update it a bit.  I need another roof now and the HVAC unit needs to be replaced.  Those big ticket items will have to wait for now!  Here is the rear of the house as it was in 2017 facing the screen porch. 


the cozy screen porch..





Here is the house from the pasture side...



                              So if you're thinking of building don't... look for a house to move!  So far the demo of the old shed is going good...the weather has not been too co-operative and my new job as head wood gatherer is keeping me busy! I will update on the progress next time.


OH and see this old house here well it was also to be demolished to make way for the Wendys' in town back in 1977 so My Mom bought it, we moved it too, a month later, my mom has lived there since 1978/  We added a second bedroom, and a back screen porch and a deck! 





 This is that house today we put them just a stones throw from each other but left a wooded section between the houses...



This portrait I made of Sundance hangs in my entry way...in memory of my dear friend...

He is buried out in the middle of his pasture he passed in 1996.  



Good memories!



PEACE
Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

8 comments:

  1. I wonder what it would cost these days to move a house that size. But you sure have made your home a wonderful home and the property is beautiful.

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    1. Oh Im sure it would be triple what we paid! But the good part is some buildings have to be moved like recently our airport expanded, the houses had to be torn down so Im sure they would have sold those homes cheap to get them out of there quickly!

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  2. That is amazing. I've never seen a house move like that before; not something that is done here, I'm pretty sure. Thanks for showing this.

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    1. We had never moved a house but I had seen some being moved down the highway...We were so afraid the house would be damaged in the move....one of the beams under the house was twisted but it has not been an issue...

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  3. Sondra,
    Thanks for taking the time to post this, its very interesting and not something I've come across before apart from reading about it. As Holding moments says its not something thats done here. The closest we have is where historic places are dismantled and rebuilt in museums [ https://museum.wales/stfagans/ ]
    You now have a lovely place in a great setting.
    Finding these old photo's and writing the post must have brought back lots of memories. Pleased the shed project is going along ok......where would we be without projects!! I bet when you finally sit down at the end of the day it's for a well earned rest, and as the saying goes "you've earned your beer". Thanks again.

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    1. It was fun to see these photos again, it took me a couple days to locate them I thought they were in one of the old photo albums, but I found them in a box full of loose photos, and of course all the way to the bottom of the box, so I saw LOTS of old memories along the dig! Hard work is how I've lived my whole life, and I don't see that changing as long as I can still do it!

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  4. That is a great story! You and your home have some amazing history together. Loved seeing the pic of it rolling down the highway! So many people over-extend their finances on home purchases and it is so stupid. Love the way you did it!

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    1. Yes the American Dream turns into the American Drain! I am excited about the new Tiny Home movement but when I see people paying price tags like $60,000 for one I have to ask WHY?

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