Original oil painting by: Grandfather’s wife
Grandfather says he moved his house once.
When the road in front of it was widened, he moved it out of the way, up to the top of a hill on his place. That was before the family moved where we have been for 40 years now.
Grandfather learned a lot with this project, which served him well when he built his new house.
Here is the house on its original site:
The house is jacked up on beams off the original stone foundation:
Dollies made from B-29 wheels are placed under the beams supporting the jacked-up house. The jacks are then removed putting the house on the wheels and towing machines are attached to the beams with a cable to each vehicle:
The train starts up the hill:
Up, up …
Here is the house at its new resting place:
The house is set in place on stands, level and at the desired height, and a new foundation is built up under it. The stands and beams are then removed.
And here is the house after Grandfather got it finished:
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About the Author: RD Blakeslee is an octogenarian from West Virginia who built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family
I’ve seen homes moved like this before. I’m curious to know if there was any structural damage that occurred during the move that had to be repaired after your house was set down in its new location? I would think it is hard to do something like that without SOME unanticipated damage.
Well, Shaun, the whole enterprise was one of forward-looking destruction and resurrection.
Looking at the pictures , a whole lot of destruction, reconstruction and new construction went on.
Presuming you mean cracked plaster, etc. – Not much. The moving contractor took great pains to stabilize the structure. He was quite a showman. He used bananas to lubricate some of his skids and put a glass of water on the kitchen table which remained undisturbed after the house was let down on its new foundation.
Adendum: Like father – like son. Son owns rental houses and one of them is in the way of a new public park. He is moving it to a lot close by.
If anyone is interested and len agrees, I can take pictures for you-all.
I am interested. This is great and very interesting to see the process.
OK – Should have the pics. soon. Son’s contract calls for completion w/i 30 days.
Grandfather also has many more pics of his house move. It was back in 1970 and the contractor used a D8 dozer and three surplus armored personnel carriers cabled to the platform to haul it up the hill. The plan was to move steadily to the top, but the house got stuck under a tree and the procession had to stop. There was danger the house could slide off the back of the platform on the restart.
The contractor got faint and had to sit down for awhile. Grandfather reassured him he only had $400 in the house (The buy-back price from the state) and not to worry. Worst that could happen was he would have to ask his insurer for $400 and clean up an awful pile of junk.
But everything ended well – a few limbs were sawed off the tree and the train re-started without further incident.
Grandfather was right into the project all along and the contractor offered him a job. But Grandfather was happy with his career path and declined.
Correction: Three tank retrievers. It’s been awhile …
I’m fascinated by this! I saw them move a building once, but it was a one-room schoolhouse, obviously much smaller than your house. I’d love to see more photos of the in-process move.
And I’m curious, too. Are you telling us the government only paid you $400 for condemning your house where it was?
GaGa, I’ll email Len to see about posting more photos.
The State (VA) paid me the full market value for the house as it was on its original site. Then, they allowed me to buy it back for its salvage value, subject to my removing it from the new, widened-right-of-way.
Grandmother and I and the children camped out in a tent during the move. She never said so, but I suspect she wished I would have just let the state tear the house down and I could have gotten a new house built with the money I got for it from the state.
But,, oh,, no – not Grandfather! Another mountain to climb (more exactly, a mountain to send the house up).
Dave, send me the additional pictures with your captions and I will add them to this post. I will try to get them up this weekend, but it may be a bit later than that as I have a couple of family gatherings going on this week!
Hi, Len –
Neat the way you interposed the new photos in between the originals.
Thank, you!
I like the way you set the first floor of the moved house several feet above the ground. I’m sure this made for a bright and airy basement!
That gave us a third floor, Jason!
Served us well when I was Thirty-nine, with five children.
It also made the house pricier when we sold it to the Airlie Foundation, a conference center next door associated with George Washington University, when we moved here to WV.
Our house here has all the entrances on grade. I’m 89 as of last month and all the children are out on their own.
Woops!
87.
Don’t get old, young folks!
It’s a mistake.
Ah, but it’s better than the alternative!
Thanks for the extra photos – a fascinating project.
You’re welcome, GaGa
And you are right about the alternative, too.
I want to echo Ga Ga. Thanks for extra photos. Extremely interesting. Cracked plaster walls was EXACTLY what I was thinking about when I asked. Really surprised to hear it was minimal. It is amazing what men can do when they put their minds to work.
Glad you enjoyed the photos, Shaun.
The plaster was the old type, plaster on lath, which is more susceptible to bulging, cracking, etc. than drywall.
It IS amazing what any of us can do, if we set our minds to it.
Nice to see the expanded photo album ! Real project, for sure.
They moved a big house here to make room for a shopping center some 30 years back. Had to take down power lines and lots of stuff on the streets they moved it on, as it was a large 2 story + steep roof house. What amazed me was the house had several brick chimneys, which got move intact with the house !
Moved it two blocks, I heard the cost was 200k.
” What amazed me was the house had several brick chimneys, which got move intact with the house !” (re a House Andy saw moved.)
Andy, the third picture down shows the stone chimney which was moved with our house. Calculate weight was thirty-six tons.
The house had to be turned 260 degrees before it started up the hill, so the chimney would lean into the house.
Grandfather can’t remember what the moving contractor charged, exactly. It was way back in 1970, but it was considerably less that the house was worth (about $20,00) on its new foundation but before all the improvements one can see in the last picture.