Moving a house...

[pam123]

That's not a typo, I do mean moving a house.
A friend in upstae NY wants a small inexpensive place and was scouting tax auctions.
The land parcels were good and the highest priced, at $15,000, were commercial lots and not anything she wanted.
The houses were the problem.
Most were awful and not worth even the $2500 they were going for but a few others were structurally sound Victorian and Greek Revival houses and their problem was location.
So, buy one and move it elsewhere?
We're not talking cross-country here, just 30 miles at the max.
We're doing our homework on this but I thought I'd post here and see if anyone has any ideas.

[Punked Out Comp]

I forget what its called, but you can do something thats kind of like building a house, someone near me did it. They order the layout, and then the rooms are already built seperatly, and shipped over to where they're property is, and put to gether. IT was cool because they had full sized rooms with counters and rugs, just lying in the middle of the street. By the end of the day, it was put together, all that was left was siding and that stuff.

[Jaggannath]

Usually if it's small you can have them cut in half and chucked on the back of a truck and moved. Leastaways you can do it in Australia, my mate did it.

I see it fairly often, there's often the big truck with the outriders front and back and flashing orange lights to warn everyone not to pass

[Hi Ho]

I forget what its called, but you can do something thats kind of like building a house, someone near me did it. They order the layout, and then the rooms are already built seperatly, and shipped over to where they're property is, and put to gether. IT was cool because they had full sized rooms with counters and rugs, just lying in the middle of the street. By the end of the day, it was put together, all that was left was siding and that stuff.
Those are manufactured homes. The modern version of those ugly 70's double wide mobiles homes.

[CaptTuna]

Once my boat moved a barge with a house on it. It was an ante-bellum home from the early 1800's. It was moved by barge about 300 miles.
Google house moving and there are busunesses that do what you want.

[pam123]

Once my boat moved a barge with a house on it. It was an ante-bellum home from the early 1800's. It was moved by barge about 300 miles.
Google house moving and there are busunesses that do what you want.


Yeah, we're googling for local movers.
How did things go with the house?
That sounds like a fascinating logistics puzzle.

[David M]

What kinda boat do you have Capt Tuna? I run a boat myself.

[Force Flow]

You know, there is always the option of *building* a house on the property. That's what most folks do around these parts.

As for tax auctions, you're not likely to find anything great in the way of housing. Most owners who lose their property don't care enough to do much of any upkeep on their buildings.

The land is usually decent, but you may as well knock the building down for all its usually worth.

[pam123]

You know, there is always the option of *building* a house on the property. That's what most folks do around these parts.

As for tax auctions, you're not likely to find anything great in the way of housing. Most owners who lose their property don't care enough to do much of any upkeep on their buildings.

The land is usually decent, but you may as well knock the building down for all its usually worth.

No argument but many neglected buildings pull through (didn't believe it till I saw it) anyway.

[Force Flow]

True, sometimes they're able to be restored.

[TwoRails]

That's not a typo, I do mean moving a house....I've seen it done a couple of times. Pretty fansinating work. Just recently "they" moved a monster-size, two story historical office "house" building from one location to another at my work. It was built something like 100 years ago.

I'm sure you already found these:

http://www.experthousemovers.com/
http://www.larmonhousemovers.com/
http://www.traditional-building.com/RTEbuilding_movers.htm

[mbossman2]

yes, houses can be moved. The process, while farly simple, requires a lot of expertise not only in the "loading" of the house, but also in the equipment and permits required for transport as well as the post move inspection.

(When I worked construction many years ago some people had a house moved onto the lot a few doors down).

Thing to be wary of:

1) damage - no matter how good or careful the movers are, there is always some damage. Usually to the plaster walls and mouldings. Keep that in mind if the plaster work is one of the reasons that you are buying/moving the house.

2) loss of "squre" - the house does torque (not a lot) and throws a lot of things out of square which makes future renovations and redecorating an adventure.

3) House settling (all over again) - as the foundation for the house is newly constructed, the foundation will settle all over again, which will lead to new settlement issues (cracks in the walls, plumbing issues, door and window alignment issues etc) and, in an older house, the repairs can be quite a chore and expensive.

4) whacked out tax assessments - sometimes the local taxman will screw up the assessment: sometimes way too high and sometime way too low - the low is not so bad until they overcompensate on your next assessment.

If your friends are going to do this get lots of estimates and check ALL references thoroughly. this is one area of construction where you truly get what you pay for. Having someone come in from 500 miles away may cost more, but the end result is usually worth it.

Oh yeah, one other thing: this whole process from start to finish is about a 6-9 month event: permits need to be obtained, roads have to be evaluated for weight loads, utility lines and the like have to be relocated, water and sever lines have to be reviewed plus all the "normal" stuff that comes along with new construction.

[pam123]

I've seen it done a couple of times. Pretty fansinating work. Just recently "they" moved a monster-size, two story historical office "house" building from one location to another at my work. It was built something like 100 years ago.

I'm sure you already found these:

http://www.experthousemovers.com/
http://www.larmonhousemovers.com/
http://www.traditional-building.com/RTEbuilding_movers.htm

We're looking at Larmon since they're fairly close to where she is but we'll broaden the search.
Thanks for the names. :)

[pam123]

yes, houses can be moved. The process, while farly simple, requires a lot of expertise not only in the "loading" of the house, but also in the equipment and permits required for transport as well as the post move inspection.

(When I worked construction many years ago some people had a house moved onto the lot a few doors down).

Thing to be wary of:

1) damage - no matter how good or careful the movers are, there is always some damage. Usually to the plaster walls and mouldings. Keep that in mind if the plaster work is one of the reasons that you are buying/moving the house.

2) loss of "squre" - the house does torque (not a lot) and throws a lot of things out of square which makes future renovations and redecorating an adventure.

3) House settling (all over again) - as the foundation for the house is newly constructed, the foundation will settle all over again, which will lead to new settlement issues (cracks in the walls, plumbing issues, door and window alignment issues etc) and, in an older house, the repairs can be quite a chore and expensive.

4) whacked out tax assessments - sometimes the local taxman will screw up the assessment: sometimes way too high and sometime way too low - the low is not so bad until they overcompensate on your next assessment.

If your friends are going to do this get lots of estimates and check ALL references thoroughly. this is one area of construction where you truly get what you pay for. Having someone come in from 500 miles away may cost more, but the end result is usually worth it.

Oh yeah, one other thing: this whole process from start to finish is about a 6-9 month event: permits need to be obtained, roads have to be evaluated for weight loads, utility lines and the like have to be relocated, water and sever lines have to be reviewed plus all the "normal" stuff that comes along with new construction.


Dear god.
The houses she's looking at are mostly greek revival from just before the civil war with the odd victorian thrown in, none less than a hundred years old.
I imagine they've survived this long because they're sturdy and because no one had the cash to remodel them.
We haven't gotten to the estimate part yet but if it's going to exceed the price of the house and the land to move one of them she'll have to think of something else.