Though it wasn't very far and only took about 6 minutes, the prep took over an hour. Though I hear that's pretty good. A house down the road took 6 hours to prepare and 6 minutes to move. The ground was wet and the house kept sinking making it difficult to get the straps underneath it.
We waited for the crane to arrive from the valley. The company charges about $250 per hour for the "small crane" and will usually charge for at least the time it takes to get to your residence if not the way back as well.
After the crane arrived, the operators secure it so it doesn't tip over, though it weighs several tons. Everyone (Crane guys, RJ, Jess, John Stynchula, Frank Freer, Papa Freer, and Bradley Fullen) helps feed two, large, thick straps under the house. The straps are then attached to wires that are connected to the crane. We ran into one problem when we couldn't get one of the thick straps to move underneath the house through to the other side. There was some solid dirt the house was sitting on that we couldn't get through by pulling, and had to cut a hole in the floor to help move it along.
But once that was taken care of and the crane was connected, the whole moving process took just under 6 minutes. And again, it's just easier to show you in the world of pictures and videos. Video of the moving is near the end of this post.
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| The Before. The old house (on the right) sits next to Capitol Ave. We need to move it to the back of the lot where you can see the garage walls (left side). |
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| Crane arrives. RJ helps the operator secure the crane. |
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| Guiding the first strap under the house. |
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| Strap. |
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| Trying to pull the stubborn one through. Not working... |
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| It really is a Wide Load. |
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| Crane. |
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| Connecting together. |
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| The crane moves over to the house. |
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| Centered over the house. |
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| More crane. |
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| Connecting the crane to the straps. |
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| Tightening it all. |
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So close.
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And it begins. Watch the video to see the entire moving. I almost missed the beginning because I was busy putting the dogs in the car for their own safety. :D
