its been a while since I poked my head in here, but I have a question to bounce off you folk. I am not sure whether I ought to be considering this opportunity seriously, or backing away from it.
I have a very old very small house. It is on a good sized lot in a nice neighbourhood. We are content but have plans to build in the near future. We like older styled house plans with wide porches and “farmhouse looks” I in particular like the old “4-square” styled houses.
Just out of town there is new construction going in , and in order to build, they are demolishing a century old farmhouse that meets our floorplan needs quite nicely. It is well built with a slate roof, solid hardwood floors throughout, wide mouldings, and big porches, high ceilings etc. in short it meets our plans quite nicely with a couple exceptions. The house is 42 ft wide by 50 ft deep.
Would it be worthwhile to move such a house, or would it be cheaper to just build new? the house is 6.7 km away, is a full 2 storeys, and en route to our lot would have to pss through 3 traffic lights, under about 75 hydro lines, over 1 railroad track, and make 1 left and 1 right turn. There would be a slight downhill slope all the way.
Our lot would be able to accept the new home without any interference from our existing house, and the sewer and gas lines are right in place for where they would need to be to line up with the foundation for the new house. The house is currently sitting on a quarried stone foundation, with all brick exterior walls. It would neeed to somehow be separated from that foundation, jacked, moved and set back down here.
Any opinions/input would be appreciated.
Thanks a bunch,
JAG
| View Image | And When I must Leave the Great River, Oh Bury Me Close to its wave, Zone 5b Brantford Ontario, Canada |
Edited 5/28/2002 9:56:11 PM ET by JustAnotherGuy
Replies
I, would lean in the direction of building a new house that looks old, so you can start out with modern insulation and mechanicals. However it certainly can't hurt to get some sort of price to move it from a contractor that does that sort of project. Just make sure that you compare total cost, after all the repairs that will probably be required. Fun to consider though is'nt it.
Dan Is it just me, or are mistakes easier to prevent than fix!
Ouch! 42' wide? What happened to "very old, very small"???
And all those power lines?
You're really biting off something serious here. Guess it might be worth it if the house is in exceptional condition. But moving one that big might be a huge problem - the width and the weight could be a big issue.
You're probably better off consulting a pro house mover and seeing what they think.
Few women admit their age, few men act it.
OK Boss you and I disagree, Maybe...
If the streets can handle the width, it sounds doable.
here's why I'd save it instead of building new.
I'm not excited about saving old molding or evan "the look" you can buy all that stuff. What I like about old homes with charcter is just that,... charcter. floors that roll a little, not dead level, squeeky stairs, pull chain toilets etc. Little pieces that didn't pop out of some plastic molding machine. Old growth wood. real slate roofing, Things the MTV generation complain about and think are wrong.
He should ask himself if the shape and layout are what he likes or would he gut it? If he likes it, Move it.
The HVAC, electrical, phones etc. Plumbing,can all be up graded. Maybe not as cheap as new construction but with some planning, care and product selection delt with acceptably. Insulation too can have acceptable solutions.
Act fast though, the bull dozers already know how to turn it into debris.
Frenchy -
I wasn't saying that he *shouldn't* move it - Just that moving something that large that far was a serious undertaking. And he should take a hard look at it first.
Sexism hurts everyone - Especially broads.
We had a house moved 12 miles, about 5, 0r 6 years ago. But these guys have given you perfect advice - get some prices from local house movers, then try to figure out whether it makes sense in your particular case.
The only thing I'd stress is to talk to as many movers as you can get to look at the job. Theirs is a rare trade, and each will have their own techniques and opinions about how to best move it, what route to take, when, and how much they want to do the work. Prices for our move were all over the place, some double the lowest. I've heard horror stories, and happy ever after stories about moving houses, and after our experience, I don't doubt any of them.
Oh yeah, there's also one word to keep in mind throughout a project like this - liability.
Edited 5/29/2002 4:17:56 PM ET by jim blodgett
Thanks everyone for your responses. One of the big reasons the house is up for demo is because the Slate roof has been leaking while it was uninhabitated for the past 6 months or so, and so the plaster and floors in the 2 largest rooms in the house need to be replaced. I can live with that. I can live with doing the electrical and plumbing upgrades while the plaster is down. My thinking was that the house is nice, and it must be cheaper to move it than to build something like that.
I got in touch with a house mover on the phone today. He is in a town a half an hour away from here, and his input was that after I paid someone to remove all the brick, he would consider moving the house, but that the load would be too great if the bricking on it were left intact.
Now I'd be looking at replumbing, rewiring, replastering, and rebricking, and it would cost me in the neighbourhood of $50,000 just to have it moved. I might as well build new!
Thanks again for your input guys I really appreciate it!
JAG
View Image
And When I must Leave the Great River, Oh Bury Me Close to its wave,And Let My Canoe and My Paddle, Be the only Mark over my Grave
Zone 5b Brantford Ontario, Canada
Edited 5/29/2002 5:13:47 PM ET by JustAnotherGuy
OK Boss, you were right!
Based on the most recent post he has a recycle project at best. If it were near me I'd jump at the chance to gloom onto those slate tiles, bricks, and maybe some decent old growth timbers plus a few odds and ends to add to my new dwelling.
Wonder what color the slate is, I'd just about kill for enough red slate tiles to do my house....
Too bad -- there's lots of house moving done here in Southern California. It generally pencils out a lot cheaper than new construction. This is one for the Green Building thread -- find a way to salvage materials, if you can.
-- J.S.
"It generally pencils out a lot cheaper than new construction."
Yeah John, it's something I never considered until it fell into my lap. We had the house GIVEN to us, on condition we move it, and it cost a whopping 6K to move. Talk about living a charmed life.
My wife and kids now...I don't know how lucky they've been - living with a nut like me all these years <g>.