Moving a shed

[Stormin Mormon]

I may finally have found a problem that I can't solve. Sigh. A good friend of mnem asked me today about movin ga hsed If ehe can move it about 50 feet, from the neighbors lot, he can have the shed. Else, it will be torn down and scrapped

Shed is about 12 x 8 feet. About 8 feet tall. As I quipped, you could move in family of 8 immigrants, and they would fit fine. It's seriously large enough to live in, and call it a studio apartment.

is the front of the shed.

is the side of the shed.

are pictures of the shed with a 250 pound Mormon standing in front of the shed.

shows the path the shed needs to move. Towards the photographer.

The roof is slightly pitched, maybe 2-12. The roof is badly rotted and can be sacrificed. The walls are flake board, and

2 x 2 studs. The floor feels like 3/4 plywood on 6 x 6 beams. Or maybe two by six, nailed together. There is vinyl siding. I leaned against the building, and it didn't move a bit. The floor beams and all, are on cinder blocks.

There are a couple phone poles near the destination which might be strong enough to put a cable hoist. There may be enough room to fit a small four by four truck. We discussed pulling, carrying, and rolling on pipes or tubes.

I'm really not coming up with any good ideas. What do you all suggest?

[gfretwell]

The guys who sell prefab sheds here roll them on 4" PVC pipes. You need about 4 or 5 and keep recycling the one rolling out the back to the front. They move a stick built shed like that with 2 guys and move right along but they are young ;-)

The only thing they do to make things easier is they bevel the edges of the beams when they build it so they roll up on the next pipe easier.

[hrhofmann]

If the roof is that bad, I would remove it and then sawzall the four corners, two guys should be able to move each of the four walls to their new location.

[Jerry - OHIO]

Planks on ground,short peices of pipe ,jack shed , put long planks under shed. Run shed with plank runners onto pipe & roll. Keep taking pipe from back & add to front. A bunch of kids are a great help !!!!

Jr

[Jerry - OHIO]

Sorry , I didn't read other posts. Roll it ,& if you can get a s10 & ranger in there it''ll be easy, I did similar job !!!

Jr

[John Grabowski]

*If it wasn't built on skids, dragging will be difficult. Rolling it on pipes is possible, but the terrain does not look the most conducive to that. I vote for disassembly. Since the roof is no good you will be getting rid of it anyway.

[Jules Richardson]

Obvious question: what's the budget?

At the cheap end of the scale, jack it and get some timber skids under it, then drag it.

At the expensive end, rent a skycrane and lift it out :-)

Or you could go for the "Star Trek matter transporter" approach: take extensive photos, set fire to shed, buy building materials, assemble clone of shed at final destination ;-)

cheers

Jules

[Harry K]

I moved a shipping container a bit smaller but constructed teh same way in Texas. Shifted it from one side of the lot to the other and turned it end for end using noting but a pry pole and a concrete block for a fulcum. I only shifted it a few inches per 'pry' and it took a few days of going at it in the evenings.

Harry K

[Harry K]

If it is a question of traction or getting stuck...

I carry enough cable and snatch blocks in my "wooding" truck to tow jsut about anything from a long ways off. There must be an alley or something the tow vehicle can work from and those poles give an anchor point for snatch blocks. Don't look at it as needing to be a 'direct,

1x1 pull. Of course cost of snatch blocks and cable would probably exceed the cost of the shed :)

Harry K

[DerbyDad03]

If you are going to disassemble it, I'd look closely at how the walls are constructed.

If they look flimsy (2 x 2's studs, right?) you might want to add some diagonals across the interior face of the studs to prevent racking. Make sure the diagonals are attached to the studs *and* the sill/top plates.

I realized you said that it's sheathed with flakeboard, but the thought of someone building a shed with 2 x 2's make me think that they may have taken other shortcuts/cost saving measures along the way.

[Thomas]

1. Ohio blue tip.
2. Allstate.

[hrhofmann]

Don't oily rags enter the picture somehow?

[Larry W]

Direct your vaunted problem-solving abilities to learning how to NOT TOP POST!

[Jerry - OHIO]

Dismantel it & build it out of real studs. 2x2 are for baby cribs !! Jr

[Colbyt]

Some of your pics timed out so my advice is generic.

A neighbor at a rental I owned move one about 2 miles over the roads very early one Sunday morning.

He jacked it up and put 2 2x8 runners under it. Those runners were securely bolted together with a 4x4 cross piece at the front and the back. Those runners were arched on the front. Think like Santa's sleigh. A chain attached to the front 4x4 and the rear of a 4 wheel drive. And down the city streets he went.

Colbyt

[clare]

Take the roof off. Take a sawsall and cut down all 4 corners in a miter. Mova all 4 walls separately and re-assemble. A good friend just did the same with a 11X12 2 weeks ago. Same situation - neighbour needed it gone. Loaded the 4 peices and the floor on flatbed trailer and moved it from Cambridge to Sauble beach to re-assemble at the cottage as a "bunkie"

[jw]

This is a small shed compared to the building I've moved. Taking it apart is a big hassle for a small shed, What you said here is about right. Since it's probalbly light weight (2x2 framed), even just the planks, oil them well, and pull with a pickup truck (slowly) on the planks. Or three 10 foot round wooden 5" or 6" dia. poles. Get two under it, one on the end where it's GOING, one just past the middle toward the direction it's coming from. Push it by hand, have a helper to put the 3rd pole under as it moves. (always keep 2 poles under it at all times). Of it does slide off, jack it up (may require digging a small hole to get the jack under. so try NOT to have it come off the poles.

Before moving it, rake up the path remove bumps stones etc.

When it gets to new location, jack it up to put blocks under it, level it, add treated pieces of 2x6 or 1x6 boards on top of blocks to level it. Or use patio blocks on top of blocks. I'd recommend getting solid 8x16x4(thick)inch blocks and putting two of them INTO the ground under all cinder blocks. Makes a better base. (two of them next to each other to make a 16x16 pad, then block on top the opposite direction). This is how I have set much larger sheds.

As for the roof, if the frame is solid, just remove the deck, put on new plywood, and cover it with pole barn steel. (costs a little more than shingles, but you're not talking big money on that small shed). Use proper neo-screws (neoprene washers) to attach the steel.

It looks like a nice shed!

Good luck.

Once you get it moving, it's not as bad as you may think. Not on a small shed like that.

You might ask your local electric company if they have any broken off power poles for your poles to roll it on, or go to a farm supply and buy your 3 poles as fence poles. (about $15 per pole). Maybe you can even return them if the guys are friendly and you dont bang them up.