Moving the gar-shop

[Todd Fatheree]

We are attempting to embark on a home addition. Based on the layout of our property and the architecture of the current house, we have no choice but to go straight back. The problem is that the garage/shop is in the way. Local building codes dictate that there must be 10 feet minimum of clearance between structures. If we leave it where it is, we will have to a) cut back on the expansion plan somewhat and b) remove a 4 foot overhang on the front of the garage. Even then, it will be very difficult to access with a car (not that ours go in there anyway). One of the builders we spoke to talked about moving the existing garage. He gave us the name of a company that deals with this sort of thing, but they must not need the work too badly because it's been three days with no response. So, I'm curious exactly how one would go about moving a garage? The existing structure is 24 feet square. I'd like to move it straight back about 12 feet. Obviously, a new section of concrete would have to be poured and tied into the existing slab. I'm more curious how one does the physical moving. I've Googled for it and can't locate anything except garage sales and moving sales when I look for "garage moving". Any ideas?

todd

[Mike Marlow]

Jack it up - gently, a little bit at a time as you go around the garage and block it up, then jack a little more, and keep going around until you get it as high as you need. If you can get 4 jacks going at once, it's better. You can keep the building pretty much level as it goes up. Brace the corners and brace the overhead door openings. Put rollers under the side walls (trees will work if you've got access to some pretty nice small trees without a lot of limbs, and pull it straight back onto the new area. Lower it in reverse order. Not a bad undertaking all in all. Easily done on a Saturday.

[Mike Marlow]

Wise guy. You related to my wife?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Jack it up, support it on steel beams, lift the entire structure with a crane to the new location. Helicopters can do it also, but tend to be more expensive. It may be moved on rollers too. Weight is minimal in the scheme of life, but it has to be kept square.

A cell phone tower is being installed right next to where I work. this morning they delivered the component building, about the size of a one car garage. Took them an hour to take it off the trailer, lift it above our loading dock (about 15 feet) and set it on a pad. Most of the time was getting the crane in position as it was a tight spot. The move took ten minutes from lift to drop.

[Owen Lawrence]

A friend of mine moved his garage all by himself, to a completely different neighbourhood. Mind you he had a tractor and a flatbed trailer (like the kind you might carry hay on), but here's what he did: He unfastened the garage from its base and jacked it up all the way around (I'm sure you can think of many ways to do that), then backed the trailer in. Next he let most of the air out of the tires, and put some beams across the width of the trailer, extending right to the walls. He secured the beams to the walls, then put the air back in the tires. That lifted it off the jacks and he was on his way, repeating the process in reverse at his destination.

Since you're not going very far you could probably dispense with the jacks altogether; the tires do that job. 24' is kinda wide, much wider than his. But maybe you can do something with the concept. Good luck.

- Owen -

[Battleax]

In other words it will be a 3 day job, lol

[Robatoy]

Yup... you got some good ones from the other guys already. 2" pipe. Scrap... you're only going half of the distance the thing is wide anyway... you won't have to empty the place either...cool. Any big trees in the line of travel? If you do..a winch can drag a whole garage on grease.. 12-feet?? No prob... it's not that you're taking it with you on vacation :)

Renting a big CFM compressor and airpucks will work nice as well. Make sure you vacuum all the dust first.... and that the new 12' slab is nice and flat.

[Battleax]

Why let the air out of the tires?? Why not just jack it up another 5 inches?

[Battleax]

Well you can't just walk up to it and start jacking, you can't get a jack under a building that's sitting on the ground. You must create a beam system inside to jack on, then you have to decide where you're going to pull from without twisting the structure, more work. The only way it's "easily done on a Saturday" is if you spent the last three days getting everything ready. A building mover will do it in a day but not an inexperienced home owner.

[Theo Veenstra]

Hehe.. Got the very same deja vu here..

Theo

[RayV]

Don't know if you can get away with it where you live, but in Eastern PA, people have gotten around the 10 foot limit with a 2x4.

They just 'connect' the two structures with a horizontal 2x4. Looks stupid, but passes code because it is now one structure. Go figure.

[Mike Marlow]

All of which really goes pretty quickly if you've set your mind to getting the job done. Half the battle is getting over the sense of being overwhelmed by the thought of moving a building. Once you get to the task at hand, it's really quite a straightforward project, even for the inexperienced homeowner. Creating the initial lift is simple - as simple as throwing diagonal braces into corners and jacking under them. No complicated beam system involved. Of course, one would have to address such things as (potentially) removing nuts from tie down bolts that may be in place in the sill plates. That takes only a short time, perhaps up to an hour if it's early in the morning and you're not up to full speed yet. Deciding where to pull from, securing jacks, securing some sort of roller, etc. are all things one can easily do the day before, or even that same day depending on the availability of things. Point being - the actual work can easily be done on a Saturday even by the inexperienced homeowner. I really don't factor in the days of "thinking" about a project, or planning it as part of the work effort. If I did, all of my projects would be considered decades of effort...

[No]

Cause he needed to lift it off the jacks I suppose. This saved him another course of bridging I would imagine. Pretty clever if you ask me.

[Walt Cheever]

Its a good idea to be sure the path is level or a little up hill.

Can you think of the newspaper headlines if the garage runs away from you?

Walt C

[marks542004]

If you can pour the new floor slab up against the old slab you can simply jack up the wall about 1 - 2 inches and stick a section of water pipe under the wall. When you have enough rollers in place you (and a few helpers should be able to roll the structure. As a roller drops out one end pick it up and run around to the front and put it under the frame.

A couple of pipes run lengthwise will act as slides to keep the cross frame from dragging.

I would nail in a few cross braces to keep the walls square when you disconnect from the slab.

[Tom Banes]

Now there's an naswer that makes sense!

Devious minds overcome stupid regs.

Check the local codes anf go for it!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I used to work near a place in Willow Grove PA that was an old farm house, but the addition on the back of it was a 100,000 square foot industrial building.