Moving a house

biggins · Jan 12, 2005

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......imteresting. i think they would section the house and trailer it before disassembling an old house.

zod · Jan 12, 2005

I looked into it once a long time ago...............it's as expensive as poopoo. Moving a house farther than a few miles will set you back a pretty penny. Depending on the size, condition, and route it might not even be doable. Good luck, I talked myslef out of it pretty quick.

N8 v2.0 · Jan 12, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
Home construction is EXPENSIVE these days and there aren't many builders doing anything interesting at a reasonable price point.

Has anyone ever been involved or known anyone that had an old house disassemble, moved and reassembled at another location? I'd rather buy a nice old victorian in a depressed market and move it out to some acreage in the mountains than have a crappy ranch style built.

Why go through all that when you can get a manufactured/modular home (not trailer houses) with new wiring and plumbing and insulation.

biggins · Jan 12, 2005

this linkypoo is for you

http://structuralbuildingmovers.com/

biggins · Jan 12, 2005

http://structuralbuildingmovers.com/

-BB- · Jan 12, 2005

Couldn't you build a new victorian cheaper than moving an old one?

On a similar note, my sister got this sweet 3 story brownstone on the east coast with 4br, living dining and familyrooms, 2 studies, laundry room, and a small back yard for less than my wife and I paid for our crappy 1500sq ft 1970's townhouse here in Cali.

DamienC · Jan 12, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
Actually - the prefab thing does interest me. There are starting to be a lot of companies that are offering ultra-modern prefabs that are pretty cool.

If they ever release these for sale, I'd be all over it in a heartbeat!

Also, check these ones out.

JMAC · Jan 12, 2005

I know some VERY old ppl that had their log cabin disassembled and moved into the mountains. Not sure how much it cost, but it is doable.

JRB · Jan 12, 2005

Julie's aunt sold her ranch house and it was moved off. I will find out what that cost. It was moved about 50 miles.

jdcamb · Jan 12, 2005

For what it is worth I lived in a building that was moved. There are some things to consider IMO. The stablity of the site is very important. If you have any settling then you will be doing tons of maintenance. Older Victorians are intricate structures and kind of fragile. We were always fixing cracks, planing doors, repainting, fixing leaks, etc.. They usually were built by the rich who had very little concern about heating cooling costs. Even if you update, insulate, modernise, whatever get prepared to $$ for utilities. If you update to many things the building loses its character. Stained glass looks good, but is drafty as all getup. The faux stuff looks tacky and is expensive. What I am saying is that if you ever want to go riding forget about buying/moving a older house. Your new hobby is going to be working on your house....jdcamb

mack · Jan 12, 2005

john kerry moved his english farm house from england to sun valley idaho. ask him... :rolleyes:

johnbryanpeters · Jan 12, 2005

Victorian houses are impossible to maintain.

Picking a house up whole and moving it a reasonable distance can make economic sense. Disassembling and reassembling one, I think, would cost order 1.5 to 2x more than building from scratch.

J

T-Blazer · Jan 12, 2005

A little village house was for sale for a $1 as long as you moved it. It was located across the street from my shop and my landlord was looking to relocate it on the land behind the shop.The moving cost was 10 grand. the company also charged 1500 per mile after the first mile.The deal was not worth it after you added the additional costs such as ,electrical, plumbing, drywall, and setting up a new foundation.It seems all the great old houses are in crowded areas. I live in a small village, in a 2600 sq 120 year old house. Lived here for 14 years and wish i could move my house .

Handlebarsfsr · Jan 12, 2005

the problem with moving an old house is unless its sectioned into a lot of small pieces, it costs tons to move it. every power line crossing the road needs to be taken down (at a big cost from the power company to take down and reconnect the line, the cost to tear down and rebuild the house, to replumb, rewire, and fix all the damage, both that were in the hose to begin with and that happened during the move.

lux · Jan 12, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
The problem is that most of these companies are startups with almost no track record. I would have to buy one sight unseen. I would have no assurance as to the final quality of the home, or even the "feel" of it. Seems risky to me....

Early last summer I did the electrical on a pre-fab. I bid the job based on the blueprints and conversations with the manufacturer. Well, months later, when the thing was finally delivered, wire bundle connectors didn't match, were obscured behind drywall, or were missing altogether; main and subpanels were not interconnected; fixtures not where they were supposed to be; neither phone nor cable were installed as stated in the plans and by the manufacturer; I spent a full day tracing two short circuits; and there was no one to consult, 'cause the bastids had gone out of business.

After all the changes, it wound up costing the customer more than half of a new construction wiring job. Apparently the plumbing and mechanical faired as poorly. It sucked for her and I was as gentle as I could be, but I had a crew out there for a week, so...

I'd recommend trying to find an established company if you go that route.

Just my humble 2 cents.

Ciaran · Jan 12, 2005

johnbryanpeters said:
Victorian houses are impossible to maintain.

Totally untrue. Here in Pasadena we have many many old houses. Victorian and (my fave) craftsman homes. Many are very well maintained. It can be expensive to restore, but it's done here all the time.

Maybe you should have a nice castle built... http://www.castlemagic.com/color.html

Crash_Tested · Jan 12, 2005

there is a block of about 5 vic houses that were moved (whole) and set on pier and beem in my neighborhood. Seemed like all that they keeped from the original were the frame, some of the outer shell and the wood floors. Looked like a lot of time and money went into it. I could get you some pics of some after and one that has only been moved and not worked on yet.

N8 v2.0 · Jan 13, 2005

Modern homes are totally cool.

I'd like to build a mod house but they are not very popular here in in my area and good stock plans for them are hard to come by.

stosh · Jan 13, 2005

If you are looking into building a home even moving an old one pick up the book "The Not So Big House". The book is a very easy and enjoyable read.

It give you a good idea of how to think of a house in our modern world but also how to think of spaces you enjoy.

The other thing to consider is the building techniques used to build "old victorian" homes as opposed to newer stick framed homes.
The amount of money you could save using newer better quality materials better insulation, better heating and cooling and so on would be worth it.

Balloon framed home are not the greatest for fire prevention either.

You dont have to build a "ranch" to have an affordable home.

Figure out your needs, and don't plan your entire house around thoes few times a year you entertain guests.

say 10 · Jan 13, 2005

Handlebarsfsr said:
the problem with moving an old house is unless its sectioned into a lot of small pieces, it costs tons to move it. every power line crossing the road needs to be taken down (at a big cost from the power company to take down and reconnect the line, the cost to tear down and rebuild the house, to replumb, rewire, and fix all the damage, both that were in the hose to begin with and that happened during the move.

Very true, my dad bought a house and had it moved to our land (old house was demo'd) in the ealry '90's and it was a great undertaking. it was planned for a year in advance and we moved it arcoss 2 states (NH and MASS). The utilities companys cost a lot to move or take down wires. Our move was only 5.5. miles. We also had to disassemble the roof to fit under most of the wires and clear trees in our area, plus there were 2 bridge crossings to consider. The house was a steal as it was going to be destroyed, but the actual leg work to make the move happen was incredable.

dan-o · Jan 13, 2005

Ciaran said:
Totally untrue. Here in Pasadena we have many many old houses. Victorian and (my fave) craftsman homes. Many are very well maintained. It can be expensive to restore, but it's done here all the time.

You need to keep in mind that California is a) not old. Pasadena was founded in 1872. My town in MA was founded in 1626 b) benefits from weather that makes the inefficiencies of an old house less important.

My last house was a Victorian built in 1875 and maintainence was a complete PITA. Horsehair insulation + coldest winter in 60 years = mid-40 inside temps with the furnace going full tilt. Odd sized windows and doors make replacement/repair much more expensive. The list goes on and on.

Ciaran · Jan 13, 2005

dan-o said:
You need to keep in mind that California is a) not old. Pasadena was founded in 1872. My town in MA was founded in 1626 b) benefits from weather that makes the inefficiencies of an old house less important.

My last house was a Victorian built in 1875 and maintainence was a complete PITA. Horsehair insulation + coldest winter in 60 years = mid-40 inside temps with the furnace going full tilt. Odd sized windows and doors make replacement/repair much more expensive. The list goes on and on.

Well, you aren't supposed to live in a house like that without restoring it first. Sounds like you made a bad decision.

stosh · Jan 13, 2005

Ciaran said:
Well, you aren't supposed to live in a house like that without restoring it first.

I think he point is you can only restore so much.

Ciaran · Jan 13, 2005

stosh said:
I think he point is you can only restore so much.

You can restore as much as your funds will allow.

stosh · Jan 13, 2005

Ciaran said:
You can restore as much as your funds will allow.

obviously... but at that point why not just build it from scratch that way.

MMike · Jan 13, 2005

In one summer, here on the West Island (of Montreal) two houses got moved. One afternoon, I was riding my bike out of the yacht club to see a rather sizeable house in the middle of the road. And houses on Lakeshore Road are pretty much always rather large.

Then a few weeks later, another one (also on lakeshore road), was up rooted and put on a brage and floated up the lake a ways. I'm not sure how far. This was in like 1986 or '87 I think...

(I am aware that this post was of no help at all.

dan-o · Jan 13, 2005

Ciaran said:
You can restore as much as your funds will allow.

There is a difference between rebuilding and restoration (returning to original state). My house had no problems other homes of similar age and construction did not share. Old houses are drafty, inefficient and more difficult to maintain, it's a simple fact not an opinion. We restored the house and sold it a year later for a nice profit to someone who valued the Victorian style despite the inherent problems of homes of that age.

Sure you can modify a victorian to modern specs if that is what you want. But, you will pay out the ass for custom windows/doors etc and need to completely rebuild the walls to accept insulation. At that point, and regarding the original post, you will probably meet the costs of building a new house.

stosh · Jan 13, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
Ok forget moving the house. Suggestions for cool, economical prefabs?

Listen there are of course a lot of variables but a prefab could end up costing you almost as much as it would cost to build a stick built.

Is this your primary residence?
Has the lot been approved?

N8 v2.0 · Jan 13, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
Ok forget moving the house. Suggestions for cool, economical prefabs?

I got a mag from the National Home Builders Assoc'n a couple weeks ago. I seem to recall it was all about Modular/Prefab houses...

Let me see if I can find it..

*EDIT* Here is the link: http://www.buildingsystems.org/

stosh · Jan 13, 2005

Ridemonkey said:
Just doing some advanced planning. The modern prefabs I am talking about look nothing like a stick built house. I'm looking for variety.

That may be the advantage that you could get a unique prefab home equal to the cost of a conventional stick framed home.

stosh · Jan 13, 2005

wait, how did you go from Victorian to modern?

N8 v2.0 · Jan 13, 2005

One of the neatest, most economical and roomy modular homes you can buy is a geodesic dome house.

Moving a house

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