Remodeling Our Hut Part 16: Garage on the Move

  
On July 6, 2019, Carl, Joel and Cody and I had moved the garage off of the foundation in preparation for the new frost wall and floor to be completed.  In the weeks that followed, we had two severe storms, but surprisingly, the garage was still in one piece. 

Now that the mudroom floor was in place, the next step would be to attach the garage to the house so the roof could be framed in. 

This would be our moment of truth, could we do it?
 
Over the weekend of August 10 and 11, Carl and I began preparations to move the garage to the new wall.  We'd had a bid of $3600 to have the garage moved professionally.  If we had opted to demolish the existing and build a new garage, the bill would have been $20,000, so there was a lot riding on the old hay wagon.  

Our stance from the beginning was why not give it a try?  If it falls off the wagon and folds up, then we'll have to build a new one.  We had moved our little barn garden shed three times successfully and the gazebo once.  The only difference was the garage was much bigger and heavier. 

Our first chore was to gather lumber to build a ramp.  The garage needed to come up to the new height, almost a full three feet higher than it originally was, to clear the wall.  

Carl placed a pair of jacks underneath the hay wagon running gear and lifted the wagon and garage at the same time.  As we raised everything up, we placed boards under the wheels for the wagon to roll on.  The large beams overhead are carrying the load of the building.

When Carl's extensive lumber stash ran out, we borrowed more lumber from Joel and our friends Cody and Jerry.   We also used some old concrete blocks and as many pallets as we could find which we reinforced with lumber. 

Early on Sunday, August 11, Carl and I slowly and carefully inched the wagon carrying the garage forward. 

I drove the 574 and Carl stood clear as I eased out the clutch.  The garage swayed quite a bit which made us both hold our breath.  As I creaked forward, every now and then a board would break on the ramp and my blood pressure would skyrocket.

Though we only had to move the garage around thirty feet, I could only drive ahead about a foot at a time and then we would have to rebuild the ramp so the back tires could cross.

Carl is building up the ramp for another move

The view from the garage to the height of the new foundation.

Approaching the back wall of the new foundation.

Getting closer to going over the wall in the picture above.
 

Carl is raising the jacks to lift the building higher.

This process took us hours.  As soon as the wagon cleared the back wheels, we would remove all the wood and put it down in front and the middle again.  It was similar to building a railroad track except after the 'train' went through, we'd pick up the tracks and move them ahead.

We had quite a bit of trouble raising the garage high enough to clear the new concrete wall, but Carl was able to lift the building higher by raising the jacks to their limit.  

Every time I started the tractor moving, the entire contraption would dip and sway along with my heart, but we kept on going.

Three hours later and the front of the garage is over the back wall of the foundation.

d

The next dilemma was how to get the front wheels of the wagon over the wall.  

We had to build our ramp up and over the concrete and I had to drive even more carefully so the building didn't fall off the jacks.

We had to constantly move the blocking on the sides of the garage, too.  In the picture above, the pink insulation down on the ground is the garage foundation.

 

Above: garage approaching the wall.

Below: safely over the first wall and building a ramp on the inside.

The rest of the job was the same way; build a ramp, drive the tractor ahead a foot, rebuild the ramp, repeat.

It was a hot, muggy day with high humidity.  At least it didn't rain, but it was uncomfortable.  I lost track of how many times we moved the ramp forward.  But finally, around 8PM, we were within a few feet of having the garage on its new foundation.

We called Joel and Cody to see if they could lend us a hand setting the building down onto the new wall.  Thank goodness they both were able to come.

 Joel drove the last few inches.

Garage Moving: The last few feet
 (If the link works, look at how much the garage sways...)

The next step (right before dark) was to cut out part of the garage roof so the garage would fit snugly up against the new addition.  Cody and Joel were hard at work battling mosquitoes and gathering darkness.

And, voila, twelve hours later the garage survived.  And so did we.

(No garages were harmed in the making of this post, only a few hundred mosquitoes.)