Can a small building be moved somewhere else?

[Travis Conner]

I bought a peice of property that has small building on it. Less than 200 sq ft and I'm curious can something like this be moved to a different part of the property? It's basically a wooden deck that is kind of like a hang out shack, but it also has electrical and plumbing. It's about 3ft above the ground on wooden posts that are probably 8x8.

Couldn't you dig out the posts, disconnect the electrical and plumbing, then have an excavator pick it up and move it?

[Travis Conner]

Also since it's under 200 sq ft a permit wasnt required by the city.

[Zachary Hoyt]

If you dig out the posts you could jack it up and back a trailer under it, if you have access to a trailer.

[Bruce Volden]

You could probably "drag" it on some plywood sheets, or, roll it along with some round stock, pipe, pvc, wood....
Don't know how far you want it moved or if you have access to a 4 wheeler but it sounds like a fun challenge to me!

Bruce

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

can it be moved certainly. My buddy lives in an old Victorian house that was scheduled to be torn down for a highway project. His parents got the house and had a contractor move the large 30 x 30 house 5 miles to a lot they owned. All the interior plaster was already shot, so the place was basically stripped to the walls rewired, re plumbed insulated and modern drywall. They had almost $150,00 in it just to move it and for interior materials to redo the house. About 120,000 to move it. Look up how the Cape Hatteres light house was moved a 1/3 mile inland. It was stabilized, a platform built underneath it and then a rail road built under the platform. The platform slid on greased railed pushed alike an inch a minute by massive hydraulic jacks. I helped move my uncles cabin in the country about a mile and set it down on a new location. We were alble to jack it up and lower it onto a heavy duty tri axle trailer. and pulled with a farm tractor. His cabin was about 16 x 18 and 1 and a half stories. You may not need an excavator to move the place If you jack it up and attach it to timbers to use as skids, and chop off anything below the skids. A cross bar to hold the skids apart and drag it. even use heavy pvc pipe under the skids as rollers to move the thing.

[Pat Wisniewski]

Before I added an addition to the back of the house I had to move the garage about 4 feet further back, to keep it in the 'back' yard.
Installed internal bracing so it wouldn't rack while being moved, jacked it up and lowered it onto sections of pipe. Three friends and I pushed it back to the new location on a newly-poured foundation section, appended to the new foundation for the wood shop I added to the back of it.
Jacked it back up, added a new treated wood bottom plate, as it was untreated wood on a pad.
Also, drilled and placed anchors to meet the updated code requirements.

Buildings do not weigh that much, but if it isn't a sturdily-built building consider installing a few internal cross braces so it doesn't warp or rack on its way to its new home.
And put some photos up here once you move it !!

[Jim Becker]

Yes, something like that can be moved. It would likely be easiest to sever the utilities and cut the posts...installing the building on a new support structure where it's going to live going forward. That may be the easiest way to get it level and secure. Digging out posts under a building is not going to be a pleasant task. Cutting them off with reasonable accuracy a set distance from the bottom of the building will likely be easier. IMHO.

[Lee Schierer]

Here's one way to do it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOpjHm6WzVg)

[Tyler Bancroft]

If it's basically a 200 sq ft shack, is it worth the trouble of trying to move it intact? Might it not be easier to section it and reassemble elsewhere?

[Fred Perreault]

I have lived in 2 differnt homes that were moved, including the chimneys. As an excavating contractor we have put forks on the larger wheel loaders and slid them under several sheds and small buidings under 250 square feet and then put straps and cable come-a-longs around the buildings and tipped them back against the forks and marched them short and medium distances to a new location. For longer hauls we put them on trailers. When using the forks we put timbers at the corners to support the straps and cables. The Picture is of the first house we moved that was to be torn down in Orleans, Cape Cod. We carried the chimney, and the pantry that was hanging off of the back. The red truck pulling the load is a chain drive Sterling. A slow, powerful tractor. It was summer of 1970, and the building mover was on Cape Cod moving houses that were in the new Cape Cod National Seashore Park.

[Mike Wilkins]

Check with a local company that sells those barn/sheds. They specialize in moving them to a buyers property.

[Bill Dufour]

Within the last year I posted a. video of Amish barn moving. No machines just human lifting power.
A home weighs 10-20 tons. a shed much less. and the wood is dried out by now.
Bil lD.

[Brian Elfert]

Check with a local company that sells those barn/sheds. They specialize in moving them to a buyers property.

I bought some lumber from a lumberyard that also has a decent sized shed business. The majority of the sheds were over 8 feet wide with 12 feet wide being most popular. The area was very rural so I suspect most of the customers just used a flat bed trailer to move their new shed home illegally. I would bet the proper permits and such to move a 12 foot wide load are not cheap. I don't know if a pilot car would be required or not.

[Keith Outten]

I have had garden sheds moved around my place. Call a roll-back wrecker.

[Scott T Smith]

I've moved several. The easiest way is to use a forklift with fork extensions (if needed). In my instance, I use a Cat backhoe with fork extensions.

[Charlie Velasquez]

I've moved several. The easiest way is to use a forklift with fork extensions (if needed). In my instance, I use a Cat backhoe with fork extensions.


Here's one way to do it. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOpjHm6WzVg)

If you don’t have access to a big piece of machinery or 250 Amish, you can try this method...


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0P4HwmmhykI
about the 2 minute mark.

[John K Jordan]

I bought a peice of property that has small building on it. Less than 200 sq ft and I'm curious can something like this be moved to a different part of the property? It's basically a wooden deck that is kind of like a hang out shack, but it also has electrical and plumbing. It's about 3ft above the ground on wooden posts that are probably 8x8.

Couldn't you dig out the posts, disconnect the electrical and plumbing, then have an excavator pick it up and move it?

I agree that cutting off the posts would be a lot easier. Make a new foundation in the new location. A storage building mover with a roll- back trailer could move it easily.

I've moved buildings on skid by dragging with a tractor or bobcat. You can add temporary skids to the bottom of the posts. I did add temporary cross bracing as needed to one, a horse shelter on skids. I wrapped a cable entire around the bottom of the building for dragging.

I'm getting ready to move a 10x20' "portable" building, not on a foundation. I only have to move it about 20' so I'll add some skids to the bottom and roll it on steel pipes or round fence posts if it doesn't slide easily.