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House Moving Once we decided to restore the old house the next step was to decide how to do it. We knew the foundation needed major work. The house had a half basement with the old coal fired furnace and lots of junk in it. The side walls were falling in and the concrete was crumbling. We talked to our contractor about the options. One was to lift the house up, pull out the old foundation, put a new one in underneath and set the house back down again. Second was to build a new foundation, either basement or slab in a different location and move the house there first then deal with the old foundation later. The third and final options was to move the house off the current foundation, dig the old one out and enlarge it to a full basement. Build a completely new foundation and move the house back to the original location. This is what we decided to do as it was estimated to be the least expensive of the alternatives. First task was to remove the porch supports and brace the front porch roof. We used a friends bucket truck to hold up the roof while the braces were installed. Holding the Roof Up Bracing the Porch Roof Next we had to remove the chimney. This went surprisingly fast until we reached the basement. We discovered the house floor joists were resting on part of the chimney so we stopped the destruction and left the remainder for the house movers to handle. Then to reduce the weight all the internal lath and plaster was removed. We also took out the sinks, toilet and bathtub. These will be reused. The sink in the bathroom and the tub are original to the house. The kitchen sink had been removed previously and the toilet had been replaced. Bathroom The house was ready for the movers. House Movers First Beam Getting Ready Placing the Second Beam Almost Ready to Move With the house up we made a fascinating discovery. Under the east side of thehouse on top of the crumbling foundation was the date 1927. Our earlier information was incorrect. The house was built in 1927 not 1926. We also found the initials AN. Which we assume to be Andy Nordpack who owned the property when the house was built. 1927 Finally the house is ready. The old foundation is uncovered. The House is successfully moved and the next part of the job begins. Go To Top