We're working on cleaning up for our party in June and we're trying to multi-task to find solutions and fix existing problems. My dad has helped us hook up the water well, so we can use that water to feed the farm animals. We need to build something to cover the well and pump.
We discuss how to build a wishing well, but we have a small building in the pond area that we've wanted to move anyway. Hmmm.... can we move the building? Well, why not?
Sometimes an idea sounds better on paper than it actually is in real life. Brent and I discuss this idea at length and finally decided to "take a look" at the building and see if it's moveable.
We're excited when we realize the sil plates aren't attached to the concrete foundation. We get the back hoe started, pull out a section of fence and grab some tow rope to move a building. Why not?
Some people landscape using wheelbarrows and some people use backhoes. We're backhoe people.
We try and slide eight foot pieces of one by hard wood boards under two of the corners, but they keep slipping. We managed to get one corner of the small building into the bucket of backhoe and try over and over and over again to slide the hard wood boards underneath. Finally, we decide to try and lift it with a strap wrapped around the middle part of the building and attached back to the bucket of the backhoe.
I suggest x-bracing the building or at least putting hardwood on the bottom to give the building support, but Brent shakes his head and says "Let's give it a try." He wanders over to start the backhoe and I holster my hammer and drill. I have a feeling of doom, but want to remain positive, so I give Brent the thumbs up and a big smile.
The first movement causes the building to groan in protest and lean heavily to the right. I wave frantically at Brent and he stops any forward progress and he gets out to assess the damage.
"I think if we pick it up, it's going to fall apart" I say.
"Naw, I think we can drag it from here, but let's put the board back under the right side" Brent answers.
We leverage and lift and manage to get the board under the right corner with the rest of the board sitting on the ground. He lifts the bucket and starts going backwards dragging the building along the ground. The grass is screaming and dying as I watch with a camera from the sidelines.
He pulls backwards and the building get stuck on a large cinder block that has been living inside for the past two decades. I try to pull the block out, but I worry that if I move that block the whole building will fall. I express this to Brent and he yells "pull it!" I pull it and the building drops about half a foot to the ground, but stays together.
It's time for a beer, some thought and more pictures. We manage to leverage the two hardwood boards back under the building knowing they will probably fall out. We re-wrap the tow strap around the building and lift it again.
Brent manages to move the building about fifteen feet backwards before disaster strikes. We lose the right board, but the building is balanced on the loader, so it doesn't fall. The catastrophe occurs when I try to remove the left board, so Brent can lift and drive forward. It falls. With a crash and Brent's wonderful reflexes, one side hits the ground and he lowers the bucket at the same time. The building hits the ground and miraculously stays together!
Time for another beer and some more thought. What if we get the hardwood back under the building and strap that to the front of the backhoe? Seems like a good idea. Wait. I need more pictures.
About four hours have past since we've started this project and we're still only fifteen feet from where the building has lived on it's own concrete foundation for the past twenty years.
So, the building with boards underneath are now triple strapped to the bucket of the backhoe, with fingers crossed and camera at the ready we move. Again. Brent slowly lifts the bucket and I can feel my heart pound as the entire building is lifted off the ground!
I give Brent the big thumbs up and he slow, very slowly drives forward. After several attempts we finally agree on the exact location and lower the building over the pump and well.
We spend another two hours trying to put bricks and a silplate under the building, before we finally give in and reinforce the lower walls with hardwood.
"Hey." Brent says "we should have done that before we moved the building." I think I could shoot him right at the moment, but I sigh, take a sip of my cold beer and laugh.
My dad shows up the next day and laughs at our new building. "Well", he says, "call me when you're ready to straighten it out and I'll give you hand. You should have x-braced that building before you moved it."
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