Getting ready to set her down

The house is now in the park but still up on the transport steel beams.  With the house in position, the foundation footers were dug, foundation blocks laid and then filled with concrete to anchor the hurricane tiedowns.  The perimiter gets two big J bolts per foundation block while the interior blocks get tiedowns.
This shows the forms for the blocks and, you can see the extra support needed for the fireplace.
In this shot, you can see the bolts for the perimeter supports and the new plates that will sit on the foundations.  Some of the original wood had suffered termite damage, as you can see, and will be replaced as necessary.

This shows the tiedown straps used on the interior supports.   Once this is complete, the next step will be to lift the house slightly to allow the steel framework to  be removed and the house will be lowered onto it’s new, solid foundations.

More on the move

Looking around the internet, I found another blog with coverage of the move and a video of some of the action.

Monday, September 19 was spent getting the house ready to be set down on it’s new foundation.

Of course, that foundation didn’t exist yet so while Flint & Doyle were setting the house on temporary blocks so that the steel could be removed others were digging footers for the new foundation.With the blocks in place, the wheels could come off.

  

and the transport steel could come off.  Once the foundations are in place the supporting crossmembers can come off.

 

 

The move is complete

As promised, on September 17th the Quednau-Hindman house made it’s way from Goldstein Street to the Punta Gorda History Park.  As always, making the first step was the most difficult.  The house had to be moved from it’s temporary parked position out onto Olympia Avenue.   That turned out to be tougher than it originally looked because of a power pole, a stop sign and a small tree.  As you can see in this series, the camera angle makes it look easy at first but, the closer it got to the gap the more obvious that work was needed to hit the road.

  

You can see the little tree in front of the house here.  To give you an idea of how tight it was, here is the clearance from the power pole on the right and the tree at the front.  A stop sign had already been removed.

 

In the end, the tree was bent over with a comealong to the next tree down the road and a bit of digging around the roots allowed it to be bent down almost to the ground.  That was the final obstacle to starting and the house rolled out onto Olympia.

  

Once it was on the road, things went better.  It’s a big house and took up all of the road and just a bit more.  Along the way, the driver of the tow vehicle can’t see all the points of the house so the crew keeps an eye out for problems for him.  Florida Power and Light and Comcast also had crews on hand to lift or move utility cables as needed to let the house pass.

 

It made the turn for the one block run along Harvey Street from Olympia to Virginia.  It actually had to dodge to miss a couple of trees until it came to a big one that overhang the street.  That created a pause for a bit of pruning to allow clearance.  Unlike the small tree on Olympia at the beginning of the move this one was actually improved a little.

  

The turn on to Virginia was uneventful and we finally had a long straight run.  The house moved as fast as the power lines and other obstructions were moved.  For example, all the mailboxes needed to be dropped and restored as the house passed and the Stop sign at the intersection with Shreve Street also needed to be moved.

  

The turn onto Shreve from Virginia was probably the toughest of the trip.  The drainage ditches are pretty close there and there is a small culver on the far side.  It made for a somewhat wide, slow turn but, eventually was completed and the house made the final two blocks to the entry to the vacant lot next to the History Park.

  

There was a slight pause there to cover the fresh asphalt paving for the Shreve Street Connector of the Punta Gorda Linear Park.  The load is well enough distributed minimize disturbing the asphalt but, in warm weather, it could leave treadmarks or scuffs as the wheels turn.  The steel plates to cover the soft ground were already in place. and the house quickly turned the corner and moved on to them.

  

Once the house was moved as far forward on the plates as possible, the back plates were moved to the front and the house moved forward again.  There were still a few obstructions to overcome.  The small machine was busy clearing some of the underbrush from the path until it hit a couple of tree stumps.  The big machine left the house for a bit to take care of that.  The little machine tidied up the grade at the final location.

  

Once that was done, the small machine began pulling the house while the big one moved plates.  It didn’t take long until the house was passed the tree that houses our local eagles nest.

     

It wasn’t long before it was there!  One final pull to put it exactly onto the graded position and it was time to relax for a few minutes before starting the cleanup.

  

Look closely at the right side near the orange comealong and you will see the survey stake just touching the crossbeam.  Job well done.

History Park Site Preparation – 2

The big move is tomorrow but there was a lot of work to do at the Punta Gorda History Park today in preparation.  In the first post about the park, I showed you the line of trees that would be moved to allow the house into position.  All that happened today with Becky Copenhaver working on the history park opening and Flint and Doyle moving a couple of others to clear the path.

  

  

Some of the trees that were on the actual final site for the house had to be moved permanently and Becky and the parks volunteers were on hand to take care of them.  A Royal Poinciana was moved to the open space between the parking lot and the Trabue Land Sales Office and another tree was moved across the sidewalk.

A decorative flower bed was also taken out and the plants moved to various places in the park.  The sign that you see in the picture is about where the front of the house will end up.  Meanwhile the Flint & Doyle crew were moving a few trees blocking access to the Shreve Street entrance to the vacant lot and laying steel plates down to avoid damaging the ground as much as possible.

  

So, join us tomorrow as the house is moved or come by on Sunday to the Farmers Market to see the result.  It will most likely be in the vacant lot next to the park ready for precision placement on the lot next week.

One Small Step – Prepositioning

Today, the movers at Flint & Doyle took the house on it’s first small journey.  It is being prepositioned for the move which will begin at 8 AM on Saturday October 17th.  By the end of the day it will be next to Olympia Avenue where it will travel for a short distance the wrong way down a one way street to Hector St.  It will move south on Hector to Virginia Avenue where it will then turn west travel along Shreve Street.

The first short move had already been completed before I got to the site but it was still moving.  The movers were actually under the house during the move to ensure that all the supports were in position and properly adjusted.  The house was moving when this first shot was taken.  The second shows an obstruction being moved with the smaller machine.

 

As it rolled back it finally cleared the old foundation until it was completely across the rear alley on a vacant lot.

  

Along the way, not all was clear.  At one place a shrub gone wild had grown to enough of size to obstruct progress.  It was quickly pruned to allow clearance.

   

At the end of the day, it had been fully moved back and turned toward the alley where it will start the journey on Saturday.  The vacant lot had been leveled and the original site work was pretty much complete.

  

A little more shuffling and it will be all to go on Saturday.

Getting Ready To Roll – Wheels on

Yesterday, the house was entirely lifted off it’s foundations by about 3 feet and placed on very solid bolsters to hold it overnight.  Then, the lengthwise supports were bolted together to keep the frame rigid.

 

Once that was done, the wheels were precisely positioned at three points and solidly connected to the frame.  The house is now ready for transportation.

 

It will soon be moved forward to clear the foundation and allow the site to be cleaned up.  The big move starts Saturday, September 17th at 8 AM and is expected to take about 5 hours to get the house to it’s new location.

That won’t be the end though, there is still a lot of work to be done to restore and renovate the house before re-creating it as the Youth  Museum.  So, help us MOVE THIS HOUSE!

History Park Site Preparation – 1

So far, the only  thing done at the Punta Gorda History Park is to get the trees marked that need to be moved to provide access to the final location for the house.  Today was the History Park Farmers Market so work can start next week.

Moving the trees out of the way and returning them though probably won’t be done until later in the week so that they are not out of the ground for too long.  I took a walk around to see which trees need moving.  There is a row at the side of the park that will need to be picked up and at least one inside the park next to the sign showing where the house will be placed.

 

The current plan is to have the house at the history park on Saturday, September 17th and folks will see it in it’s final position at the next Farmers Market.  It won’t be set down on it’s foundations yet, once in position, a lot more work will be needed.   The total we need for this project is over 150,000 and we haven’t quite raised half of that yet.

So, please HELP SAVE THIS HOUSE!

Getting Ready To Roll – The Lift

September 9, 2011 was the day the Quidnau-Hindman house was lifted off it’s foundation.  The beams were in place on thursday and some had been lifted to a support position.  This morning began with final placement of the widthwise beams and placing the jacks.  Once in position, the hydraulic lines were put in place from the control panel and the lift began.

  

Once that first lift was completed, the building was checked for support and a higher lift was undertaken.  This raised the entire structure several feet off the foundation blocks so that the lengthwise supports could be inserted.  These are 50 foot beams which go under all of the lateral beams.  They were intially pushed under and then pulled into final position from the other end.

 

In this picture, you can see the lengthwise beam in front of the fireplace foundation.  At the sides of the brick foundation you can see the holders for the additional support for the base.

Monday should find the house raised nearly into transport position.

Getting Ready To Roll – 2

The September 8 efforts on the house were to clear more space beneath the house and put the supporting beam in rough position for the lift. It turns out that to dig under a house you need a really long shovel. This one fits on a tracked forklift.
 

It takes some skill to dig like this and still keep the house secure on it’s foundation.  Once the basic dig is done, the supporting beams need to be put into position.  These had been left on a vacant lot but getting them to the Quidnau-Hindman house without disturbing the mature trees took a fare amount of maneuvering.

 
Once into rough position, the underneath of the house needs to be checked for any possible obstructions or impediments and there may be a need for a little more digging to get the position just right.  That might take a bit more of a dig with the long shovel.   Some of the other supporting beams might take a bit of adjustment too.

 

But, once this is done, tomorrow can start the lift off the foundation.

Stay tuned.

Getting Ready To Roll – 1

The big day is coming September 17th.  That’s the day the Quednau-Hindman house will be transported from the current location at 220 Goldstein St in the middle of Punta Gorda to the Punta Gorda History Park.  There it will take it’s place next to the Trabue Land Sales Office and begin it’s transformation into the re-established Youth Activity Museum.

Although the Punta Gorda Historical Society and the moving contractors Flint & Doyle had already begun planning for the move, real physical preparation for the move started on September 6, 2011.  An old screened porch addition was removed to return the footprint of the house to an earlier time and it’s shotgun heritage.  Then the foundation foliage and skirting was removed to give clear access to the crawlspace.  It looks a little messy now, but it’s started.

With full access now, the utilities, plumbing and electricity can be disconnected giving us the ability to put in the supporting structure and lift the house onto the moving dollies.