I’m not sure which forum would be best for this, so feel free to move it.
My neighbor has a shed in her backyard that was built there, on-site. It was converted to a living space - there are multiple windows, a door like the average front door (not the large double-doors that are common on these sheds), and the outside is constructed of wood. It is approximately 15 feet wide by 25 feet long. It was built on skids. She has offered to give it to us, if we can move it. There is a neighbor between us, so simply tearing down a fence and scooting it a few yards isn’t an option. It is also unlikely there is enough room between the side of her house and the fence.
So is there any way to move it? Just how much would this cost (on average)?
We moved an old garage about that size a few years ago. It’s timber frame, held together with wooden pegs, and we just couldn’t bear to tear it down simply because it was in an inconvenient spot. The contractor jacked it up, built a frame under it, and rolled it on logs for about 100 yards where it was dropped on a new concrete pad in the garden. The whole job cost around $600, as I recall, and was considerably cheaper than building a new garden shed/bath house.
I’m amazed at how often this sort of thing used to be done, since there are a number of old homes around us that were moved for one reason or the other over the years.
I just had a smaller garden shed (10 x 12) moved about 15’ and the contractor was able to move it with a large forklift. He poured concrete “pilings” and moved the shed right onto them. Cost was about $800 total.
The contractor I called was a General Contractor. I’d at least start there. If they can’t do it, they may be able to refer you to someone who would.
What type of fences are between the you and the shed. If they are wood fences, you won’t have to tear then down, but rather just take off panels. If it’s too wide, you may have to take out one or two of the posts, but even with that, it shouldn’t be a horribly big deal. In fact, if you know a handyman type person, they could probably take down the sections and put them back up in a matter of hours (not including the moving types. Now assuming that taking the fences down isn’t an option, and the shed is too wide to get between the house and the fence, it seems to me like the only options you have are to dismantle the shed and move it part by part, or call a contractor and see what they can do. Also, you said it was built on skids. If by skids, you mean by pallets, someone should be able to scoop it up on a forklift and move it rather easily once you find a path. Otherwise you’d be looking at a crane. My vote goes to “DIY” vote goes to removing fence sections, and my not DIY vote goes to having a contractor deal with it.
Ahem, seriously, I did something like this two years ago. I borrowed a house jack. It’s like an old car bumper jack, much much larger. I jacked up one side, then the other and beefed up the bottom framing with some 2x6’s. I put in two huge eye hooks in the corners and attached chains.
I borrowed a tractor, and dragged it along the ground. Sounds crude but worked a lot better than I thought, hardly tore up the ground at all.
This doesn’t sound like an option because of the yard in the middle, or if you have access to big toys. Just saying it not as hard as you might think.
What sort of company should we call to do this? We can’t do it ourselves - no big toys, no tools hardly at all, and no idea of what even to do! I tried calling some general contractors in the area, but they were, um, uniterested, to say the least.
You can rent tools. BIG tools… <grunt grunt, big tools fun… big tools make Butler go grunt grunt>
Seriously, most places have a good rental center nearby. You can rent nearly anything from a chainsaw, to a front end loader. You might be able to get something that has a fork lift on the front, and is big enough to handle that sort of weight.
We rented a small excavator to remove buried stumps (that’s a thread worthy of the Pit in itself!), and a small tractor to move dirt to fill in the hole that was left. We rented some of the smallest equipment there, as it was a small job, but they had full sized excavators and tractor type equipment as well. Give them a call, and see if they can help you with your needs!
FWIW, I have no previous experience with power equipment. It was amazingly easy to learn. It took the rental guy about 2 minutes to tell me what all the levers did, and about an hour into the project I was backing, turning, and moving the scoop all at the same time, which I have to tell you was a pretty darn good feeling!
The savings over having a professional do the job were even better!!!
Look in the yellow pages under house levelers, or foundation repair. These are the folks who lift houses, and if they won’t move the shed then they may know someone who will.
That said, it sounds like the shed will be easy to pull along on its skids. Back in high school, about six of us moved a shed half that size by just pulling on ropes. A tractor should move this one.
If you do rent a tractor to move this one, have the rental company show you exactly where to attach the tow chains/rope/cable. Attaching it to the wrong place can be very dangerous.
