Moving house

[Jon Maine]

For those of you that have not seen this before an interesting bit of conservation from 1961
http://www.exetermemories.co.uk/EM/Video/HouseMoved.html

 

[Schoolmarm]

Brilliant! Especially the pushing of teeny wooden chocks in, behind the wheels as it moved forwards. Like they would stop the house from rolling backwards if anything snapped. :lol: :lol:

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Conservation would, of course, have involved fitting the road scheme to the existing city, not vice-versa. But those were other times, and other manners. 10/10 for 1961, 1/10 for now. But God help us, it may seem like a miracle again in ten years' time.

 

[Penners]

http://www.englishheritageprints.com/pictures_440897/ballingdon-hall-aa98_12868.html

 

[Flyfisher]

Is such a thing only practically possible with a timber-framed house? I find it hard to imagine that such an operation would not involve some stress to the building and would guess that a brick-built building would crack, whereas a timber-framed building would survive a fair degree of movement and vibration. Perhaps a modern steel-reinforced concrete building would survive, but who'd want to bother?

 

[Jon Maine]

Is such a thing only practically possible with a timber-framed house? I find it hard to imagine that such an operation would not involve some stress to the building and would guess that a brick-built building would crack, whereas a timber-framed building would survive a fair degree of movement and vibration. Perhaps a modern steel-reinforced concrete building would survive, but who'd want to bother?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzefIIGO918 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5RF1EbVvvU and any number of building move videos on You Tube.

http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/houses/lighthouse.shtml British but couldn't find a video of it.

 

[Penners]

Clearly masonry buildings have been moved, but I still tend to agree with Flyfisher that timber-frame would be a lot easier. In the event of rough treatment, the infill would probably suffer here and there, but the frame could almost certainly absorb whatever was thrown at it.

Lavenham is an oft-cited testament to the ability of timber-frame buildings to band, twist and lean without collapsing.

 

[Jon Maine]

I guess it makes life easier shifting a timber frame due to more elasticity and potentially less weight. However masonry does not seem to pose any problems but just requires more force, more bracing etc etc.

I was amazed to find this reference http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwKJ8YPn1RM&NR=1

9000 tons by horse power in 1928 the mind boggles.

There are some other amazing feats by the same company on this web page http://www.croweconstructionmgmt.com/history.shtm

 

[Penners]

I wonder whether they could just pop Penners Towers over to a nice hillside in Provence.

 

[Jon Maine]

I wonder whether they could just pop Penners Towers over to a nice hillside in Provence.

Of course, like this. :lol:

 

[Penners]

Just so long as they don't wake me up.

 

[Jon Maine]

Just remember to take out your ear trumpet and you will be fine.............

 

[Penners]

:lol: :lol:

 

[Jon Maine]

Actually, have you seen the film up? or should I ask was it you who starred in it? :lol: :lol:

 

[Flyfisher]

Thanks for those links Jon; clearly it's eminently possible to move brick buildings. I do still wonder about 'settlement cracks', though, as they settle into their new location and foundations. I now wonder why they bothered to dismantle the old London Bridge and rebuild it when they could have probably lifted it in one piece onto some sort of barge and towed it across the Atlantic. But I'm sure they had their reasons.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Thanks for those links Jon; clearly it's eminently possible to move brick buildings. I do still wonder about 'settlement cracks', though, as they settle into their new location and foundations. I now wonder why they bothered to dismantle the old London Bridge and rebuild it when they could have probably lifted it in one piece onto some sort of barge and towed it across the Atlantic. But I'm sure they had their reasons.

They sawed the surfaces off the facing stones and exported just the visible bits. Most of Old London Bridge is dumped in a quarry on Dartmoor.

 

[MdB]

They sawed the surfaces off the facing stones and exported just the visible bits. Most of Old London Bridge is dumped in a quarry on Dartmoor.

In 1967, the Common Council of the City of London placed the bridge on the market and began to look for potential buyers. Council member Ivan Luckin had put forward the idea of selling the bridge, and recalled: "They all thought I was completely crazy when I suggested we should sell London Bridge when it needed replacing." On 18 April 1968, Rennie's bridge was sold to the American entrepreneur Robert P. McCulloch of McCulloch Oil for US$2,460,000. The claim that McCulloch believed mistakenly that he was buying the more impressive Tower Bridge was denied by Luckin in a newspaper interview.[9] As the bridge was taken apart, each piece was numbered to aid re-assembly. The bridge was reconstructed at Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and re-dedicated on 10 October 1971. The reconstruction of Rennie's London Bridge spans the Bridgewater Channel canal that leads from Lake Havasu to Thomson Bay, and forms the centrepiece of a theme park in English style, complete with a Tudor period shopping mall. Rennie's London Bridge has become Arizona's second-biggest tourist attraction, after the Grand Canyon.[10]

The version of London Bridge that was rebuilt at Lake Havasu consists of a concrete frame with stones from the Old London Bridge used as cladding. The cladding stones used are 150 to 200 millimetres (6 to 8 inches) thick. The remaining stone was left at Merrivale Quarry at Princetown in Devon.[11] When Merrivale Quarry was abandoned and flooded in 2003, some of the remaining stone was sold in an online auction.[12]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge#Sale_of_Rennie.27s_bridge_to_Robert_McCulloch

You learn something new every day...

 

[Flyfisher]

So they just bought a load of old stone cladding? :lol: You do, indeed, learn something every day.

I'm not sure if I'm disappointed or if it's rather fitting.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

It goes quite well with the

theme park in English style, complete with a Tudor period shopping mall

.
The only Tudor style "shopping mall" of any architectural quality is Liberty's 1920s building. Which, for once, really is built of ships' timbers (no CANOE in sight).

 

[JoceAndChris]

The only Tudor style "shopping mall" of any architectural quality is Liberty's 1920s building. Which, for once, really is built of ships' timbers (no CANOE in sight).

Thank goodness for that, my second favourite place in the world gets the thumbs up.