Help!!!
We are involved in a project that will require moving an historic house. Because of the projected cost, it will be publicly bid so a spec is needed.
I know how to write a spec to tear one down … but have never been involved in a project where an existing building is picked up and relocated, let alone one that was built in 1895.
Can anyone help me? Please?
Tracy,
SPECTEXT has a section 02990 Structure Moving that may be a help. It is not written for historic structures, but will have the basics for moving a building. You will need to fill in the historic aspects, if any.
If you do not subscribe to SPECTEXT, the sections can be purchased individually. See www.spectext.com for the support center contact info.
Try Bob Villa at bobvilla.com this website is always helpful!
I know an architect who successfully moved a historic house some years ago. If you think his experiences would be helplful, I will call him and ask for any information that he can share.
I would suggest talking with a local building mover. To find one, you can go the the blue book http://www.thebluebook.com/ and type “building movers” into the keyword box. You didn’t say how far you are moving the house, but if you are crossing or using a public way, there may be a lot of utility coordination requirements, which vary tremendously.
Since you are talking about an historic structure, I would be really carefull about publically bidding such an endeavor. There are not a lot of Contractors who specialize in moving historic structures. Things like insurance, coordination with utilities and municipal authorities that were menstioned, along with unforseen conditions of the structure all have to be considered. Taking the low bid could be disasterous. The suggestion about contacting a reputable contractor with experience in moving a structure of the type and size you have is probably the best idea.
I grew up in a 200+ year old house (C.1758-1820)in Connecticut so I have somewhat of an idea what old houses are like.
Don’t know where else to post this, so here goes. We have a minor controversy over the use of “a” or “an” before an aspirated “h”, such as in “historic”. Here’s what others have to say:
When ‘an’ precedes a noun starting with the letter ‘H’, even when the ‘H’ is not silent, there may be a tendency when speaking to make the ‘H’ weakly aspirated, as for example in “an hotel”. However this is not a rule, and we could equally well say “a hotel” with a strongly aspirated ‘H’.
In some dialects of English, such as London cockney, the ‘H’ is regularly made silent in speech, and the indefinite article ‘an’ is used, as for example “I know an 'otel where you can stay”.
And from the following source, which seems really good -
DECIDING USAGE (2000) by . Stephen Sherwin Professor of English (Emeritus), State University of New York
Whether a or an is used depends upon the pronunciation, not the spelling, of the word it modifies.
The indefinite article a precedes words beginning with a consonant sound: a button, a yam, a unique device, a European, a eulogy, a zone, a Xerox. The article an precedes words beginning with a vowel sound: an audit, an ax, an eye, an egret, an icicle, an igloo, an umpire.
Words beginning with h cause the most uncertainty [!!]. A is usual when h is pronounced (stressed or unstressed): a hostel, a hotel, a history [hmm], a hyphen, a hurdle; a hysterical, a hypothetical, a habitual.
When h is not pronounced (as in honest, heir, hour, herb), an is standard.
I would hazard a guess that these usages apply to written “h”'s also.
Thank you for the input.
This building is going to be relocated on the same piece of property so moving of utility lines may not be a problem. The team is doing more investigation regarding that.
From what I understand, the project has to be publicly bid because it is a library. We may be able to prequalify contractors, but must publicly bid due to “public” money being used for the project.
We subscribe to SpecLink and there is a master section, fairly bare-bones in nature, on structure moving. Lynn: If you wouldn’t mind asking your friend the important points that should be included … I would very much appreciate it.
Thank you.
Here is a link to an article:
Lathrop House begins move off foundation
Toledo Blade
Sylvania’s historic Lathrop House - a Main Street landmark and reportedly a sanctuary for escaping slaves using the Underground Railroad - was moved
away from its foundation yesterday by its owners, St. Joseph Catholic Church…
The contractor is Merkle Heavy Moving of Ohio City, Ohio
The use of public funds should not restrict the use of qualified and responsive bidders - you may not be able to restrict the GC but you should or must eloborate the necessary qualifications of the “building mover” to protect the “public”
Tracy,
I was asked by Lynn Javoroski to contact you and give you my insight. I had someone move a 2,800 S.F.two story home in 1990. I think everyone should experience that once in there lives.
As I read the above comments,I see you have gotten some good suggestions so far. I think a good start will be to get the SPECTEXT specification and in conjunction with this, contact the local building officials,utilities and a mover. There is more information involved in this process than what I could tell you in this Chat Room. From a Historical aspect, I didn’t come up against any regulations for moving an “Historical” building. But there may be tax incentitives to save the building.
My best advise would be to make sure the owner is willing to right a blank check to the utility company. Until the building is on the road, the utility company doesn’t know what they are going to have to move, cut or lift.
Good luck, I will be watching this site to see how your doing.
“Prequalifying” bidders is not the same as restricting them. We would simply be listing who is already approved. Any contractor not listed can go through the approval process during bidding and be listed in an addendum if their qualifications, etc. are considered to be “equal” to the ones already prequalified.
When I worked for the county, I launched a campaign to eliminate the word “prequalify” from the dictionary - mostly because I don’t think it’s there! Seriously, what we did was to “qualify” a contractor before the bidding process. That’s probably how we got to “Pre-qualify”. Anyway, Tracy, you’re right, bidders can go through a qualification process so the Owner can be certain of getting bids from those who can do the Work. You simply have to be careful to not exclude anyone.
I did it for an elevator service contract at our airport. If you didn’t submit qualification documents before the project went out for bids, you were not allowed to bid. One contractor called, very irate about it, but once I pointed out that we had advertised the qualification process the same way we advertised all our projects, and he had the same opportunity as the other contractors, he shut up.
We asked for documentation that the bidders had done projects of a similar size and complexity; had serviced similar types of equipment; maintained a stock of parts, and things of that nature. We did not ask for financial statements, or certifications that were costly, or memberships in organizations that charged to join. We wanted a company big enough, skilled enough, and experienced enough to answer emergency calls and get equipment back on-line in the shortest amount of time possible, as well as to perform ordinary preventative maintenance. We got what we wanted.
Article published Thursday, June 24, 2004
LATHROP’S NEW HOME
The Lathrop House settles in at its new site in Sylvania’s Harroun Community Park. The historic house was moved from its Main Street site after a
controversial battle to save it from demolition by St. Joseph’s Parish.