Historic Gymnasium Moved

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1 THE WHO S WHO OF HOUSEMOVING FEBRUARY 2007 VOL. 27, NO. 1 The Oldest Continuous Publication in the House Moving Industry Historic Gymnasium Moved Alpha Specialised Movers Jeremy Patterson House Movers Davie Shoring & Moving Also in this issue: Henderson House Movers Flood Plain Move

2 FEATURED MOVE Historic Thomas Gymnasium Moved Alpha Specialised Movers Chris Ellis New Zealand Jeremy Patterson House Movers Jeremy Patterson Washington, Iowa Davie Shoring & Moving Warren Davie Covington, Louisiana Life has been busy for the New Zealand kiwi team, headed up by Murray Russell and Chris Ellis, since arriving in New Orleans in late May 2006, to assist Warren Davie of Davie Shoring and House Moving. Warren had purchased two hydraulic 3-axle house moving trailers from them to add to the one he had purchased in 2004, making a fleet of three. He encouraged them to come over and lend a hand for awhile. Their projects were primarily elevating houses after Hurricane Katrina and other house moving work that other movers could not undertake because their equipment couldn t do the job. Moving over bridges and through underpasses, etc., though difficult, was well - suited to the hydraulic trailers and to an environment the kiwis were used to. August saw Home and Garden Television do a spot on them moving one of Warren s new 1250 sq. ft. constructed houses on the kiwi trailer 100 miles and placing it up on 10 columns all in one day, for a couple who had lost their home to Katrina. (HGTV said that the show was very popular. Many viewers called requesting that it be re-shown.) In early September, Chris was invited to bid on a large school gymnasium 200 miles north of New Orleans. He was told that the first house mover approached said that it couldn t be done and the secondwanted to remove the bleachers and locker rooms and then cut it into three sections. Chris stepped up to the plate and said that with the gear, expertise, knowledge and the all around professional team he was part of, that it could be moved in its entirety. One large big move. Upon hearing this, the doubting committee of Thomas accepted Chris s proposal and in mid- The House and Building Mover February

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5 November, Murray, Chris and Warren along with Iowa colleague Jeremy Patterson (Jeremy Patterson Housemovers), began to move the building approximately three football fields length in a horseshoe arch. This 714,000 lbs. 45 tall and 103 long and 85 wide wood structure was moved on 6 dollies and a specialised moving trailer from New Zealand. Davie Shoring, Jeremy Patterson House Movers and Alpha Specialised Moveers teamed up for this one-of-a-kind move. Two 225 lb.-foot mains were used with 9 crossbeams of 120 lb. to 145 lb. foot. Due to the lack of space, 48 specialized toe jacks were used to raise this structure high enough to get steel in. Site leaders Murray Russell and Jeremy Patterson layed out a massive plan and came through with great success. A 12- jack ball-valve JSJS 2-speed unified jacking machine was needed. This massive job was done in only 8 days. The gym had a basketball court, a stage and bleachers still intact while moving. Due to the old unstable building, cross cables were applied inside for preventing any movement of the building. We used two Holland dollies and two auto steers with 5 rams in caster mode. Two steerable dollies were placed in the back, with 7 rams due to the time strain. The two 5 cylinder dollies on each side were t-d together back to the unified machine, and the 7 was run separate to a different port. A man was left to manually release the pressure off to keep the weight on the dollies close to the same. The house moving trailer in front was a three-axle hydraulic trailer that Russell moved with in New Zealand for ten years, before Warren Davies bought it and brought it to America. The trailer was loaded with about 170,000 lbs. and Warren s 6x6 Mack with a push-pull ram was used. Due to the tight area, Russell had to put the trailer in at approximately a 45 degree angle. This made it have to be tromboned out one spot further than we wanted. This in return, put most of the weight on the trailer. Due to the lack of traction, a dozer was hooked up to help pull. The Old gym made its 180 degree turn and the remainder of the The House and Building Mover February

6 New Zealand house-lifting jacks are two types. One that lifts 4 2 and the other that lifts 2. move done in only 5 1/2 hours. With steel plates an mud tracks layed out to float the load, great time was accomplished during the move. This was a true representation of three moving companies teaming up to move a big part of Thomas, Louisiana history. Movers from around the area came to see the massive wood structure move. Jeremy Pattereon s crew from Iowa, and Murray Russell and Chris Ellis of New Zealand, and Warren Davie s crew made this move happen. This shows that teamwork and friendship can be formed on these big moves. The three companies already have the next big move on contract. So friendship will have a chance to keep growing. Chris said the exciting part about working with Warren Davie, Jeremy and partner of 15 years, Murray Russell (veteran of 35 years), is that we all agreed that nothing is impossible, just a little harder and different maybe than the last job. The House and Building Mover February