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5 Mar ’12
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We built a barn to mount our solar panels on the roof and to store our solar equipment. After going round and round trying to mount the panels to the roof without success, and that the additional storage the barn provides is very far away, I am thinking about moving the barn to a different location and pole mounting the panels where the barn currently sits.
I have seen videos of people moving barns with tractors, trucks, etc. and I am wondering if I am stupid for even considering this. Below is a diagram of how far I want to move it, ~150 feet, and with a 90 degree turn. Nothing crazy.
So recap...
- move it 150 feet
- turn it 90 degrees
- it is on 'skids' -- but not continues skids. The base is constructed out of 2x6x12s boards nailed together
- it is sitting on cinder blocks that are buried into the ground
- ground is relatively flat but not perfectly so -- it's a grass meadow
What I was thinking is putting some strong hooks on the edge of the barn, lifting up one end with a tractor, and slowly sliding PVC pipes underneath the shed and pulling it forward with the hooks. I have also seen pictures of people wrapping long towing straps around the base and hooking it up to the tow points so that the base doesn't shift -- sound feasible? I have an 8N which I don't think could pull it (maybe one it was on PVC rollers) but a buddy nearby has a 40hp diesel Massey that is much larger and my local excavator, for a price, has a monstrous loader backhoe that must be in the 100hp range that could easily pull this thing.
Here is a picture I found off the internet that from someone else's move but my shed is much larger:
What do you think, am I crazy?
I say do it. PVC may not be good enough and the larger the rollers the better. I would not pull from hooks on the front but wrap chain all around the building and pull that way
15 Feb ’12
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not crazy, like bg said though, I don't think the pvc will be strong enough, I would go the tow strap route, you have any 8-10 inch trees you can cut down for rolling it on?
5 Mar ’12
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KVR -- I could probably come up with something for the trees. I would need to find straight sections that are over 14' long -- the shed itself is 12' wide. Part of me wants to really carefully plan this and another part of me just wants to set up a video camera and say "hold my beer and watch this".
15 Feb ’12
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lol, I vote for plan B!
5 Mar ’12
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Yeah, I figured you guys would like that idea. The move of the barn itself won't take very long but I need to build a new, much smaller, shed to hold all of my equipment. I basically need to move the large shed and on the same day drag over the new smaller solar shed. Building the new shed is going to take some time to design and build. I want it just big enough to walk into to check out my batteries and equipment and have a small lean-to on the back for protecting my generator from the elements.
21 Feb ’12
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*waits patiently for results*
5 Mar ’12
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These are local to me and Amish made. $900 for the small one... but that is a lot of coin. Not sure I could build it for much cheaper.
http://www.amsdenent.....ine-sheds/
EDIT: If something like this small shed isn't traditionally framed I don't think I can use it -- I need studs to mount my solar equipment to the wall.
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