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Two-story house moves across Fremont

Posted by Geeky Swedes on September 7th, 2008

A little after 2 a.m., a house pulled out of its parking spot on Palatine Ave. in Fremont and headed to its new home ten blocks away. Literally.

As you might imagine, it was a slow, painstaking process. The truck moved only a couple miles per hour, and it stopped every few feet as crews checked the house, surrounding trees and overhanging wires from every angle.

It moved down 36th St. and up Phinney Ave. to its new home at 4020 Evanston.

While it was scheduled to arrive at 7 a.m., crews began backing the house into the lot at 11 a.m. Lots more coverage and photos on Fremont Universe.

Tags: Ballard · Fremont   Facebook

  • milo dakkat
    Boy, it's a good thing they had a space for already 'cause that thing would have been a bear to have to parallel park on the street.
  • kathleen
    Did anyone notice all of the trees that were cut down to move this house??
  • m
    OMG Suthii - how would you even know to look for this?!

    extreme tree-hugging indeed...
  • boardbrown
    The carbon footprint of tearing down that house and building a new one would have been far greater than that of the trees removed.

    I think it's great. But boy, I bet none of those neighbors slept that night.
  • Rudy
    "These folks did..."
    What? No candles? Amatuers...
  • Sheila
    Were the trees cut down or trimmed? If they were cut down, I'm assuming the owners were OK with it.
  • milo dakkat
    I'm curious what it cost to tear down the first house, build a new foundation and then move the second house to the new location (and did the guy have to buy the house that was moved since it was going to be torn down anyways?) I'm sure the whole business cost less than the expense of buying/building another house.

    Despite the hassles of moving the house, the one that was moved looked like a really nice house that was worth saving. Now that's recycling!
  • boardbrown
    The short answer to your question, Milo, is yes. And in this case, it probably was cheaper. Often times, the moved house is on the chopping block to make way for a new one. The owners typically will offer to "give" it away to anyone who wants to move it. The move itself is not cheap, typically costing between 50-100k. But that number is still far less than building a new house...or even adding a second floor to an existing house. Demo costs for a house are typically 25-50k.

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