Moving a shed

[Leeboy20]

We just picked up a really nice wooden shed from a customer of mine that needed it gone since it wasnt being used. My buddy dropped it off with his flat deck car hauler and now i have the task of moving it out of the driveway and in to the back yard (which is grass) My neighbor says to lay down 2x4 tracks and use some old weld casing pipe he has and roll it. Its already has a skid underneath it made of 4x4's ( like a sled) I would like to hear everyone's ideas if they have ever moved one. It has to go about 75 feet with a couple turns.

 

[billspit]

You may have to put some plywood sheets down before you use the well casing or it may just push it into the ground.

 

[djd99]

I moved my 10x12 with my car hauler, I jack the shed up, braced it then sit it on the trailer and moved to where it's at now.
Alot of people also use pipes under the shed to roll it to it's new home it works as long as your not moving to far. I had to move mine 700 feet so my trailer was my best option.

 

[eddyyy302]

Just moved a 10x12 across soft ground with 4" PVC, only took 2 people to push the shed and worked perfectly even over the gravel pad.

Dan

 

[NWphotog]

You shouldn't need 2x4s or plywood unless the ground is especially wet or soft. Any round posts or pipe of sufficient length should work. You want 3 or 4 under it and an additional 1 or 2 to place in front of the path you are going. Then it is merely a matter of pushing or pulling and as the poles get left behind placing them in front of the shed. Easy peasy!

 

[Leeboy20]

Right on, a little stress has just been lifted... When you say PVC, are you talking that black plastic pipe?

 

[rickycobra]

About how heavy is it?

 

[Leeboy20]

Hmmm, not sure. Its 10x10 with thin siding on it and a shingle roof. No interior wall or shelves or anything.

 

[eddyyy302]

We used 4 of the white 4" pvc for a 10x12 and it was plenty. Here's the trick, when you need to move sideways, take 2: 2 by 4s and nail a small piece to the face perp. to the 2 by 4, use that to span the pipes and allow you to move sideways.

Dan

 

[bczygan]

A couple of hints. First, add extra 2x4's at the joints of the ones you lay down, to overlap the joints next to the other 2x4's, so the pipes don't fall down through at the joints. You said there were a couple of turns. When you turn, if you don't rotate the shed, the skids will be parallel with the pipe rollers. This won't work. You will need to nail on 2 more skids between the existing skids, making a box of skids that will allow you to roll in either direction. If the shed is oriented the way it will be when it reaches it's destination, then this will work fine, you just have to lay out the route and change direction at the turns by pushing a different side of the shed. If not, then either at the beginning, the end, or somewhere in between, you will have to figure out a way to rotate the shed to it's proper orientation. Does this help? Also check for overhead obstructions, wires etc. This works for pretty level sites, otherwise you may need a come along. Moved an 8x12 full house construction by myself on black iron pipe rollers but bigger diameter may work better. Need a lever that is strong with a long enough handle.

Bill

 

[e-tek]

WOW - Dejavu!! Been HERE - Done THIS!!!!!

It's all here:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58558&highlight=move+shed

But the jist of it is what was said above: 6 PVC (Black) pipes about 1-2 longer than the width. I hooked up a hitch and dragged it with my van, but likely didn't need to. a couple guys could push it. It was even easy to turn on a dime - just put the pipe under tyhe corner and pull it that way. No damage to the shed or grass and we even rolled it up onto some cement deck blocks at the end by rolling it up some 2x4's. Reallly was easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!

 

[Falcon67]

I've been thinking about this - I have a shed I might need to move. But it's a 12x16 with an 8' eve and has to weigh every bit of 2000 lbs. It's a stout mama. I don't think PVC is gonna work for that. Maybe drill pipe.

 

[Kevin54]

Did that a few years back with a 12' x 16' shed. Total time to move it and set it was approximately 45 minutes. Prep time was maybe an hour and a half with clearing sod, dumping gravel and leveling it all out. All in all I had everything set, cleaned up and done in a around 8 hours or a little less

 

[NWphotog]

Haha! Two, bobcats! Very nice!

 

[Leeboy20]

The PVC looks like the way to go since im all out of bobcats at the moment......Could you go over what i need to do to the skid to make it turn? I got a little lost on that part....Thanks gang...

 

[jkeyser14]

The PVC looks like the way to go since im all out of bobcats at the moment......Could you go over what i need to do to the skid to make it turn? I got a little lost on that part....Thanks gang...

Just get two people to push at corners that are diagonal from each other to try and rotate the shed. The shed's sled will want to fall off the pipes as your angle gets closer to being parallel to the pipes, so you have to keep an eye on the pipes so the shed doesn't drop off of them. If it starts to get anywhere close to coming off the pipes you just put new pipes underneath the front and back that are perpendicular to the new orientation of the shed's sled.

 

[mdoolittle]

Forks on the back of the tractor and ratchet straps to the front bucket. You can control the shed by the bucket hydraulics. I only drove it a couple hundred yards.

 

[Leeboy20]

Im a little confused guys....When i go to the store to buy the pipe, Should i get the 4" white drain pipe? The black thicker stuff? The guys at the store told me the 4" drain pipe would just crush....If someone has the answer, could you please tell me exactly (in plumbers terms) what to ask for? Thanks...

 

[Brinskan]

BTDT: I will have to ask my father for the video proof. My dad built himself a nice 3-car, double deep garage at their new house in 2001. In order to build the garage we needed to move a shed to the back of the property-slightly uphill, over grass.

So we built a wheel barrel frame to push it. Simply we built a wheel that came off one side of the shed and then used two 4x4s properly mounted to the frame on the adjacent side for leverage. As my dad was crafting this Rube-Goldeberg contraption up, I thought he was insane, but it actually worked quite well. Took all of 5 mins to move it 100 or so feet over grass once the frame was built. All in all it was a 6 hour day, but that includes emptying the shed, bracing it and removing the windows so they wouldn't break.

 

[georgiadave]

Use the well casing. Why spend any money?

 

[Leeboy20]

Use the well casing. Why spend any money?

My neighbor only has 2 pieces, i thought i would need like 4 pieces

 

[eric_koski]

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/landscape/shed/move/xyard.htm

 

[Joe69]

I borrowed one of these from work when I moved mine.

Joe

 

[e-tek]

Im a little confused guys....When i go to the store to buy the pipe, Should i get the 4" white drain pipe? The black thicker stuff? The guys at the store told me the 4" drain pipe would just crush....If someone has the answer, could you please tell me exactly (in plumbers terms) what to ask for? Thanks...

Go to any HD, Loes, HH or plumbing store and get 2 - 3 inch PVC (Black) pipe. It comes in 8 to 16 foot lengths. Cut them a foor wider than you shed. Ypu'll need 4-5 pieces minimum. Put 2 pices beside/next to each other and lift the front edge of the shed onto them. Once you get it moving they'll seperate. Keep 'new' pieces of tubing under the leading edge before it drops down. If you need to turn it, put the next tube at the leading corner, on an angle, then pull/push it that way, it'll roll and turn very easily. If you get to a low or high spot, just keep the tubes where you can see the shed bottom coming closer to the ground, to maintain your height.
As per Shell Busy: "It's just that easy!"

 

[NWphotog]

Go to any HD, Loes, HH or plumbing store and get 2 - 3 inch PVC (Black) pipe. It comes in 8 to 16 foot lengths. Cut them a foor wider than you shed. Ypu'll need 4-5 pieces minimum. Put 2 pices beside/next to each other and lift the front edge of the shed onto them. Once you get it moving they'll seperate. Keep 'new' pieces of tubing under the leading edge before it drops down. If you need to turn it, put the next tube at the leading corner, on an angle, then pull/push it that way, it'll roll and turn very easily. If you get to a low or high spot, just keep the tubes where you can see the shed bottom coming closer to the ground, to maintain your height.
As per Shell Busy: "It's just that easy!"

Yep, 100% correct. Tried chain link posts. No good but the round wooden fence posts worked OK.

 

[Leeboy20]

Ok...Today is the day we start.....The frist move is a 45 degree turn to get in through the gate. How do we line these tubes up to do a immediate turn?

 

[84bimmer]

I built mine at my grandpas house. We built it on a trailer in our spare time. When we finished we hauled it down to my place. Didn't think much about actually moving it till we got there. We backed the trailer to as close to its spot as we could. Then I wrapped a chain around the shed, cushions from old garage couches in between the chain and shed. Hooked the chain to another truck, and let er rip. Pulled the shed right off the trailer. Then I positioned the shed exactly where I wanted it with the front bumper on my explorer. Using couch cushions again of course. Screw the grass. It grew back.

It wasn't really though out very well at all....lol. But it worked out very well. The only damage to the shed was about a foot of decorative trim on the backside of the shed broke off when pulling it off the trailer.

The end result: A badass heavy duty twister proof shed for a tenth the cost of that junk at home depot. And good quality time spent with my GPA.

 

[Zeke]

Im a little confused guys....When i go to the store to buy the pipe, Should i get the 4" white drain pipe? The black thicker stuff? The guys at the store told me the 4" drain pipe would just crush....If someone has the answer, could you please tell me exactly (in plumbers terms) what to ask for? Thanks...

At least Sched 40.

Google "move shed" on Youtube and see several ways to do it, some pretty funny.

 

[mobetta]

Go to any HD, Loes, HH or plumbing store and get 2 - 3 inch PVC (Black) pipe.

pvc is white.

abs is black.

either would work. bigger is better.

 

[Leeboy20]

The shed is moved. I bought 4, seven foot x 4" round fence posts. Jacked it up and me and my girlfriends 14 year old daughter started pushing. Besides a couple of spots i had to use a floor jack, it wend pretty good. On some pushes, i thought we were going to have to stop it from rolling. Then after seeing us, 3 more neighbors came and helped and the slowest part was taking the next pole and putting it in front. I would suggest using at least 6 poles though. Thanks everyone