Barn and House Delivery
Barn and House Delivery
After hearing from Cory (Beltran Bros) that the house had arrived safely on the property in the early hours of Friday May 27, we made our way up to Dhamma Modana from Victoria and Duncan, arriving just before 10 am to watch the crew tackle moving the house to its new home. The House was mid bridge span by the time we showed up. It was a beautiful day on the property with a mix of sun, clouds and a sprinkling of rain. Flowers and plants greening up and we had a surprise visit from a large group of curious crows.
The previous move of the barn had run into some minor difficulties while in transit from Nanaimo, requiring an extra day on the side of the highway in Chemanus. Left late Monday evening and arrived around 3 am Wednesday morning.
The location sites were prepped and the area was cleaned up to allow the towing vehicles space to maneuver. The soils where the barn now sits were incredibly compacted and the excavator had a difficult time getting down to the required depth. The house site soils were a little more varied, but still very difficult to dig. It was decided that instead of spending more time and money going deeper, we would use the alternate plan of having the ground floor doors come in pretty much at grade.
Both split level and lower story on grade designs had been discussed and previously we had chosen to let the soil dictate the design. The ground is very firm, which is a positive for the foundations of both buildings.
The excavator also spent about an hour clearing a road into the trees on the south east corner of septic field #4 to allow the placement of another power pole.
The front gate post was removed to allow a wide enough path to the property, and it will need to be repositioned and anchored back into the ground sometime soon. The bridge railings had been stripped and a wider deck positioned over the existing deck to allow the two sets of pneumatic carriage wheels a wide enough purchase to carry their loads safely over Oliver Creek. The prep work and the move itself were done very efficiently and effectively by Beltran Bros. and the procedure really inspired confidence in their abilities.
The bridge was by far and away the biggest obstacle, requiring significant time and effort to manage the building onto and off the higher ramp. Once over the bridge, the incline was tackled with the aid of a second towing vehicle, and once over the hill it was just a small matter of driving the building into place. The carriage wheels are capable of vertical adjustments as well as being able to be steered from the cab of the tow vehicle which makes the building very easy to maneuver.
Given the very long “day” (starting to prep the towing of the vehicle at 7pm Thursday evening), the Beltran Bros crew set the bridge up to allow them to remove all their vehicles and the excavator the following morning, and then headed home by around 3pm. The delivery and installation of the power pole was arranged for Saturday morning before the excavator left the property. The temporary bridge deck was removed and the railings were bolted back in place on Saturday morning.
As it is today, the barn is lifted to allow the foundation, form work and slab pour to take place. Once that’s completed, Beltran Bros. will return to drop the barn and then they’ll raise the house giving us access to undertake that project. When that’s completed, the house will be lowered and the final payment will be made.
The accompanying photos will have visible captions if one clicks to enlarge the images.
A big shout out to Carl for all the work he’s put into getting this project up and running, and all those that found the time to help out with visits to the buildings in Nanaimo or checking out the property locations, sharing their concerns and thoughts on what might be most effective, all those that have donated funds to make projects like this possible and finally to the Trust for getting behind the project and supporting a move forward. May all share the merits gained by this project!
