The morning of Wednesday, May 26 (the day after the house-halves came), a crew of 5 arrived to manually move the first half onto the foundation. The crew consisted of the hispanic foreman, 2 hispanic guys, 1 caucasion guy (AKA the lone gringo), and 1 hispanic kid. They were fascinating to watch. The foreman was bilingual, the other 3 hispanics spoke only Spanish, and the gringo spoke only English. I loved listening to them as they worked; it was so intriguing to watch as they worked well together beyond the language gap.
They were excellent workers and got the house ready in no time! They put together 3 long metal beams that started under the house and went all along the width of the foundation. Each cross-beam was set upon blocks and jacks and made level.
Then the house was set onto the 3 long cross-beams using sets of rollers that clamped onto each of the home's own 2 existing metal floor-beams.
Pulley systems were also attached to the home's beams in three locations and anchored to the foundation. The pulley systems consisted of thick metal chain on one half, wire cord on the other half, and a hand crank in the middle. (shown below on the left side of the photo) 
The 2 hispanic guys and the lone gringo each manned a pulley system. As they hand-cranked the chain on the pulley, the house responded by slowly rolling forward on the cross-beams.
It was amazing to behold--my house was physically being moved by 3 men!!!
The foreman stood on the far-end of the house and could visually tell if the house was moving along straight. Multiple times he told the 2 hispanic guys to stop cranking for a minute so the gringo could catch up his end of the house. I thought this was hilarious!!! (I asked the gringo at the end of the day if he understood what the others were saying, and he said "I know enough Spanish to know when they're making fun of me"!!!! TOO funny!)
As the house neared the edges of the foundation, the crew was forced to work on the underside of the house, bending over or kneeling as they continued cranking the pulley.
I loved seeing progress!!! This was where the house had stood just two hours earlier: 
When the house was positioned exactly above the foundations corners, the men removed 2/3 of the cross-beams that were no longer needed.
Then they began the slow process of lowering the home onto the foundation. Inch by inch, they jacked up the floor-beams, lowered the cross-beams, and lowered the home onto the cross-beams, then jacked up the floor-beams, lowered the cross-beams, and lowered the home, over and over and over again. 
I sat on the far end of the house, watching it drop ever so slowly:
At the end of the day, the first half was completely installed! And if you were to ask me, I would've responded that the cup seemed half-full! 
And it didn't take long before the cup was completely full...
...to be continued
1 comment:
interesting! I never knew how they did that!
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