Moving a Tank House

A recent project was moving a 2-story 10'x10' tank house 6 miles into town and want to set it up on the lot with our existing home. The tank house was going to be torn down to build a house I designed for a client, and it was given to us free. An inexpensive way to gain 200 square feet of living area on our lot. It will be used as two story storage/hobby building. We will add an outdoor stairway and landing overlooking a park across the street. These tank houses, were used before rural electrification. Typically they were small tower-shaped buildings 3-stories tall with a big open-topped tank inside on the top floor. Some times called pump houses. A windmill (often "Aeromotor" brand) attached to the side of the building pumped water into the redwood or sheet metal tank where it gravity fed the house nearby, at (what was then considered) adequate pressure. Due to the weight of water, for every foot of rise, pressure raises approximately one-half PSI. A tank 10 feet or so taller than the sink would produce about 5 pounds per square inch pressure. While 5 PSI may have been adequate for homes before dishwashers and automatic clothes washers, it does not meet the minimum 15 PSI required by modern codes. Eventually, due to maintenance and sanitation problems, and a falling water table, these tank systems became obsolete, and electric well pump systems replaced them. The Tank House before the move:

My tank house was built about 1904 and uses balloon framing with 2x4's and 4x4's full length, fireblocking, redwood vee-groove siding. No plaster. Aluminum roofing. Estimated weight 5400 pounds total (assuming the wood was wet). Window sashes were removed just prior to the move. The building was just over 20' tall. The top floor of this pump house was used as a bedroom, probably for a field hand. Lowest floor was used as a utility room. A concrete utility sink with cast iron legs, and a glass washboard were found inside. The utility sink was apparently marked 1907. Part of the well and the windmill support beams are visible. The McHenry Museum (of which I once was a board member) had a good article on local pump houses in an old copy of the newsletter. There are still hundreds of tank houses around the area. Some are probably being demolished or abandoned. Others are finding unique new uses.

I had to get a pre-move inspection and then moving permits and a building permit. Despite what I was first told by the Building Department, the project will have to comply with the latest codes as it is being moved into the city from outside their jurisdiction. A new reinforced concrete slab with metal seismic anchors was inspected and poured at the new location.

I planned to move it horizontally on a flatbed trailer, due to the many power lines, trees and traffic lights on the route. It seemed like the most practical way to move a small building of 14’ wide or less. I was anxious to try it out. A mover estimated it would take $1800 to use a crane to pick it up, put it on a trailer, move it and set it back up. I was trying to save money and time. Other engineers mentioned that this price was comparatively cheap considering the risks, and that I should video tape the process in case it fell!

The problem was how to slow its descent when I pull it over without using a fancy crane. One idea is piling dirt to one side with an inclined broad flat surface facing the building. Install a stand and hinge point 4' high so the building will pivot 4' high on one edge. Pull the building over and let it fall several feet into the dirt. Dig out dirt until the building falls level. Prop it and drive trailer under. Another idea to slow its descent is to build some kind of big A-frame with block and tackle. The most extreme idea was to build some kind of crude hydraulic piston made from pipe and filled with ice to slow its descent.

Rented an implement trailer for about $90.00, got some "oversized load" signs from the local safety equipment store, and three guys from a local construction/military engineering company (Transpacific Engineering) donated their time and equipment (Gradall) to help. Quite a scene, my wife drove a borrowed 1-ton truck, pulling the trailer (with the tank house horizontal), feeling quite liberated and excited.

Pulling the tank house over with fork lift and rope:

After the building is on its side, beams and cables are rigged for lifting:

Building is lifted enough to back trailer underneath:

The building is then lowered onto 20' implement trailer, tied down, and signs attached:

The truck driver:

At the new site, 6 miles away, the trailer is backed-onto the new location. The building is then rigged and hoisted into the air and the trailer driven away. The building is then lowered to the ground on its side. Here the building is lifted about 3' high on one end, and supported with heavy sawhorses: