The airport is expanding here in St. Louis and they have bought several subdivisions that they are in process of demolishing to make additional runways. I had looked into buying a house to move to the country but the expense would have been too great because of all the utility lines. Meanwhile, I went to a moving sale in the subdivision and the owner told me that they were factory prefabs and that when he first moved in the lot next door had no house on it. He left for work one day and came home that nite and there was a fully built house on the lot! Even more surprising was that the next day when he came home the house was gone! The builder had made a mistake and put the wrong house on the lot and had moved it. I love to recycle and would love to knock one of these houses down and if possible, haul it on a flat bed or something similiar an hour or so away from here and put it back together again. These houses are mostly 3 bedroom ranches on slabs. I read countryside mag. and have noticed quite a few Missouri homesteaders. This may be a way for us all to work together and each get a house for our trouble. When I originally asked the demolition company they had no problem selling me the house for $1.00 because it saved them the trouble of demolishing it, hopefully this is still the case, but didn't want to ask again until I knew that it was indeed possible. If anyone has any knowledge in this area I would be grateful for their input. It may just be a pipedream, but I sure hate seeing all that housing being trashed when so many can make use of them.

-- Bobbi (walterlohrmann@email.msn.com), December 10, 2001

Answers

Bobbi:

Do whatever you can to save these houses. I would think that habitat for humanity or local churches would be interested in saving these houses if they could house someone in need! A few calls may yield you some great help--i.e. a church group takes five and moves your house (free) for helping. The construction market is down--perhaps someone will do it out of the goodness of their heart because they now have time.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), December 10, 2001.

Thanks Ann, I have made many calls but had not thought of HFH or local churches. I will try them and will keep you posted. Thankfully the demolitian company seemed to have a very open mind on my thoughts and seemed cooperative, but that was over two years ago. It wasn't until the moving sale last month when I talked to the owner that my hopes had been revived because of his conversation. I will continue to think outside the box and look for another way. I appreciate your encouragement. Sometimes that's what it takes when the world keeps telling you how impossible or stupid your ideas are.

-- Bobbi (walterlohrmann@email.msn.com), December 10, 2001.

A friend of mine is having a house moved onto her lot. The cost to have the house moved is considerable (like, WOW!), but not as high as a new house would cost!

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), December 10, 2001.

Thanks Terri, Moving a house as it sits can be expensive as you have to pour a foundation to match the house specs (if it had a basement) and you have to pay for every utility line to be taken down and put back between where the house sits and it's final destination, even if the house is a ranch style 1-story. Even still I understood that the cost averaged about 50% of the home's value before moving. Can be quite a savings if you move it nearby. My problem is that I want it moved 1-1/2 hours away, and hoping to save on some of the equipment needed to jack it up off the foundation and to lift it up onto a flatbed or whatever. I would think that if you could take it down wall by wall, it would be much less expensive in labor and transporting. That's why my ears perked up when the original owner said that they could be knocked flat and reassembled. I would imagine that you wouldn't have to pay to have the utility lines taken down and replaced which supposedly accounts for most of the cost.

-- Bobbi (walterlohrmann@email.msn.com), December 10, 2001.

I have lived in pre-fab modular homes all my life. Most of these homes have a big seam down the middle where they come apart into 2 long halves. They are hauled one half at a time with a semi truck and have plastic sheeting tacked up to protect the "open" part from weather & road dirt. If you can get these homes for $1 it would seem a shame not to contact some companies that specialize in moving mobiles & modulars to see if they could dismantle and haul for you. There would be some cost involved, but surely cheaper that a new building.

-- ellie (eagle-quest@juno.com), December 10, 2001.

habit doesnt do anything with used buildings. New buildings only.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), December 10, 2001.

I grew up in a 'National Homes' product. The company was based in Lafayette, IN and built literally thousands of post World War II homes for returning servicemen. I think Wicke's was another builder like that. These weren't like the modulars built today with complete sections brought in on trailers and set together but rather a series of walls delivered on trailers and put up at the site. I'd suggest you find who built these homes if they are that style and see if they're still around. If they are, you might be able to either work a deal with the company or work a deal with some of their crew members to do this as a 'side job' on a weekend or something. I hope this helps.

-- Gary in Indiana (gk6854@aol.com), December 10, 2001.

You're talking about pre-fab instead of double wide mobile homes. In that case they erect them in "panels". Try to find out who the manufacturer was and get in touch with them. They'd be able to tell you how to disassemble them. At the very least I think you'll need a crane on site.

-- john (natlivent@pcpros.net), December 10, 2001.

If worse comes to worse, you could always salvage cabinets, windows, doors, etc. You could probably salvage copper wiring and pipe.

John

-- John Lary (johnlary@yahoo.com), April 19, 2002.