I moved this shed once, before building the garage. I document this second move because this method worked better. Here is a picture of its location after the first move, back by the old chicken coop:
We had planned to turn the shed into a new chicken coop, but we have since changed our minds, having only a few chickens now. So we decided to move it to the west side of the yard facing the garage. I wanted to do this without cutting down any bushes or trees. This will require a K-turn!
First, I constructed a big skid using lumber left over from the garage: 2x8's, 2x10's and 2x12's. Here are a few of the pieces,
Here is one side of the skid, ready to screw together:
A 2x10 will fit in the gap in the front, to hold the two sides together. I used a bottle jack to jack up the sides of the shed to slip in the skid pieces:
Here are the pieces joined with the 2x10. Everything is screwed togehter to keep the frame rigid:
How to secure a strong chain to this frame? I drilled holes for 1/2" steel pins, one on each side. Here is one side:
Here is the other:
Hook up the chain by looping it over the frame members of the old Ford van:
Pull!
The shed moved about a half a foot, then stopped. I only succeeded in digging little trenches under the van wheels. I reflected, then looped the chain around the wood frame so that the frame would lift as the van pulled. The chain is looped on the far side and I used a steel cable looped around this side to extend the chain:
I tightened the chain as much as I could, inserted three pieces of pipe under the front of the frame to reduce friction, then tried again:
Success! The red X shows where the shed used to be. I unhooked the chain and attached it to the other side for the second half of the K-turn:
Pull!
I got this far then had some trouble getting the shed to move any more. After several attempts, I jacked up the shed and put several pieces of pipe under the skid to reduce friction. I was then able to pull the shed the rest of the way:
In the above picture, I had unhooked the van and brought it around to tug the end of the shed forward to straighten it out:
DONE!
August 2008.