BUXTON, N.C. — A home on Old Lighthouse Road in Buxton will soon have new life, being moved around 60 feet from where it currently stands. That might not sound like a lot, but it's one of the few options homeowners currently have to save their homes. For this specific home, Crum Works Inc. is debuting a new process in their house-moving efforts.
"We've rolled it eight feet to the north this way, and about 15 feet to the east, and we're getting ready to jack it up about four feet and roll it on to this new foundation," said Barry Crum, owner of Crum Works Inc.
Moving houses is nothing new for Crum Works Inc. crews. But News 3 spoke to Crum a few weeks ago, and he told us they'd be trying something new this time, and this project is the first time they're putting it into action.
"This is a new process for us. Other parts of the country, they do this, and with the proximity of the ocean being so close to where we're working, we just didn't like the traditional methods that we've been using. So we decided to give this method a go in our region," said Crum.
A couple pieces of the new process for this project are having the piling foundations installed before the house is moved, the height that this home will need to be raised to move onto those new foundations and the use of large steel beams and rollers to transport the house onto its new foundation.
"We have a unified hydraulic jacking system that we utilize to lift the house at a level rate. We've got special rollers that we are rolling the house with, and we're using structural steel to build like a train track to roll the house away from the ocean and onto its new foundation," said Crum.
Though different aspects currently being used in this process have been used before, the special rollers the crews are using are being debuted for the first time.
"These rollers that we're using, this specific type, this is our first job with these. They're called XY skates. We've rolled some houses, but never with the fancy XY skates," said Crum.
This specific process saves something that these homes don't always have: time.
"What's great about this process is we can get the entire job done in a week's time, that's kind of what we need to do out here in these weather sensitive areas. Typically (this is) something that would take a month or two months," said Crum.
Despite the typical learning curves the crew is facing, it's something that Crum feels will be vital to their house-moving operations moving forward.
"We're having to think through things and work through obstacles that we didn't see, but it's really going great, and I'm very happy with the progress," said Crum.
With another half-dozen or so house moves in the new year for Crum and his crew, this hard work means much more than just a job.
"It's nice to know that when we're putting in this hard work that we're edifying our community," said Crum.
