If you don’t count the years (!) of planning & design, the months of off-site work, and the finish work yet to come, why yes, you can have a house built in a day.
First, you need a crane. Cranes don’t come across on the ferry — they’re too heavy. So they come by barge, and damned early too. The crane was onsite by 6:15 am, according to our timelapse camera.
Then, you need some modules. Two had arrived the day before, and the other two were in line for the ferry again this morning. Now, these came down the highway from Ferndale as wide loads, but on the ferry? They are SO wide, the guard rails for the passengers need to be removed! Watch it come off the ferry, and see how tight it is along the left side.
Then, the crane, complete with steel underneath for stability, can pick up each module and plop it down. Easy-peasy!
Wait, what — it needs to swing OVER the garage?? Yikes, okay…
Here’s the last module for the front, our kitchen, about to be gently placed onto the foundation. Dave noted that they descend at a bit of an angle, away from the joining face, so that they can just slide in, rather than risk damaging the connection.
And then, after the last, back module is set down — ta-da!
With all the construction equipment moving around, we managed to keep a tree?! I’m astounded. The entrance is in that tucked-away corner, and the sliders to the right are part of the sun room. They’ll add a deck and a ramp to join them, and add a real roof instead of the travel version shown here.
Here’s how it looked from the side of the garage, from just after demolition until after the modules were placed.
Did we skip a few steps there? Dave anticipated this, and set up a time-lapse camera on Tuesday:
Want to come see? You’re welcome to drive by but the site will be an active construction zone for quite a while yet. We’ll let you know when the movers get our stuff back inside. It will be several months, and nowhere as exciting as this one day was. But soon!