House Delivery!

Our house sitting on our land!

Oh my goodness I thought this day would never come, yet also how did it already happen?! The morning we moved the house, smoke from Canada created a haze that made it a little difficult to work in, but we managed it.

At eight in the morning, I was at the house’s original location. Having just handed a check to the electrical company, I moved back to where a small group of us had gathered and watch the house make the very first turn out of the driveway. It wasn’t hard to watch. In my mind, we had hired a professional and he could do it just fine. Ours was his 11th house move, this year. It probably helped that for years we towed our house behind us everywhere we went. While the camper was made for towing and an old farmhouse isn’t, it was hard to get used to having everything we owned going down the road. When we’d stop for the night, we’d have to pick things up and put them back and items would break. And after our crash, that driving anxiety ramped up for a long time. This house is a dream come true, and I thought it would be harder to watch than it was. It was just so exciting! All I could think was, “Wow, this is our house!”

We watched until it was almost out of sight behind the treeline, and then we got in our vehicles and took a different route so that we could get ahead of the house. I wanted to watch it pull into our driveway. We thought it would take longer because there were quite a few electrical lines that needed to be lifted. But instead of sending only one crew and lifting the lines, the electric company sent two. One went ahead of the house and cut the lines and the second crew followed the house and spliced the lines back together. Sorry, neighbors. I had no idea they were going to be cutting your power! The line we were most worried about was a three phase which means nothing to me other than our house had to fit under it, otherwise power to an entire town would be off. And the electric company didn’t want to wouldn’t do that. Our house cleared the line by an inch and a half.

They started at 8:00am, and by 8:38, the house was on our land. It was only a four mile drive, but it went so much faster than any of us anticipated.

By the time the day was over, our house was off the trailer and up on some cribbing. Above are some pictures of the equipment being set up for the mover to use.

Seth was in Colorado when the house was brought to our land, but I was able to get some pictures and videos of the move. Being a dry summer in Northern Minnesota certainly helped us get the house on our land, but it had just rained a couple weeks before the move and that delayed the contractor doing our cement work. While Seth missed the house actually going down the road, he was excited to come home and see it on our land, already on the basement walls he made with my dad. (I know, I keep using the word ‘exciting,’ but it was just so exciting I can’t think of a better description!)

Here’s our house about to come down our driveway.

Even though we’re a few months out from the move now (I finally got both kids to sleep at the same time!), every time we pull into our driveway and see our house we have to remind ourselves that this is actually happening. But I still remember that morning, and the adrenaline of will we make it to our land before the house gets there? The awe of watching it actually in our driveway. The joy and celebration of that day—the house movers, my family, and the family giving us the house were all so excited, and it was contagious. And besides, maybe the day after Thanksgiving is the perfect time for this post, because it is what Seth and I are most thankful for this year. We’re still celebrating like this house just arrived on our land, four months later.

I’m working on a video of the house delivery, but video editing is an art form I’m still learning so it may be a while. When it’s ready I’ll link it in this post. I’m so excited to share the journey of renovating an old farmhouse with you all! Even though these blog posts aren’t where we currently are in the renovation process, I’ve been taking pictures and videos as we go and it makes me giddy that I get to share them with you here.