Six Days Away From The Big House Move!
It is overdue time for an update! To say things are moving along is an understatement! We have been planning and working hard on this project for over 2 years now! There have been breaks here and there as everything comes together, but these last 4 weeks have really taken off.
The Move to Nebraska
We finally made our big move with the family back to Nebraska the last week of June. We have been blessed to be renting a beautiful old home that my mother-in-law owns in Orleans. Our original plans were to move into one of her other rental spaces in Alma, but it ended up needing more work than expected and wasn’t quite ready for us when we arrived. So the first month in Nebraska we stayed with her - three kids (one on the way), dog, cat, and all. The chickens made themselves at home out at Papa JJ’s farm. We spent time at my mom’s during this time as well. Turns out, this house is perfect long-term temporary space for us. Worth the wait!
Dates are Chosen!
Just about 4 weeks ago now we had a planning call with everyone involved in the house move process - Our power company, Nebraska Department of Transportation, the house movers, and myself. We went over all the move details, determined what still needed coordinated, and picked a date to move forward with. A two to three day move October 4th, 6th, and 7th!
I got busy right away with my to-do list to have everything ready for the big move days. Not only are we coordinating the actual moving of the house, but also the building of the new foundation that the house will sit on when it reaches its final destination on the land. Once the dates were picked, everything took off!
Preparing the House and The Construction
We went out to mark off the driveway and had our dirt work guy come in to make it functional for the construction. He also began digging out our walkout basement. We had recently received the official title of the land as proud and extremely blessed owners of almost 10 acres! I’ll share about our beautiful piece of land in a different post.
With that, the basement crew got to work pouring our foundation walls. I worked closely with them to determine what the existing house needed for support and how exactly we wanted the walkout to be designed. We have chosen to make part of the basement a garage space, the rest an eventual living area. The walkout wall includes an automotive garage door, walk-in door to the garage, patio door, and large window. There is one egress window where a future bedroom space will go in the basement as well.
Once the walls were poured, we met with the plumbers to discuss rough-in plumbing needs and where the septic field will go. After the plumbing is roughed-in, the basement floor will be poured this week. Our carpenter will then install basement wall supports, making the foundation ready for the house to sit.
The girls are loving climbing all over the dirt mountain. They even read a story with Auntie at the top. They will be so sad when it has to go!
Max, my mother-in-law, and her special friend Terry have been helping to prepare the house for the move as well. Boy, we’d be in a pickle without all their hard work and help so far! Max has spent many long hours stripping the walls of plaster and lathe. Terry spent a long weekend helping us remove the three large chimneys from the house. We all helped carry out loads of bricks, which we of course kept to repurpose on some project down the road! Running out of time, Max solicited the help of brothers, sister, and friends to get the last of the plaster and lathe out. We provided beer and pizza for their efforts! We are grateful that they were able to help us get it all out before the house movers begin work lifting the house this week, as it was needed to reduce the load weight of the home for transport.
The House Move
After finalizing our move route and dates, we needed to coordinate further with two major internet companies as we will pass their lines going through Alma along the route. I will admit, one company has been a bit more challenging to work with, as we had been warned and well-wished on our efforts to work with them several times by many others. With the move dates and goal in mind, we persisted, and, despite the hefty price tag, we received their word that they would accommodate our move. I later heard that there have been large loads ready to transport along this same route held up for nearly a month, rumor has it, due to this company. Though it has been a challenge to stomach their requirements, the person we eventually made contact with to help us pass this line (contracted by the main company) has been very kind. And hearing the rumor about the other large loads being delayed proves to me God really has his hand on this project!
We have also been coordinating with the Harlan County Sheriff’s Department to escort our move down the stretch of our route south on major HWY 183, as well as Nebraska Public Power for their line crossings on route. With lots of hard work, everything has come together so well so far. We are scheduled for everyone to be on our final move planning call the morning of October 1st - 2 power companies, the house mover, local sheriff’s department, 2 internet companies, Nebraska Department of Transportation, County Roads Department and ourselves all working together. We have also planned to get some really cool drone video footage of the different phases of the move. Woo! How exciting!
Needless to say, we have started writing our first really big checks. We had a small hiccup with our loan approval process, but our bank has been very good to us in sorting that all out. At this point, everything is on track and the ole Ragan House will make her maiden voyage in just 6 days. What an exciting and humbling test of faith this has been already! And we are just getting started. :)
