Kepley Construction Company moves brick house from Salisbury to China Grove

Sunday, January 18, 2009 3:10 AM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

By Sarah Nagem

snagem@salisburypost.com

This takes "wide load" to a different level entirely.

Kepley Construction Co. maneuvered a one-story brick house from Salisbury to the China Grove area on Tuesday.

The feat caused some traffic delays, but someone's new home made it safely to its new foundation, Kay Kepley said.

The Kepley company bought the house with the intention of selling it where it sat in Cornelius.

"We couldn't sell it down there, so we brought it here and sold it," Kepley said.

All 80,000 pounds of it.

About a month and a half ago, workers moved the house from Cornelius to a temporary spot on Sherills Ford Road.

A family became interested in the house but wanted to retire in China Grove, Kepley said. So the company agreed to move it there.

The process of moving an entire house might seem unfathomable. But not to Kepley, whose company moves a house every two weeks or so.

"It's fairly easy," she said.

Workers used a sledgehammer to knock out the foundation under the house, Kepley said. Then they put blocks and steel beams under the house. They jacked up the whole thing and hooked the beams to a device that attached to a truck.

A driver made his way down Mooresville Road to Jake Alexander Boulevard, then on to N.C. 152 and Castor Road.

Kepley said company drivers try to be considerate of others on the road and let vehicles that aren't hauling houses pass them by.

But the site inevitably attracts attention.

"We're used to it by now," Kepley said.