REMOVAL OF HOUSE

Southland Times, Issue 21854, 3 November 1932, Page 6

REMOVAL OF HOUSE

DIVIDED INTO SECTIONS. HAULAGE THROUGH STREETS. Considerable public interest has been shown this week in the removal in sections from its former location in Tweed street of a large wooden dwelling which is to be replaced by a more modem building. The house had 10 rooms and after being sold . for removal was cut into three sections each of which will ultimately become a separate dwelling, two being located at Oteramika Road and one at Otatara. The house was originally built about 30 years ago and, dating from the time when “timber was timber,” was in perfectly sound condition. Being of 12ft stud with a high roof, the removal of the house offered certain difficulties which, however, were readily overcome by the contractor, Mr R. D. Senior, with the aid of an experienced staff. Electricians, tramway employees and representatives of the Post and Telegraph Department attended each section on its journey through the streets drawn by a powerful traction engine to see that the overhead wiring was not fouled, and a member of the corporation engineering. staff was on hand to make sure that no damage was done to the footpath or road surfaces. The use of very wide rollers on the skids on which the house was mounted enabled the heavy weight of upwards of 13 tons to be hauled along the roads without damage, and the careful laying of planks on the footpaths allowed the load to be taken across and over the kerb without cracking the ashphalc or concrete. A great deal of manoeuvering was necessary to take the structure under the overhead tramway cables. The power wires had to be hoisted a considerable height above normal and held up on elevated extension ladders before the house, from which only chimneys had been removed, could pass underneath. The front portion of the building was conveyed to Oteramika road on Monday afternoon and the middle taken to Otatara on Tuesday, while the remaining section moved off for Oteramika road yesterday. Although sufficiently rare to cause a great deal of interest, removals of houses are apparently no great novelty in this part of the country, as Mr Senior states that he has supervised some 38 removals in the past 14 years.