largest skiddable structure/like an A-frame house?

also didnt... there used to be a sub-forum for skiddable structure on here?  <_<  >_>  i'd swear I remembered one...

Anyway...

I'm wondering what kind of loads are placed upon a skiddable structure or whether additional temporary or permanent bracing should be built into a structure if you're designing it to be on skids.

Also if there is a size and weight where being skiddable becomes unfeasible.  Including ways to maybe try to calculate how much pulling force you'd need to move it even just as a guesstimate - to get an idea of what weight of structure could be moved by a utility tractor or diesel pickup of a given size let alone up any kind of even minor grade...

My specific plans are I would like to build an A-framed house maybe 20x24 feet or so, i've no clue what that would end up weighing, but i'm wondering if that's starting to get too large to skid around with a diesel pickup or couple ton sized farm/utility tractor/skid steer.  I'm realizing the best way to get into a tiny house ASAP is to build it as near the road on mostly uncleared land I just would have bought by then - with a plan in 1-5 years afterwards to hopefully clear trees for a roadway, clear an area for the house, and then drag it back there with a 3/4 ton Cummins diesel.

If skidding wouldn't be possible, my plan B would be to structurally design the house to more easily be jacked up to put some kind of DIY rolling dollies under each point.

Most of the skiddable structure discussions I have seen have been in the Wheaton Labs forum.

https://permies.com/f/102/labs

I have lived near a guy who built buildings about the size you are talking about to be delivered to "your lot".

I have also watched house movers at work several times.

So I feel your plan is quite doable.

You have a lot of great ideas, I hope you find your land soon so you can implement these ideas.

I would agree, it's totally do-able. But consider:
How big a building you could skid around, would depend on how you built, it wouldn't it?
For instance: spruce wood instead of oak - wall studs on 24 inch centers, instead of 16 inch... etc.

What would you make your skids out of?
You will want to avoid long term contact with the ground once you get it moved - so you will have to jack it up and put blocks (or something) under it.

In my area you can buy used mobile home axles. People often take them off their mobile homes when they set them on foundations.
Also I some times see whole mobile home frames for sale fairly cheep - where some one has wrecked the mobile home and is trying to sell the frame. You could essentially build your own mobile home. Since you are not moving it far, you don't have to worry about normal height and width restrictions. I like "A" frames, but you might also look at "D" frames, as I think you get more usable space.
Here is a picture of a camper trailer frame for sale for $800. USD.

"How do you eat an elephant?" "One bite at a time."
The alternative, is to carry all the materials to the "future house site" to begin with. No need to skid it. No need to clear a road, if you can walk there, wheelbarrow, cart, ATV... you can get the material there.
20' x 24' wouldn't require much clearing to begin, and could be opened up later once you have a house. (assuming you won't drop a tree on it.)
Also a pile of building material at the roadside is an attractive thing for thieves, if you aren't there 24/7 to keep an eye on it.  Something to consider if you get your materials delivered would be to get it moved to the site right away.

Most structures that are skiddable are much narrower than 20 ft. A legal "wide load" is considered 12 1/2 ft where I used to live. Yes, we do have a specialty house moving company where I currently live, but there's a lot of hoops to jump through to do it, so most of the houses get barged to very near a water location.

So if you build it 20 ft wide, you will need a cleared road wider than that to safely move it further back on the property.  Trailer park type houses that are double width are designed to be built in two halves and joined once they arrive at their permanent location. They don't generally take them apart and move them again, probably due to the cost involved.

If I was planning something along these lines, I think I'd aim for 12 feel wide max, and build two with a covered area between them. When I moved them to their permanent home, I'd infill permanently between them.

As mentioned up thread, I'd be inclined to build vertical walls and a roof for several reasons: 1. I've been told there's a lot of head bonking that happens in A-frames. 2. Living with a very steep roof, something less steep is safer to maintain. 3. I'm not convinced they're any easier to build than a traditional shape.

A skid-able structure needs an incredibly robust foundation. Even more so if the move is on uneven ground. If you end up with a pile of kindling, you are not farther ahead. It's better IMO to set up the foundation and skid in the materials.

I don't know your location. One thing I've noted is that skidding structures on frozen ground, with a layer of snow/ice as lubricant, is a helluva lot easier.

Brian, can we go back using first principles?
What are you actually trying to achieve?
- a habitable small house
- a building project
- a headache.
Knowing what the desired outcome is, the path to fruition may be clearer than it is to myself.

I have acquaintances who lived in a yurt. It was major work building a platform for it to sit on, and they had to do so twice as the first platform wasn't built in a way that it could be disassembled when they needed to move their yurt. They *much* preferred their yurt  than living in a travel trailer.

Yurts were designed for a specific climate. Consider the climate you decide to build in, and then decide the best materials to choose for the build.

They definitely have the advantage of being able to build many of the parts in a different location than where the assembly takes place.

Yurts were traditionally designed with a lot of outdoor living being part of the equation. That worked for my acquaintances, although they also got a car shelter for covered area for many tasks, as we live in a very wet climate all winter. Car shelters are very temporary structures due to both solar degradation and lately, our wet snow.  It becomes a cost/benefit/longevity balance.

Jay Angler wrote:I have acquaintances who lived in a yurt. It was major work building a platform for it to sit on, and they had to do so twice as the first platform wasn't built in a way that it could be disassembled when they needed to move their yurt.

Yurts were designed for a specific climate. Consider the climate you decide to build in, and then decide the best materials to choose for the build.

Yurts were traditionally designed with a lot of outdoor living being part of the equation. That worked for my acquaintances, although they also got a car shelter for covered area for many tasks, as we live in a very wet climate all winter. Car shelters are very temporary structures due to both solar degradation and lately, our wet snow.  It becomes a cost/benefit/longevity balance.

Cost/benefit/longevity is literally 100% of my ever changing analysis.  I don't have the money to properly do anything anymore and I will be started with either limited access to things like any heavier equipment (although I eventually hope to build or own some) or finding commercial rates to rent and have equipment towed out to a rural area eating up too much of my budget.

I've learned the only thing I can do is stair steps, and as my understanding changes my plans change.  Something I wasn't aware of that could lower the barrier to entry even further, giving me 4 steps instead of two and a really low first step, etc.  The first step is just not paying rent in the city because $1000+ a month adds up and can pay for alot.  Keeping sanity is the second step because poverty wears you down in many ways - not feeling safe in the city (the place of minneapolis i'll be moving to next year there are gangs who openly in broad daylight shoot at people of my skin color and yet i'm going to have nowhere else to go if I want to continue college right now because rent elsewhere nearly doubled in the last 3 years), living in conditions you know are unhealthy (black mold issues where i'm staying now), but narrow small rooms where there's never enough room for anything also wear on you over multiple years.


I'm wanting to use something like those car shelters as a workshop, not one per se, but any of those buildings that are a soft sided tarp-like covering on a metal frame.  Legally they count as temporary buildings under property tax (reducing another burden) and i'd hope to repurpose it in the future but i've always been curious how long they can last.  Not a fan of a material so weak you could cut through with a bowie knife though i'll admit if i'm going to have power tools and such in there, I might need a separate storage something-or-other.

Brian, would you like to talk about you college syudy and what you hope to gain with it?
It sounds interesting the way you are moving around to complete it.

John C Daley wrote:Brian, would you like to talk about you college syudy and what you hope to gain with it?
It sounds interesting the way you are moving around to complete it.

Short version - acupuncture and chinese herbs.  It's not just about having an income but also about helping people.  I'm determined to learn this even if I end up moving and staying in a more rural area after learning in the big city, because everyone needs medical care sooner or later and i've seen this save lives.  I've seen it treat appendicitis twice, a practitioner I know used it to turn a breech baby when someone couldn't be rushed to normal medical care, I watched it treat 'covid19' because doctors I was talking to literally were talking to doctors in china successfully using it to treat people there when it first broke out, it's got answers that western medicine at times doesn't have, or when it isn't available, or when you can't get to it in time.

There's no point moving out into a rural area and being one of those "Forced to sell - medical issues" prepper types that i've seen over and over and over set up the perfect away-from-everyone retreat and once theyre in retirement age, guess what?  They're in assisted living or a nursing home, because theyre too messed up to stay at home.  They may not need round the clock medical care, in a rural area in a community people can help each other to make up some of those needs, but everyone gets infections, gets farming injuries, eventually has to manage some chronic condition even if not forever but until you can get off the pills, and i've seen this do miracle after miracle after miracle WHEN done by the most competent people.  (which is not the average acupuncturist, and certainly not the person saying "we do chiropractic AND acupuncture!" when chiros can hang that shingle after 150 hours training and TCM doctors need 3000 hours training, it's not even in the same league what i'm talking about)


If it's ONLY money I could do other things but i'm determined to learn this including because it's the only thing that ever helped a number of health conditions ive dealt with over the years which even other alternative medicine practices could not help.  I just don't want my lady having to live in an urban warzone while I try to finish out grad school.  :-/  I also don't want her so far away that I can't visit her 2-3 times a month or i'll go batty.

So just being super rural and poor and doing some online income whatever wont really cut it.

Brian, an interesting career planned because you have had the benefits of the treatment yourself.
Keeping  to the clear salient points,  it seems you need affordable housing you can share with a partner.