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--- writing:deconstruction [2026/06/18 17:20] – JacobCoffinWrites
+++ writing:deconstruction [2026/07/04 22:04] (current) – [House Shifting - Building Salvage Without Deconstruction] JacobCoffinWrites
@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 If a building is in good shape, and is a design suitable for relocation, its possible to save even more labor and energy and simply [[https://www.dalbyremovalhomes.com.au/2025/12/22/eco-friendly-removal-homes/|move the entire structure]]. This would be useful in any circumstance where the structure itself isn't the problem - perhaps it's just sitting on a floodplain, in a predicted wildfire zone, or in the way of a new train route or on a spot where denser housing could be constructed. This practice isn't unique to Australia, but it seems to be more established there than anywhere else I've seen. They have [[https://houseremovalandrecycling.blogspot.com/2011/02/house-storage-yards-good-bad-and-ugly.html?m=1|entire lots]] for what they call Relocatable or [[https://drakeremovalhomes.com.au/what-is-a-removal-home/|Removal homes]], essentially functioning as a thrift store for old houses. Rows of Queenslanders, Colonials, and postwar houses, each up on jacks, sit in jumbled rows waiting to be bought and relocated to a new site.
 {{:writing:img_4861.jpg?200&direct}} {{:writing:img_4860.jpg?200&direct}} {{:writing:img_4866.jpg?200&direct}} {{:writing:img_4863.jpg?200&direct}} {{:writing:img_4864.jpg?200&direct}} {{:writing:img_4862.jpg?200&direct}}
 [[https://www.queenslandhouseremovers.com.au/understanding-the-house-removal-process-a-comprehensive-guide/|This process]] looks something like this:
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 **Shifting Houses by Airship**
-It's also worth noting that transporting this type of bulky cargo overland is the exact type of work modern [[https://www.flying-whales.com/en/home/|'flying crane']] airships propose to take on. It would take quite a bit of preparation (including inspections, structural improvements, jacking it up off the foundation and attaching it to a special platform or frame), but it's possible that these airships could transport suitable buildings the same way they propose to transport wind turbine blades, by lifting them by the winch and caring them along outside the ship just under the keel. This might even simplify the shifting process - the frame would still have to be supported from underneath, but buildings transported by air might need far less disassembly, and structures which weren't suitable for piecemeal transportation on a truck might do fine when lifted as one big, intact piece. This could mean that a solarpunk society could relocate more buildings than we can today.
+It's also worth noting that transporting this type of bulky cargo overland is the exact type of work modern [[https://www.flying-whales.com/en/home/|'flying crane']] airships propose to take on. It would take quite a bit of preparation (including inspections, structural improvements, jacking it up off the foundation and attaching it to a special platform or frame), but it's possible that these airships could transport suitable buildings the same way they propose to transport other bulky cargoes, by lifting them up on cables until they're inside the cargo hold.  This might even simplify the shifting process - the frame would still have to be supported from underneath, but buildings transported by air might need far less disassembly, and structures which weren't suitable for piecemeal transportation on a truck might do fine when lifted as one big, intact piece. This could mean that a solarpunk society could relocate more buildings than we can today.
+A suitable airship might look a bit like the [[https://www.flying-whales.com/en/the-lca60t/|LCA60T]], with a shorter, wider cargo hold. The current design is optimized for wind turbine parts, modular buildings, shipping containers, log timber, and other cargoes with a similar form factor, but the structure/shape of the hold could vary somewhat as long as the volume remains the same. The LCA60T has a planned payload of 60 tons, the average stick frame house minus its foundation [[https://www.eng-tips.com/threads/how-much-does-a-residential-house-weigh.463864/|appears to clock in around 155 pounds per square foot]] so if I did my math right a two story house that absolutely fills the hold (with a footprint around 776 square feet) would weigh just a little more than max payload (60.14 tons) but realistically both would be reduced for practical reasons. Of course, the LCA60T isn't the ultimate possible airship - payload and hold size can both be scaled up with larger airships - there are several designs on the books which aren't intended for use as flying cranes which demonstrate a much larger capacity.
+The [[https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Lockheed-Martin_Ultra-large-rigid-hybrid-airships.pdf|Lockheed-Martin Rigid Airship concept]] from the 1990s and early 2000s had a cargo bay 250 feet by 260 feet, nearly square. It had a planned 500-ton payload but that's while using a mix of aerodynamic lift and buoyant lift (basically the whole structure is intended to glide like a plane while also floating from the lift gas). In slow moving flying crane operations, this would probably look more like a 200-300 ton payload while in VTOL.
+The [[https://lynceans.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Boeing-Megalifter.pdf|Boeing Megalifter concept from the 1970s]] had a cargo bay 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall, and about as long as the LCA60T’s. Its max payload was around 100 tons though again that includes aerodynamic lift. Without that, it's payload would be around 40-60% max.
 === Outcomes From House Shifting Becoming More Common ===