House moving: The ultimate recycling program

Jeff and Sherrill Bollen fell in love with their old house on East Sunny Sands Road.

Built in 1917 the house stood next to the road for over 90 years. The Bollens eventually purchased the house for salvage from the U.S. Corps of Engineers after the Corps decided they wanted the land for a dredge spoils dump site and purchased the house and land from David and Libby Whitney.

“It was my husband’s and my dream to have an old house on Puget Island,” said Sherrill,” and we hoped it would be something we could take our time to restore in a place we wanted to live.”

The idea of a project house didn’t seem too daunting. and the Bollens were comfortable with the idea of remodeling an old three-bedroom farm house, but like all things human, plans change, evolve and grow. And plans also often get entwined with feelings and emotions, which is what happened to Sherrill.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Sherrill. “We just drove by the old place and I fell in love with it, and my husband, kind and loving soul he is, agreed we should buy it.”

The Bollen plan included a small lot they had purchased on Ostervold Road over 20 years earlier. The conundrum, however, was how to get their salvage house from East Sunny Sands Road to Ostervold Road. What to do?

Because the Corps was going to burn the place down if they couldn’t find some one to move it, the decision was easy. So on October 7, starting at first light, Northwest Structural Moving pulled up to move the Bollen’s old farmhouse.

“It actually took Keith Settle and his crew three days of prep to get the house ready,” said Sherrill. "The crew wasn’t happy until they got the house off its old foundation and onto the pavement.”

The moving company picked the house up and towed it 5.7 miles down East Sunny Sands Road, north on SR 409 to West Little Island, then down to the Bollen’s lot on Ostervold Road.

“It was a glorious day,” Sherrill said, “the sun was shining, and the sky was piercing blue when the crew pulled up. They had the house loaded and chained to the bed of their truck in just a few hours. It was so cool!”

It was a long day for Wahkiakum’s PUD crew however. The crew disconnected and reconnected and/or moved over 47 power lines. The crew from Northwest Structural was tired as well after they had to lift, load, relocate and then unload a house that probably weighs over 50 tons. Not to mention removing tree limbs and sign posts along the route.

The house now sits on the Bollens' lot on Ostervold Road, stacked on cribbing left by the workers to support it while it waits for a new foundation.

Sherrill said she considers what she and her husband have done the ultimate recycling project.

“We call our new house ‘The Whitney’ house,” said Sherrill. “Probably the saddest part of the whole project is that her neighbors said they were sorry to see her go, yet happy we were saving her from a fiery end.”