There's No Place Like Home: Man Relocates Entire House On Neville Island
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NEVILLE ISLAND (KDKA) -- As the old saying goes, there's no place like home for the holidays. But a man on Neville Island had to go through a lot of work just to get his home before the holiday.
It was the talk of the island on Tuesday, drawing a lot of sightseers -- a house that was on the move.
"How often do you get a chance to see a house coming down a road?" said Jack Boss, a neighbor.
And what a sight it was. A big house located on Front River Road, lifted completely off the ground to head to its new location.
"The people that built the house took their time, built a very nice house. But they outgrew it and needed to move out," said neighbor Dorothy Antonelli.
The original homeowner moved next door, with plans to demolish the old place. But then she ran into John Goldie, who lives just down the road.
"She said, 'And then we're gonna tear it down.' And I said, 'I'll buy it off you.' She said, 'you don't understand. We don't want anyone living there.' And I said, 'No, I'll buy it and move it.' She said, 'John, if you take it off the lot, you can have it.' So she gave me the house," said Goldie.
It was all Goldie's -- free of charge. It was just a matter of moving it someplace else. He called a company that specializes in lifting homes onto steel beams.
"Once everything's set up, we just start with a unified system, lift it a foot at a time, set it back down, re-set our jacks, go up another foot and just repeat that process until it's up in the air," said Steve Dziuba, of DB Movers.
Utility workers spent the morning taking down wires. At one point, the side of the house snagged one of them. But the move kept going.
"I just can't believe everyone's moving away. No, it's beautiful," Boss said. "Unbelievable what we can do today… today's abilities to do things. Unbelievable."
Goldie paid all the moving expenses.
"I got a $400,000 home for $100,000, $110,000. Couldn't beat it," he said.
As for Goldie's plans for his newly-placed pad?
"I'm gonna live in it. I own the house next door. My mother's gonna live there, and my daughter lives there. It's a big house. And I'm gonna live next door. Hopefully, everything works out. It's beautiful down here on the river," he says.
Call it a new location for island living.
