Piles of dirt have been growing outside the Dennis Calvin House today, as a crew from MCF House Movers prepares it to move next door, next week.
An anonymous donor from Peaceful Valley Heritage Inc. stepped in last month to save the house, once owned by a prominent Nashville family, from demolition. New land owners Bruce and Pam Gould plan to turn the lot at 167 E. Main St. into a parking lot while they decide what else to do with it, so the house had to go.
Additions built within the last few decades were removed last month, exposing the original log joists, the front and the back of the house to the elements.
Today, four men from MCF in Petersburg worked to clear most of the dirt out from under the house so that its foundation can be strengthened with steel beams.
Alex Deffendoll, son of 40-year company owner Mike Deffendoll, said he’s worked on structures in worse shape in his 10-plus years with the company, but because this one was covered up so much with the newer additions, they didn’t know what condition it was really in until now. It’s a little rougher than expected, but he was confident they’d get it stabilized and moved safely to the lot next door.
It will share space with the Barn Treasures tourist rental owned by Tonya Figg and Ted Deckard. That farmhouse, too, was moved at least once to make way for development in Nashville over the years.
“That’s probably the most common thing we move them for is historical purposes. That makes it worth doing,” Alex Deffendoll said.
To prepare the 100-plus-year-old Dennis Calvin house for its move, MCF workers were punching holes in the masonry foundation, then using a large metal sled on the front of a skid steer to dig the dirt and clay out from under the house. Two steel beams were being placed lengthwise, and several more will cross those to help hold the structure together from beneath.
By mid-afternoon, the whole house, which was built mostly on unstripped logs, was sitting on just a few piles of cement block at the corners and sides.
“The main beams are in a little bit of bad shape, so we’ll have to do some extra bracing, give it some extra care so it goes up all right,” Deffendoll said.
Once they get the rest of their equipment back from the home it’s currently sitting under in Kentucky, they’ll bring it to this work site. Then, they’ll use crib jacks and hydraulic house-moving dollies to raise and steer the home to its new resting place. A foundation will then be built for it, and this crew will return to place it on top, Deffendoll said.
If the crew were able to stay and get it all done now, it would take about a week, start to finish, to move it to its new spot, he said.
He expects the actual moving to take place late next week.
MCF moves about 20 structures a year, Deffendoll said. They also lift homes that are getting a basement put in or need structural repairs. There used to be many companies that did similar work, but most have gone out of business, he said.
“It’s hard work, there’s not a whole lot of business, and yeah, it’s expensive. Too nerve-wracking for me; it’s all I can do to handle it,” he said. “But he’s done it for so many years, it’s kind of second nature for him,” Deffendoll said, gesturing to his dad driving the skid steer.
“Besides being in bad shape, it’s a real good job,” he said about this project.
“Definitely nothing we can’t handle.”
