With soap... moving a huge building in Canada

2023-12-18 2023-12-18T05:03:07Z

ArabiaWeather - Earlier this month, workers from a Canadian construction company succeeded in moving a building that is more than 200 years old, weighing 440,000 pounds (about 200,000 kilograms), using hundreds of bars of soap, according to a report published by the Washington Post. American.

Sheldon Rushton's construction company was tasked with moving this building, which is located in the city of Halifax, the capital of the province of Nova Scotia in southeastern Canada. Construction workers dug under the building and placed more than ten steel beams for support. They also prepared a tow truck and two excavators to move the building from its original location. .

Moving a huge building in Canada with soap

To make the mission a success, Rushton's wife, Leanne, toured 15 stores with the aim of buying as many bars as possible of Ivory soap, which Rushton described as "the softest". This effort lasted for four days, and involved a cost of more than $970, until Rushton's team obtained 700 bars of soap and placed them under the building.

Rushton, 67, told The Washington Post:

“We could have done the job with less soap.” After the soap helped make the steel beams slide smoothly down the building last week, the building was moved several meters to pave the way for a new residential complex.

Although the idea of moving a building using soap may seem new, this approach is not unique. The Utah Department of Transportation used about 16 gallons of liquid soap earlier this year to move a 110-foot-long bridge. Construction crews have In Missouri the same way to move a bridge in 2016.

Moving a historic building with soap

The skills of Sheldon Rushton, who considers himself a “soap mover,” have demonstrated his effectiveness in moving buildings with soap. In this context, Rushton said that he has moved buildings using soap many times in the past, noting that small buildings “only need between 20 and 40 A piece of soap". However, the last building, known as the Elmwood Building in Halifax, was the heaviest in its five decades of operation.

The Elmwood Building was built in 1826 as a hotel before being converted into a residential building in recent years, according to Canadian Radio, and Rushton was concerned about the relocation, as he was not sure how long it would take to complete it safely.

After digging underground, construction workers installed 85-foot-long steel beams to support the building, and added additional beams to increase stability. When the building was ready to slide, Rushton chose to use Ivory soap, explaining that it interacts well with the steel beams to achieve a smooth slide. The importance of using “fresh soap” to ensure the effectiveness of the process, as old soap is less able to decompose.

Although workers were tired of opening soap wrappers, the results were successful, as the building was successfully moved 15 feet back by a tow truck and excavators.

After taking a short break, the crew placed approximately 235 additional bars of soap in the final batch, and within a few hours, they successfully moved the building an additional 15 feet.

When the crew finished putting away their equipment, the workers decided to keep some of the remaining 25 pieces of soap as souvenirs, which they took home. At the end of his talk to the American newspaper, Rushton added with a touch of humor:

“We all smelled good when we left the work site.”