The Excavation and Relocation of Shoenberg Garage

In April 2008, Ryberg Construction relocated the garage on Shoenberg Farms in Westminster, Colorado. The process took approximately one week to complete, working day and night to lift, move, excavate, and relocate the garage from the back of the main house to the right side of the main house. Hodge Williams was lucky enough to catch the process on video - you can watch the video here.

The video starts out on the evening of April 1, 2008, with the first major feats taking place beginning on the morning of the 2nd. Ernie Ryberg and his son handled the process of moving the garage while Hodge Williams videotaped from the back of his truck. The process involved excavating the area around the garage and jacking it up so that the massive structure could be put on the back of the construction company’s green Mack truck and then moved to the new foundation to the right of the main house.

The Process of Moving the Garage

To move the garage, Ryberg Construction had to dig around the existing foundation of the garage. Next, they would have to insert steel beams to jack up the structure. The process is intricate and requires precise timing to raise the garage slowly and level to avoid any damage to the structure. Once lifted, the structure is placed on the back of the truck and moved from the current site.

Next, Ryberg had to prepare the new location for the structure to be placed. In the video, you can see the excavation of the new area, to the right of the existing main house. Once ready for the garage, the driver spends approximately 31 minutes positioning the truck and the garage before backing it to where it will be lowered (still on the steel beams and jacked up) so that the new foundation can be built. Hodge Williams sped up this part of the footage by 700% to show the process of getting the garage to its new location.

Historic Landmark Board Meeting Notes

The notes from the Historic Landmark Board (HLB) meeting on June 6, 2017, detail a walkthrough completed by the board at Shoenberg Farms. While noting the features and condition of each of the current structures, they also notate the condition of the garage. They stated that historical artifacts were located at this time on the first floor of the garage and the second floor comprises a small apartment accessible by an exterior stairway on the north side of the building (which you can see in the video), but with the poor condition of the door, they were unsuccessful at touring it.