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The Sipe Boys Can Do ItThe Sipe Boys House Moving & Demolition
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TEXAS MOVERV O L U M E 2 5 , I S S U E 2 • S U M M E R 2 0 1 1
8 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
When it came time for TheCatholic community of St. KatherineDrexel church to move to their 25acre site on the other side ofHempstead, Texas, they had to find amover to relocate their historicwooden church building which wasconstructed in 1892.
Gary, Clint and Jason Siperesearched the project and route andafter coordinating with the town ofHempstead Texas, the project began.
The Sipe Boys CanDoIt!
The Sipe BoysMoving & Demolition move historic church
Summer 2011 9
It was a church with a lot ofhistory, ornate painted ceilingsand stained glass windows andmany of the locals had been mar-ried in the church so great careand patience were needed to getthis building loaded and transport-ed along its 4 mile route to theother side of town.
Loaded height on this buildingwas 32 ft., width was 44 ft andlength was just 55 ft. It was crossloaded with 8x8 along with 6x6beams.
Many of the localshad been married in this historicchurch, so great care and patiencewere needed . . .
10 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
It took about three months for theCity of Hempstead electric to orderand install specialized 60-ft. phonepoles and restring wires on the overheight poles along the route in orderto maintain continuous servicethroughout the entire electric grid inthe town so that the nursing homes,banks, grocery stores and countyoffices were not with out power.(Hempstead is the county seat forWaller County).
It took about threemonths for the cityto order and installspecialized 60-ft.power poles andrestring lines alongthe entire route.
A daylight move was approved byTxDot and the City of Hempstead. Thisdistrict was usually night time move-ment only and we were going right pastthe district office. City utility buckettrucks were used to help raise wiresalong the route. This was a slow tediousprocess waiting for the bucket trucks toraise the lines, pulling ahead and thenwaiting for them to raise the wires againand then waiting for the next set ofwires to be raised. We'd done this beforeand it is time consuming. It probablywould have been worse if the tallerphone poles weren't provided!
Summer 2011 11
City utility buckettrucks were used toraise wires along the route . . .a slow and tediousprocess.
12 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
Summer 2011 13
It was a perfect sunny day and forg-ing through the small Texas townwith a very large church drew a lotof folks out on the streets to waveand shout support. Most of the townknew “The Sipe Boys.” We werelocal movers and the boys werealways with their daddy movinghouses when they were very youngand all knew how much they lovedwhat they did.
Most of the townknew the “Sipe Boys” andcame out to watch.
14 TEXAS MOVER • texashousemovers.com
"The Sipe Boys" left to right - Jason, Clint and Gary in their tandem trucks ready to move anywhere in texas!
We pulled it with our 465-horse power 18-speeddouble frame tandemMack truck and used ourhydraulic steering dolliesto keep the load level andmaneuver around a 45degree turn. Clint was incharge of the steering ofthe dollies, he walked theentire route!
The Sipe Boys HouseMoving and Demolition
P.O. Box 1694Waller, Texas 77484713.672.1797
Summer 2011 15
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800- 308-9059 • 502-896-1117 • Fax 502-896-1113
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Special subscription rate for FIRST TIMEsubscribers
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House MovingMUSEUM
Fort Worth, Texas
Antique Truck
The museum could use some more dollies and especially the bunkon top of the dollies, original oak jack handles and help getting arti-facts transported across your state and headed to the museum.Tax deduction needed? You may qualify because the House
Moving Museum is a recognized 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.Therefore, all items delivered to the museum at the owner’s cost canbe appraised and a tax credit certificate issued. Call for details.
Call H.D. SnowOffice: 817-439-1999 • Home: 817-439-1212
During the process of loading thechurch, our daughter, Katie, had beenlife-flighted to Herman Hospital aftershe had fallen off her horse and hadbeen in ICU for several weeks.
The priest from the church and manyparishioners prayed for her and saidMass for her recovery. It gave specialmeaning to the movement of theirchurch.
Katie made a full recovery!
It took about five hours to get thechurch to its new location and all ofthe crews involved gave a cheer whenit made its last turn onto the churchproperty. It sits there today as a prayerchapel in all its antiquity and splendor.
