Barge floats 2-story home from Washington to Canada

HUNTS POINT, Wash. -- Rolling the waterfront house onto a barge on Lake Washington took slightly more than 20 minutes. The home's maritime trip to British Columbia is taking a bit longer.

In an effort to preserve a spectacular home at a bargain price, a Canadian family is moving the 3,360-square-foot, two-story house from this suburb east of Seattle to Vancouver Island.

The former owners bought the house and property for $9.4 million, according to property records, but they wanted only the 44,000-square-foot lot.

So they contacted Nickel Bros. House Moving, which then listed the home for $335,000 -- including the cost of the move.

"This saves 200 tons of waste that would go into a landfill," said Jeff McCord, sales representative for Nickel Bros.

After weeks of planning and preparation, crews emptied the Tudor-style house, except for kitchen fixtures and a hot tub. They rolled the home onto the barge Tuesday, and the structure started its slow trip to Canada and its new owners, Tim and Jennifer O'Farrell.

"This is a good deal," Jennifer O'Farrell said. "If I were to build this house, it would be a minimum of twice as much."

The home was built in 1979 and features leaded windows and hand-carved moldings.

The house was floated across Lake Washington, then through the Ballard Locks and out through Puget Sound. It crossed the border around noon Wednesday and safely reached its destination Thursday.