Moving heavy infrastructure like buildings and bridges is a precise science involving modern technology, but it often incorporates a simple, low-tech solution.

A case in point was last December when Sheldon Rushton’s company in Halifax, Nova Scotia had to move a 200-tonne building just a few metres to make room for a new apartment complex.

After excavating, construction workers put nine 26-metre (85-foot) steel beams under the building to match its width. Underneath, they added eight more steel beams for extra support.

Once everything was in place, a tow truck and two excavators were brought in to push the structure backwards.

But the building wouldn’t budge. Rushton knew just what to do.

He and his wife, Leanne, went to 15 stores and bought up every bar they could find of Ivory soap, which Ruston says is the softest brand. After spending four days and $970 on the search, the construction chief had his crew unwrap 700 bars of soap and put them under the building.

If that sounds crazy, it’s not. Last year, the Utah Department of Transportation used 72 litres (16 gallons) of Dawn dish soap to shift a bridge 33 metres (110 feet). Missouri construction crews did the same to slide a bridge in 2016.

And Rushton says he’s used soap to move dozens of buildings. Small ones need only 20 to 40 bars, but the Halifax building was the heaviest he’s ever moved.

“It’s not something you want to pull fast or rough,” Rushton........

© Sarnia Observer