Frozen in Ice Castle ideas?

[Up Y'oars]

Hopefully, your friend was smart enough to block the house up on wood before leaving it sit. Right? If so, then just getting that bottom area chipped out. Forget about the amount of ice on the interior. Like Allen said, use the water pressure to melt the ice with 3/4" hose and a nozzle added to the force of a few ice chippers to bust out the frame from the ice underneath.

Use the heaters on the inside to get all of the walls warm. Maybe some hatchets or axes??

Winch the house forward and only then hitch it up to a vehicle.

You don't want that thing going thru and paying to have it removed commercially. $$$$

 

[Allen]

At a minimum, I would recommend getting the snow removed from the ice surface for 30-50 yards around the sunken shack. Once the weight of all that snow is off the ice the buoyancy of ice should help it rebound upwards to help prevent the ice thickness holding the thing down from getting any worse.

 

[Davey Crockett]

For around the outside, You can chop ice faster with less effort with a sharp axe than a chisel

 

[ndlongshot]

How thick is the ice? Chainsaw around the entire house so its a floating ice cube. Maybe a little extra behind the house for some wiggle room, like the size of a spear hole. Hook onto the hitch with a tractor/farm hand and a chain and lift front up and try and get edge of ice on top and yank the whole thing out with tractor/more trucks tow straps. Not sure if a typical tractor/bobcat could lift the tongue weight but you think it would be close?

Disclaimer: this situation will bring out peoples craziest dumbass ideas, but anything is worth a shot at this point.

 

[PrairieGhost]

A few years back many people got caught out on the ice around Jamestown. I remember one photo on the front page of the local paper. A skid stear was lifting at one end and a John Deer with farmhand was lifting on a chain. They had sawed all the way around it after they got it chained up. Looked like a worse accident waiting to happen. I guess they got it out and it had two feet of ice on the inside. I only left my Ice Castle out overnight one time.

 

[ndlongshot]

A few years back many people got caught out on the ice around Jamestown. I remember one photo on the front page of the local paper. A skid stear was lifting at one end and a John Deer with farmhand was lifting on a chain. They had sawed all the way around it after they got it chained up. Looked like a worse accident waiting to happen. I guess they got it out and it had two feet of ice on the inside. I only left my Ice Castle out overnight one time.

SOOOO, YOU ARE TELLING ME THERE IS A CHANCE?:;:rockit

 

[Opie11]

Wow PG! That does sound a little scary! We had a skid steer with a blower out yesterday just to get to it. Wish I would have thought to clear the ice back a good distance. Will have to do that I'm thinking to keep the water from pushing up through so bad. I don't know if I trust my math enough to calculate the size of ice cube that would need to be cut out to ensure that it still floats!

 

[pluckem]

I think I would take a mixture of the advice above.

I would focus on what you can control for now... the snow. Still to cold to mess with the ice. Move snow and blow snow to get it cleared off as much as you can. Wait for the temps that will start to melt the ice on its own. With the weight of the house putting pressure on the ice and the sides of the house reflecting the radiant heat from the sun, the area around the house will thaw before the ice sheet.

When that day comes crank the heat on inside the house. Drill holes all around the house as deep as the frame is sitting (you said 12"?). Chip out the edges of the round hole and basically form a moat around the outside of the house. Get some pumps to circulate the warmer water on the south side of the house to the shaded north side and just let it go.

Warm water will eat ice away a lot faster than any torch or convection method

 

[Tikka280ai]

Holy buckets!


I've never seen one in that far. About the only advice I would have is to use water to free it. Yeah, it sounds counter-intuitive, but wait until there's a relatively warm day (thinking next weekend here) where air temps are in the upper 20s or 30s. Take a generator and a couple of sump pumps with garden hoses. Drill a couple holes for putting the sump pumps down into the lake and use the "warm" water of the lake (try taking water from several feet below the ice) and use it to melt the ice holding the shack down. This WILL take some time!

Running water will eat away at the ice and if you do it on a day where the air temps are high enough you should be able to free the frame and sides of the Ice Castle. You will also probably want to drill a couple holes nearby to let the excess water you are pumping up onto the lake surface to drain back below the ice.

This would be a hell of a mess, but it is the only thing I can think of at this point. I am guessing that on a "nice" day, this will take 4-8 hours of work to free it up. As for the initial tow, I would suggest a vehicle with a winch sitting at a decent distance maintaining a steady bind on the hitch/frame to where once it comes loose you will see it move.

Note, as you have already noticed, chiseling a sunken ice house out when water is able to find a way to come up through cracks/hole in the ice is a losing proposition at these temps and your current situation.

I'd be very interested in how this all works out for you and your bud!


Note, ignore the ice inside the shack except for where it is holding the castle down like around the holes. Actually, I think I'd drill the holes out and let them serve as the drains! And remember, you will be working in 18" of standing water by the sounds of it. The trick here is to just let moving water do the work for you.

I was going to suggest a couple gas pressure washers with jet nozzles to get a more pinpoint water jet but using water sounds like the best idea too me

 

[BrokenBackJack]

I feel for the guy. Glad it is not mine or me trying to get it out.

 

[Sum1]

So it’s sitting in about a foot of ice???

 

[espringers]

DO NOT DRILL HOLES ANYWHERE AROUND IT FOR ANY REASON! Been in this situation with a friend's and I think it's the one thing that prevented us from getting it off and having to light a match. I agree with waiting til it warms up. It will be sitting in water. But you might be able to sump pump that water far enough away to free it as it melts. Gather a gas pump, a lot of hose and wait til shit starts melting.

 

[SDMF]

Could a person use a chainsaw 3-6” away from the house and essentially make a “chip-strip” around the house that’s easier for a spud bar to break bigger chunks at a time away from the house? Going down in “layers” as needed?

 

[Davey Crockett]

Sounds like it would work dandy.

 

[limit2winit]

I would suggest this. let er eat

https://www.acmerents.com/equipment.asp?action=category&category=242&key=1307

 

[257Bob]

Genny, air compressor and a jackhammer if you're looking at chipping it out.

 

[1bigfokker]

Cutting it out, a cubic foot of ice weighs about 60 pounds. You do the math as to how thick the ice and LxW of house.

 

[Reprobait]

About 45 years ago I witnessed a guy shoot a smaller fish house out with a 7mm mag. There still was chopping to be done. Can't say I would recommend it.

 

[Riggen&Jiggen]

Clear the snow at least 30ft around the house. Wait for warm day 20+. Put heat in house like at 90 the night before. Come back the next morning with truck with chains on tires, strong tow rope, 6 jacks, 2 chain saws, pry bars, propane heaters and hot water pressure washer if you access to one. Use the chain saw to cut the ice a few inches below the frame so you have acces to start getting under the house. From their it is all chipping ice or melting it with pry bars, heaters and/or hot water pressure washer. Once you get a foot or so under the house start applying pressure with jack and continue to repeat process. I would not wait to long as the ice will continue to sink in that area causing more icing in. Good luck.

 

[Miller Time]

I ran into this situation with my buddies house a few years ago after it fell through the ice. It froze with only a few inches of water in the floor but we left it for about a month to let the ice get thicker around it. When we came back we ended up with chainsaws, air chisels, spud bars, and handy man jacks. We chipped all around the house as much as we could bring very careful not to punch through the ice or it will flood and you will be back to square one. We used the auger a lot to get under the house and make room for the handyman to sit below the level of the ice. We were able to eventually lift a few inches then block it. We repeated this until we had it on top of the ice and were able to hook onto it. We attempted to pry with the jack from the ends of the house but started to bend the frame. Once we got under the middle of the house it popped free. I can try and attach some pictures of our experience.