700 bars of Ivory soap used to move historic hotel

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Story here.

As Sheldon Rushton prepared to move a 440,000-pound building earlier this month, he realized he was missing a crucial piece of equipment: soap.

Rushton’s construction company had been tasked with moving a nearly 200-year-old Canadian building a few feet to make space for a new apartment complex. Construction workers dug under the building and inserted more than a dozen steel beams for support. The company brought a tow truck and two excavators to move the structure.

But the building wouldn’t budge until it became slippery with soap...

Halifaxs-Elmwood-buildin.jpeg

"We might have [gotten] away with a little bit less, but we weren't pushing our luck"

...To help complete the project, Rushton’s wife, Leanne, went to 15 stores to buy every bar she could find of Ivory soap, the brand Rushton said is the softest. It took four days and more than $970, but by last week, Rushton’s crew had 700 bars of soap to unpackage and place under the building...
 
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It Floats

Story here.

As Sheldon Rushton prepared to move a 440,000-pound building earlier this month, he realized he was missing a crucial piece of equipment: soap.

Rushton’s construction company had been tasked with moving a nearly 200-year-old Canadian building a few feet to make space for a new apartment complex. Construction workers dug under the building and inserted more than a dozen steel beams for support. The company brought a tow truck and two excavators to move the structure.

But the building wouldn’t budge until it became slippery with soap...

Halifaxs-Elmwood-buildin.jpeg

"We might have [gotten] away with a little bit less, but we weren't pushing our luck"

...To help complete the project, Rushton’s wife, Leanne, went to 15 stores to buy every bar she could find of Ivory soap, the brand Rushton said is the softest. It took four days and more than $970, but by last week, Rushton’s crew had 700 bars of soap to unpackage and place under the building...

Ivory Soap, “It Floats”.
👍👍
 
We went on a 125 mile canoe trip, paddling and portaging in the Canadian wilderness. Ivory was the only soap we were allowed to bring to take a bath in the lakes. Apparently it's ecologically safe to use. AND it's 99.9% pure. No one knows pure what, though.

At camp we have three different kinds of soap in the shower.
Over winter close up
Mice ate over half the bar of ivory but left the coast and zest alone. I assume it must be the only edible one.
 
I think first batch was made by accident.
Night worker got drunk and fell asleep .
Left it in mixer to long.
 
Also in the article:
Although moving a building with soap might sound novel, the idea isn’t new. The Utah Department of Transportation applied about 16 gallons of Dawn dish soap earlier this year to shift a bridge 110 feet. Construction crews in Missouri also used dish soap to slide a bridge in 2016.
And a commenter on the original WaPo story claimed: "National Cathedral uses it as a marble polish"
 
Perhaps they can salvage the soap and pass it to the homeless. Little dirt mixed in with it won’t hurt
 
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