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Raising A House: Who Is It For?
Hello
I am trying to research the possibility of lifting a small home to build
the first story on the ground and set the existing home on top of it.
I thought this was an idea out of my own fantasies, but a relative (who is
a rocket scientist at NASA) said that this was the way that they
"raised" the roof in Seattle where he was an undergraduate
student.
Where would I find information on this...is this only done
professionally...?
Our house is a small rectangle shaped footprint about 900 square feet. I
think that a steel structure could be placed under the house and welded
together and lifted and supported ....and that the house could be
supported stably enough to work underneath.....and I may be crazy but why
not re-plumb the connections and live in the house while you build
underneath?
Do you know about this or where can I find out more about this?
Sincerely,
R. B.
This
is only done by professionals... and wacko engineer/builder/handymanly
people, such as myself.
Raising a house is not as difficult as some people make it out to be.
This is especially true for people with engineering and science degrees.
But my first question is: what are you trying to accomplish?
Are you looking for more living area? If so, then building a
second story on top of the existing structure is probably easier.
But the original structure may need some supplementing.
Do you want to replace a crawl space with a full basement? This
is a good reason to raise a house, as the height raised isn't that
great. The higher you lift, the fatter the supporting columns need to
be, and any lifting above the foundation requires some stable supporting
structures with a wide base, normally wood "cribbing". Lifting
over 8 feet may be beyond the skills of even experienced house
lifters/movers.
Is your house small, old and modest? A lot of old houses were
built just plain cheaply, especially the smaller ones. I've seen houses
where the studs were just short pieces scabbed together. I've seen
houses where the walls were solid 2x4's... just short off-cuts from
sawmills. My girlfriend just bought another house, an old small modest
(i.e. cheap junk) house. It was built in 1958 and has cinder block
walls. There is no basement, but a crawl space that is literally 2
inches high. I doubt there is any way a cinder block house could be
raised economically. We intend to demolish the thing soon. A lot of
smaller old houses just aren't worth saving because they were economy
houses when they were new... they took short cuts and it affects
everything.
Some small old houses are worth keeping, if they are framed properly
(i.e. with real 2x4's running the full height of the walls, and if there
is good access underneath.
I would recommend doing a lot of investigation... get in the attic,
basement, crawl space, etc. Peel away the wall finish in some hidden
spot, like a closet. Or peel off the exterior siding on the back to
examine the innards. It may take a fair amount of wall removal just to
be confident that the structure is worth saving. You would need to
verify that it has a normal stud and joist structure.
Raising a house is not for the average do-it-yourselfer who holds down a
day job. I would personally jump right in and raise a house to build a
basement, but I do this stuff full-time. I would not attempt to build a
new ground-floor level below the airborne old structure. And living
there would probably run afoul of some local laws not to mention common
sense. The hassle of rigging up utilities and temporary stairs would be
greater than just buying an old camper and living in the back yard.
This is an interesting issue. There are lots of possibilities besides
moving or tearing down the old place. Take your time and ask lots of
questions.
Bruce W. Maki, Editor.
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