House Lifting

[CThomp]

I'm not sure if i've ever asked this so I might as well. Does anyone here know anything about house lifting?

Is there a price per square foot for lifting a frame house?

I met with my draftsman today and he asked if had considered lifting the the origianal structure of my house to add another layer or two of block to the stem wall for more accessibility and sistering more joists to the original to increase floor strength and reduce bounce.

My addition is going to be built on a crawlspace. This is why i'm wondering about it. I'f i had a good 30" or better i'd be a happy man. Even 16" over what I have now would be great.

I've heard this is a very expensive thing to do but basically i'd just want the lifters to lift the house and i'll do the rest of the work. then they could come back and set the house back down.

[Cole]

Hmm, I have no idea how they price it.

I would like to know though.

I think if they come and lift it you are going to have a hard time with them about leaving it up while you work under it.

I can see a bunch of insurance no no's with that situation.

[CThomp]

Damn...hadn't thought about that. Thats kinda blows it out then. I guess I'll skip that part.

[Cole]

Well I guess I did my forum duties and gave out good info, :)

[Cole]

I was thinking about it, how long do you think it would take you to get the stemwall to the height, you want it at?

If it was me, I would call around and talk to your area home lifters and see what they say.

[rabadger]

Maybe they charge by the pound?:confused:

[CThomp]

I bet once the house was in the air it would take us a weekend. The house is like 30' deep by 35' wide. It seems like they could lift it up, put their temporary supports (from house lifting i've seen these are generally stacked
6x6's. We could do our work, they could come back and lower it down.

All i'd like to add is two blocks higher to the stem wall. What's that like 16"? An sister 2x10's to the original 2x6's. My center beam and supports would need replaced and raised as well but thats not even that big of a deal.

This isn't something that's absolutely necessary but it's something i'd like to do. It'd give me piece of mind.

[rabadger]

CThomp

I would like to know what that would run. Not going to do it but interesting. If you get pricing could you let is know what it is?

[CThomp]

I'll look into it. I just have to find companies in Fort myers that do that kind of thing.

[Cole]

If you could finish it in a weekend I dont see a problem.

[CThomp]

The problem is finding a company that does it. I shot some emails to my county's building association to see if they could help.

I could get a whole crew of people to help with the adventure. We'd be multi-tasking in a huge way.

The house isn't very big and is a one story frame house maybe 1100sqft. so it can't be heavy.

[rabadger]

Where you are located I would think that modular home and sectional home movers know who to call. Maybe one of those guys know of a company. I wouldn't use them directly. Wouldn't trust them unless the building way already on wheels.

[Thumper]

Like everything else these days there is an "International Association of Structural Movers" that has a web site (http://www.iasm.org/) for locating the professionals. Here's a local-2-me company's web site that may give you some insite on the process http://www.cdsmovers.com/ their site shows some examples of projects from cottages to century heritage buildings (very cool story). A few years ago a nearby neighbour lifted a house (1200 sqft bungalow w/ attached garage) to add 2 feet to the poured foundation, their lift was $300.oo for permits, review & assessment, $400 for equipment & bridging (steel beams and railroad ties - rental & removal) and $1200 labour (up & down). their house was airborne for two weeks while they worked underneath (even had a bobcat under there) it was less than $2000.oo, there are more charges for electrical and plumbing disconnects and modifications & more if you move the house offsite of course.

... and they lived in the house the entire time it was in the air - first time I ever saw a dog climb up a ladder!

[Thumper]

Just did a quick check: (I'm not associated with any of these companies so you'll have to check em out on your own, I'm just providing the limited info I know)

Flint & Doyle Inc.
Thomas F. Doyle, III
P.O. Box 1172
Ft. Myers, FL 33902
239-334-2192 FAX: 239-334-0667
tom@flintanddoyle.com

[rabadger]

Now, thats cool!

[Cole]

I knew it could be done.

Awesome, I want pics.

[CThomp]

Good stuff. Not even bad pricing. I figured it would be upwards in the $20K range. I'm going to have to check those links out.

[CThomp]

House lifting option is offically blown out. $10,000 to $15,000 just to lift the house + THEY only do an entirely new foundation + the cost of electrical and plumbing work THEY do. So I figure that whole deal would run me right around $25K. Not gonna happen. I guess my original estimates were pretty on the money. Welcome to Florida. Now bend over.

[rabadger]

:eek: Ouch!:o

[CThomp]

His exact email:

I need the address and a number I can reach you. We lift house on a regular bases. A minimum price is around 10 to 15 thousand dollars plus the cost of a new foundation and the reconnection of plumbing electrical and A/C.

Yeah...Ouch.

[Cole]

Well that sucks.

Now you are stuck with the crawlspace you have.

[CThomp]

Not really that big of a deal. Now I have to try to make plan B work. Which is to find my way under the existing short crawlspace and sister some joists to the existing ones. Not near as in-depth as I would do other wise but it should help some.

[Cole]

How tall is your crawlspace?

I have been in 15-16 inches and it isnt fun at all.

[CThomp]

Its maybe that tall. If I can't get in there I have a few friends that I can maybe pay to get under there. All I need is probably less that $700 in materials. So thats alot less that the $10K to $15K the house raiser wanted.

[Thumper]

His exact email:

I need the address and a number I can reach you. We lift house on a regular bases. A minimum price is around 10 to 15 thousand dollars plus the cost of a new foundation and the reconnection of plumbing electrical and A/C.

Yeah...Ouch.

They must be real busy down south with all the reconstruction nearby... they likely only need the address to see "how much you can afford" (gouge) 10K (US) - yikes! (almost 12K Canadian - nearly 6 times what the goin rate was just 5 years ago). Perhaps here it's less expensive as most folks will just do it on their own so there's not much room to compete - the equipment is readidly available, just 10-20 or so rental hydrolic jacks and railroad ties are just $100.oo by the truck load from the federal surplus auction. but I guess they need to cover their liabilities too... I wouldn't want to do it myself either, that's about 5% the cost of an average house

[CThomp]

Yeah thats the problem. The structure to be lifted probably has that much value. Maybe less. It just an old house. I think sistering some PT .40 acq treated 2x6's to the originals should to the trick. I actually considered demo'ing the entire house and starting from scratch but construction and property prices are so high there's no way I could afford a loan on top of what I currently owe. So I decided to work with what i've got.

[Dragon]

The last time we needed more space under a house we started digging.

Take an auto-mechanic's creeper and tie a rope on each end. It will hold 2 5-gallon buckets. Use it to ferry the excavated dirt out.

It helps to have someone outside.

Happy digging!

A pain, yes. But you can't beat the price.

[CThomp]

My house is 13.5ft above sea level. South Florida doesn't have basements. South Florida foundations are poured at grade. If I were to dig out my crawlspace I'd have a lake under my house everytime it rained. I guess at least the rest of my lot would be dry though.

This is why my dream house is a piling home.

[geekazon]

I lifted my 100-year-old house several years ago. It had been partially lifted in the 1940s to upgrade from the original root cellar, but the joists were still only 6-ft above the slab. We lifted it to 8-1/2 ft and replaced the foundation and slab. Aside from the lift and heavy construction I've been doing the rest of the work myself. Photos and commentary on my website:
http://www.geekazon.com

[Michael Olding]

Hey guys... you need to think of the risk the contractor takes in these projects.

Sure you do it for $1000 plus rentals! Everything in this world has a risk reward relationship. Raising and lower a house for $2000 seems crazy to me. I think the $10 - 15 K sounds more reasonable.

Question for the original poster... you would want the contractor to take responsibility for any damage or loss if something should go wrong wouldn't you?

[Design Solutions]

I'm not sure if i've ever asked this so I might as well. Does anyone here know anything about house lifting?

Is there a price per square foot for lifting a frame house?

I met with my draftsman today and he asked if had considered lifting the the origianal structure of my house to add another layer or two of block to the stem wall for more accessibility and sistering more joists to the original to increase floor strength and reduce bounce.

My addition is going to be built on a crawlspace. This is why i'm wondering about it. I'f i had a good 30" or better i'd be a happy man. Even 16" over what I have now would be great.

I've heard this is a very expensive thing to do but basically i'd just want the lifters to lift the house and i'll do the rest of the work. then they could come back and set the house back down.

Yes,We design house lifting equipment.
Stanford

[onerenohome]

I lifted my 100-year-old house several years ago. It had been partially lifted in the 1940s to upgrade from the original root cellar, but the joists were still only 6-ft above the slab. We lifted it to 8-1/2 ft and replaced the foundation and slab. Aside from the lift and heavy construction I've been doing the rest of the work myself. Photos and commentary on my website:
http://www.geekazon.com

I read your house lifting project, seems shockingly expensive... especially $300 k just for the roof, or the whole project?

[dieselman66]

i had my house lifted in 1993 paid 2500.00 they took off 300.00 because they lowered it 3 days later i had a 5' 8" basement they took it up 2' i did most of the work myself along with a carpenter and some labourers i also raised my garage up 4-6" just to level it went really good used 4 bottle neck jacks and blocking you could do it yourself only going up 16" i did see a house once were they took it up 8' and it fell but it fell do to not having the framing finished karl

[geekazon]

I read your house lifting project, seems shockingly expensive... especially $300 k just for the roof, or the whole project?

No, the $300k figure was a rough estimate for our architect's original overblown design, which involved lifting the house 12 ft to add a new ground floor, plus raising the roof and enlarging the partial top floor to a full-size floor. That was WAAAAY out of our price range.

The actual lift was $18,000 and the foundation replacement $5,000. Additional excavation to enlarge the basement to full size, adding a new ground floor room and an elevated covered front porch brought the total up to about $42k. These improvements plus a back deck that I built myself increased the house value by about $100k. All in all with windows, electrical and plumbing, sheetrock, etc., landscaping and a new roof which the house was due for, we put about $100k into the remodel. So we didn't gain anything in terms of it being an investment, but the house is finally the way we've always wanted it.

[CThomp]

Wow is this an old post. We did the house remodel without lifting the house. Though I still kind of wish we did.

But I'm over it.

House works the way it is as well.

[houses_on_wheels]

Kind of curious what the square footage of your house was. It's fairly typical for costs to run between $10 - $15/square foot for a stud frame house, but there are a lot of variables that need to be factored in.
@Thumper - You need to remember that proper house moving insurance can easily cost $1,500 to $2,000 per job. You might not realize this, but the town where a building is located can speak volumes about how it may have been constructed. It gets rather tedious and time consuming to ballpark the pricing for a job like that by email, hence the reason he asked for a phone number.

[geekazon]

My wife and I had a low-ceiling basement with deteriorating foundation. We lifted the house about 2-1/2 ft, replaced the whole foundation and did some other renovating. If anybody's interested I have posted a lot of photos and commentary on my website. Apparently I can't give you the link until I've posted 15 comments here, but if you Google "lifting a house" it's at or near the top and starts with "geekazon".

[geekazon]

i had my house lifted in 1993 paid 2500.00 they took off 300.00 because they lowered it 3 days later i had a 5' 8" basement they took it up 2' i did most of the work myself along with a carpenter and some labourers i also raised my garage up 4-6" just to level it went really good used 4 bottle neck jacks and blocking you could do it yourself only going up 16" i did see a house once were they took it up 8' and it fell but it fell do to not having the framing finished karl

What? I'm surprised they lowered the cost because they lowered the house. I'm assuming you mean they raised it too high and then lowered it back part way. The guys who lifted my house said they charged essentially the same whether they lifted a house 2 feet or 12 feet. The only difference was in the amount of materials required to frame and fill in the gap, which was a small fraction of the total cost.

[houses_on_wheels]

What? I'm surprised they lowered the cost because they lowered the house. I'm assuming you mean they raised it too high and then lowered it back part way. The guys who lifted my house said they charged essentially the same whether they lifted a house 2 feet or 12 feet. The only difference was in the amount of materials required to frame and fill in the gap, which was a small fraction of the total cost.
The discount was likely because the house was ready to set down three days after it was lifted. For a stud frame house, it is common to lift it about 2" higher than the expected final elevation to give the mason more room to work, and to then to set the house down 2" onto the foundation after it is finished. You could say that "rental" of the supporting equipment is wrapped up in the price for lifting the building, therefore a reduction in price if the equipment is only rented for 3 days rather than 3 weeks.

[dieselman66]

the house was raised on fri . they came back on monday and put it down

[bobslater65]

If you do it--you'd also better prepare for lots of cracking of plaster inside over windows and doorways.

[Faust]

There is only one house lifter/mover in my area so I can't help with competitive pricing.

Generally they are lifted with large beams placed under them with jacks placed at the ends. After they are raised they can be held up by setting the beams on columns of stacked 4 x 4's (I think "cribbing" is the term for the wood). I don't know why it couldn't be left up for several days.