Monday, October 18, 2010

We're Next!

We're next!  At least that is what my general contractor tells me, concerning our permit to lift the beach house.  It takes weeks and weeks to get a permit in our city, so this is exciting news.

  Ransone Construction and House Moving, photo found via Santa Cruz Construction Guild

 We haven't been idle while we waited, though.  We have worked on some demolition of the home's interior and have done some site preparation to get ready for the BIG DAY.  

And now, fingers crossed, we are next in the queue to have our drawings examined.  Hopefully, all will go well.  The drawings were done by a highly recommended and very experienced engineer, so things should go pretty smoothly....

We have had a lot of questions about what is involved in lifting a house, so just for fun, I thought I would share images of work that some house moving and raising companies have done, along with links to their websites, so you can learn more.

People have been moving houses for a long time, as is evident in this old photograph 
from the Kunkel Moving and Raising website.  The Kunkel family has been in this business for four generations!


Even masonry structures have been successfully moved!  Kunkel Moving and Raising

I think, if a house could be raised this much before the days of color 
photography, raising my house nine feet, in the days of computerized 
control panels, should be a cakewalk, right? Kunkel Moving and Raising.

There is no end to the ingenuity of a determined person. Kunkel Moving and Raising

Here, contractors are stacking cribbing underneath a house, 
as it is being lifted.  Kunkel Moving and Raising

I have to admit, the idea of standing underneath a house balanced on fifteen 
foot high stacks of cribbing gives me the heebie jeebies!  I really hope 
the wind cooperates while the new structural work is finished 
underneath the house, and it get it's new hurricane straps.Matthews House Movers


I'm feeling more and more confident, as I review these pictures  :)  Dent National, Inc
This is pretty similar to what we will be doing -- just going 
straight up -- but we will be reusing our existing foundation.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour.  Hopefully, very soon, our little beach cottage...

...will be up on cribbing while contractors busily work underneath!   Have a great Monday!