House raising
House raising (house lifting, house jacking, barn jacking, building jacking) is the process of separating a building from its foundation and temporarily raising it with hydraulic screw jacks. The process is the first step in structure relocation in which the building is moved to a different location. House raising may also be a part of a renovation to build a foundation under an existing house or make a house larger by building a new floor level creating a two story house. Often employed in areas that are prone to flooding and storm damage, this process can be achieved through the use of either timber piles or helical piles. Once a house is raised and supported on cribbing, a new foundation can be constructed beneath it. After Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy large numbers of houses in parts of Louisiana, New York and New Jersey were raised to avoid future flooding.
Mitchell – Foster – Young House
Rotting at the corners where vines and moisture encroached finally undermined the integrity of the structure and the unoccupied house was in danger of collapsing in 2005, when a plan to repair it was created. Those plans were abandoned when termite and other animal-caused damage was discovered. The house had been originally built too close to the ground, making it impossible to avoid future similar damage if the house was simply repaired without a proper higher foundation. Alternatively, a plan was implemented to completely restore the house by dismantling it nail-by-nail and board-by-board. A newly built barn housed the methodically marked and cataloged timbers and boards, until a new, raised foundation was built. Then, in reverse order, the timbers and boards were reinstalled.