Raising a house?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone done this in the DMV? I live in an old craftsman in MD with a low ceilinged basement and I’d love to finish it and gain more natural light (versus digging down). Where do I start, a structural engineer? Thoughts on cost?

[Anonymous]

If you don’t want to dig, then the house has to be lifted. Cost will depend on many things including how many floors and how much has to be lifted. In the end, both processes are expensive, but if you get usable square feet out of it, it can be worth it. Contact design /build firms. If you google this, there is more info online. I think either way will cost up to 6 figures.

[Anonymous]

A neighbor did this with a 100yo victorian. Lifted the house, dismantled the original basement dungeon and built a new, airier basement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A neighbor did this with a 100yo victorian. Lifted the house, dismantled the original basement dungeon and built a new, airier basement.

Yeah, if you're going to do it it's worth looking into replacing the whole basement while the house is lifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done this in the DMV? I live in an old craftsman in MD with a low ceilinged basement and I’d love to finish it and gain more natural light (versus digging down). Where do I start, a structural engineer? Thoughts on cost?

Spent $15k in 2018 just on the house lift. Extra for demo, new foundation work. Worth it!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done this in the DMV? I live in an old craftsman in MD with a low ceilinged basement and I’d love to finish it and gain more natural light (versus digging down). Where do I start, a structural engineer? Thoughts on cost?

Spent $15k in 2018 just on the house lift. Extra for demo, new foundation work. Worth it!!

Please share the contractor who does this. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone done this in the DMV? I live in an old craftsman in MD with a low ceilinged basement and I’d love to finish it and gain more natural light (versus digging down). Where do I start, a structural engineer? Thoughts on cost?

Spent $15k in 2018 just on the house lift. Extra for demo, new foundation work. Worth it!!

Please share the contractor who does this. Thanks

We used Wolfe house movers in PA - they do work in the DC area as well. Had to find other trades people for the demo/foundation job.

[Anonymous]

I raised a small house after Hurricane Isabel in 2003. It was a single story mini-rancher style house, on a 25x35 crawl space.

Was pretty straightforward. Hired a house moving company from Calvert County and they came out, put a lifting framework under the floor joists, and just jacked it up with hydraulic jacks about 6 feet. Then they built the foundation walls up to the new height, and sat it down on the new foundation. Took about 3 days total. Paid about $9,000 (in 2004).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I raised a small house after Hurricane Isabel in 2003. It was a single story mini-rancher style house, on a 25x35 crawl space.

Was pretty straightforward. Hired a house moving company from Calvert County and they came out, put a lifting framework under the floor joists, and just jacked it up with hydraulic jacks about 6 feet. Then they built the foundation walls up to the new height, and sat it down on the new foundation. Took about 3 days total. Paid about $9,000 (in 2004).

Forgot to add, the whole point of raising the house was to make sure it didn’t get flooded again in another hurricane. That was 20 years ago, and the water has never gotten that high since then. So in hindsight it was sort of a waste.

[Anonymous]

"an old craftsman" may look really odd raised up another 4-6 feet. If by "old craftsman" you mean something akin to a bungalow or other typical craftsman styles from the early 1900s. You may very well be better off digging out the basement.