Pages

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Lift off! We have lift off!

This post is totally unrelated to sewing.  I have not been sewing the past few weeks.  My sewing mojo has been gone.  Kaput.  I have been completely absent from the blogosphere the past few weeks as well.  But there is good reason...my house is being elevated and I had to temporarily move to a new location!

I live in a neighborhood in Northern New Jersey which was severely impacted by several storms.  My house suffered extensive damage during a N'oreaster in 2007; Hurricane Irene in 2011; and finally, Hurricane Sandy in 2012.  It was a traumatic experience each time, with the next storm worse than the previous one.

A program became available in the State of New Jersey for homeowners who suffered extensive damage during Hurricane Sandy so I applied and was accepted to receive assistance in elevating my home.  I feel so lucky to have been accepted and am extremely grateful.  It is a project that is costing six figures and the state will not pay 100% of the cost but what we are receiving is very helpful.  My husband and I decided to bite the bullet and go for it.  We want to be out of harm's way; the flood insurance premiums will decrease dramatically and the value of our home will go up.  All good things worth the temporary hassles and headaches.

Elevating a house is quite a daunting task.  It takes about 4 to 6 to 8 months to elevate a house and you cannot live in the house while this work is being done so we had to pack up and move.

So here's the house as it currently sits in mid-air!  Amazing, isn't it?!!


Here you see one of the workers guiding an iron beam through sections of the partially demolished foundation which will go underneath the house to help support it:



This is what the house looks like underneath.  The house was lifted a few inches every hour using these giant hydraulic jacks (that's what I call them anyway).  Then wooden supports were built underneath the iron beams so as to support the house while it is suspended in air:


Side view of the house.  There used to be a covered deck here (boo hoo):


My house will no longer have a basement.  That underground cavity will be filled in to ground level.  I will then have the space in between the house and the ground that can be used for storage.  However, I would only store items that I would be able to bring up next time we are threatened with another dangerous storm. 

More to come...