Watch this incredible video footage that condenses 100 days of a house lift elevation project into a tidy three minute video. The house is in Seguin, Texas just outside of San Antonio. Unlike our house lift experience, this house sat on a concrete slab. There were a few other significant differences between this video and our house lift project. First, this house was all one … Continue reading House Lift Video: 17 Feet in 3 Minutes
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END – Fortunately, so do house renovation projects. Just over a year ago this blog was initiated as a means to document our house elevation for flood mitigation project. It was also designed to assist anyone with similar flooding woes with some options and an accurate portrayal of all that is involved in an undertaking of this magnitude. “Whatever … Continue reading House Elevation Project Completed
Our house elevation project is almost complete. The next step is the exterior painting aspect. What do you need to know? Top 5 Tips for Exterior House Painting 1. TEMPERATURE Ideally, exterior painting will take place when the temperatures are going to remain above 50 degrees, even at night. Otherwise you are likely to get peeling. Once the temperatures warm up, you can tackle that … Continue reading Top 5 Tips for Exterior House Painting
The best way to prepare for a home renovation project/ house elevation: assume the project will be messy. Plan accordingly or at least try to learn from our mistakes. We’ve been living in our flood mitigated/ house elevated home for almost three months. The remnants of construction dust continue. How can that be? Haven’t you been cleaning like mad? An emphatic “yes” to that question as … Continue reading Top 5 Tips to Prep for Home Renovation / House Elevation Project
OUR HOUSE IS “SPECIAL”: We live in a flood zone that has been deemed “special” by FEMA, and not in a good way. It’s rated in the highest category of flood insurance, beat out only by those who have ocean front views. The guilty party in our instance is not the Atlantic Ocean, but a gentle brook whose size is disarmingly small. Yet, it provides, … Continue reading Insurance Costs Remain High post House Elevation
THE PROBLEM: As the saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Or, as I like to say, you can’t undertake a massive house project (house elevation) without eating a few crap sandwiches. Today’s topic hails from the kitchen. The situation created stems from careless foundation work when our house was lowered (see older posts). An entire bank of cabinets, along … Continue reading Kitchen Renovation – Post House Elevation
A project of this magnitude is going to involve a ride through the school of hard knocks. Things will go wrong. It will take longer than you think, and likely cost more. The good news? Your house will no longer flood! Participating in a house elevation is going to provide an eduction on topics many of you may have never imaged. Below is a sample … Continue reading House Elevation: Foundations and Sill Plates
HAPPY NEW YEAR! As the calendar turns over to reveal the start of a new year, 2014, we are still in the midst of our house elevation for flood mitigation project that began many moons ago. What’s left? Final inspections, certificate of occupancy, landscaping, driveway resurfacing, exterior painting and a few other odds and ends. MOVEMENT AFOOT We moved back into our home just about … Continue reading House Settling Effects Post House Elevation Project
WEEK 26 Oh me, oh my what a week it’s been preparing to move home again. I can summarize the week’s main emphasis in one little word – cleaning. My goal was to rid the house of the ubiquitous remnants of dry-wall and construction dust. No small task considering that every cupboard on the first floor had to be emptied and throughly cleaned. Hauling out … Continue reading Moving Back In – Post House Elevation
GIVING THANKS THIS THANKSGIVING WEEK 25: There are many reasons to be thankful and I appreciate the simple luxuries of life everyday. Things like hot water at the turn of a handle and fresh coffee every morning. I’m ever thankful for my family and friends. But this year has been a bit unique. The things I’m thankful this Thanksgiving are not the sort of things … Continue reading Giving Thanks this Thanksgiving
Before the House Elevation One of the first steps in this house elevation project was to remove the chase of a superfluous chimney. As all of our mechanicals had already been relocated to another area of our house, well above the threat of any flood, this chimney was no longer needed. As such, it had to be removed prior to elevating our house. As the … Continue reading Prepping House for Elevation: Chimney Chase Remodel and Design
There are many positive aspects to lifting your house above the flood plain, mainly that you will no longer have the dreaded anticipation of an impending flood every time it rains. That can not be overstated enough. But once you move back in (yeah!) and not longer flood (whoop whoop) your house will likely have a few new interior issues to deal with. WALL CRACKS … Continue reading Elevated House: Damage Post-Lift Part 2
Exterior railings add an element of flair and fashion to your house, along with safety measures. They may seem like a minor detail, but railings can have a dramatic impact on the visual appeal of your house. Our house project is coming along this week and the staircase is now complete except for the railing. In the picture above you can see the completed staircase, sans … Continue reading Exterior Railings for an Elevated House
Week 22: What happens when a crew of sheet rock workers run amok in your house? Someone’s going to be very unhappy. That someone was me this week. The first day this crew started, they made a huge mess. Dust was everywhere. The kind of dust that can find its way into closed cabinets. I was not happy. I let them know. I asked them what … Continue reading Careless Contractor’s Run Amok
WEEK 21: The mudroom, like this entire project, is S-L-O-W-L-Y taking shape this week. In an earlier post I had discussed the history of flooding in this room as well as tips on choosing tile, so this is mostly a pictorial update. SEPTEMBER The base of our mudroom has been filled with cement. #floodproof OCTOBER The floor was built up and then the concrete was poured. … Continue reading Mudroom Renovation
WEEK 20: Fresh on the heels of last week’s set-back, we’ve made some steady progress this week, albeit not nearly enough for my liking. The majority of the work effort has been restricted to the new front staircase. It’s great to see the transformation, but what I’d really like to see is a beehive of activity on my house. You know, like they show on TV … Continue reading Staircase Transformation on an Elevated House
FLOOD SAVVY: Fight Flooding - Tips & Inspiration 