Whether you’re having your house lifted in order to move it to another location, the house needs to be raised above a flood zone, if the foundation needs to be repaired, or if you want to expand a basement or crawl space, preparing the house to be lifted is an intricate process. In order to prevent the house from sustaining any damage and for the project to be completed correctly, homeowners need to hire the right team of building movers, the proper techniques need to be used, as well as the right materials and equipment.

At Payne Construction Services, we have been in the industry since 1974, providing reliable building lifting services and more throughout New England states, including Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. After thousands of building moving projects, our family-owned company understands what it takes to prepare a house so that everything goes smoothly. Learn more about the process of getting a house ready to be lifted and get in touch with our team today to schedule a consultation and estimate.

Preparing a House For Lifting

Site Preparation

There is some prep work that homeowners need to take care of before the Payne team begins their house lifting work. There are several things that should be done inside and outside the house to make sure that everything is ready to go.

Inside the House

Because a majority of our work is focused around the foundation and basement or crawl space of the house, we’ll need these spaces cleared out to give our contractors room to work and to bring in all of the equipment. We ask that homeowners remove any storage items, trash, or appliances that are in the basement. Because our steel joists are installed side-to-side and front-to-back, any plumbing fixtures that hang below the floor joists, such as piping and ducts also need to be removed. If there are any items that are too heavy to easily move, just let us know and we’ll do our best to work around them.

As far as the inside living spaces go, there’s no need to take anything out of the house or move anything around. The house lifting process is slow and smooth, and everything inside the house will be safe during the building moving or lifting process.

Outside the House

There are several things that need to be done to the landscaping before our building movers can begin.

• Steps: Any wooden steps that lead out of the house need to be removed completely.
• Decks: Any decking structure or porch may also need to be removed unless the structure is being lifted along with the house.
• Landscaping: All landscaping surrounding the house, including plants and bushes, flower beds, pavers, and sidewalks will need to be removed. Larger shrubs can be transplanted to another area of the property. Our building movers can typically work around trees, but keep in mind that they may need to be removed if it becomes clear that we cannot work around them. The same goes for fencing around the property — we will try to work around fences, but there is no guarantee that they will not be removed.
• Neighboring Properties: The best-case scenario is that there is plenty of property around the house so that getting the neighbors involved won’t be necessary. Next best case is that neighbors give homeowners permission to use their property when needed. However, if the border is too close to the house, and neighbors do not give permission to use their yard, we can, in some cases, maneuver our equipment so that accessing neighboring properties isn’t necessary, but this is a last resort.
• Utilities: If there are underground gas or electric lines, a leach field, septic tank, or other private utilities, these will need to be marked with a flag so that they are not damaged during the house lifting process. Let your project manager know where these utilities are before work begins.

These are just a few things that need to be taken care of around the house before the house lifting project begins. In our next post, we’ll discuss other preparation tasks, such as work that needs to be done on houses built on slab foundations, excavating for cribbing piles, and replacing or adding permanent steel.

Schedule an Estimate Today

Even though there are some things that the homeowner needs to take care of, you can be confident that the team of building movers at Payne Construction Services will handle everything else with the highest level of skill. If you have any questions or want to schedule a time for us to visit your property, give us a call. We’re more than happy to answer any questions.