House Lifting questions, answered

The house is carried on steel beams and timber cribbing, cut free from its old piles or piers, raised in small increments, and set down on a new, taller pile foundation. Utilities, stairs, decks, and HVAC are disconnected first and rebuilt at the new height.

The elevation certificate records where the house sits now, the flood map sets the Base Flood Elevation, and your town adds any required freeboard. In a V zone the measurement is to the lowest girder. The engineer designs the new foundation to that height.

Yes. A lift needs stamped drawings for the new foundation and a building permit, and oceanfront lots in the ocean hazard area usually need a CAMA permit as well. Each trade that reconnects has its own inspection.

Long enough to install the new piles and girders beneath it, which depends on the house, the lot, and the weather. The schedule is planned to keep that time short and away from the height of storm season.

It depends on the house's size and weight, how high it has to go, access on the lot, the new foundation, and everything that has to be disconnected and rebuilt. We put all of it in one written scope after we have seen the house.

Corolla, Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and the surrounding northern Outer Banks. Call and we will confirm we can reach your lot.

We plan around rental calendars where we can. A lift takes the house out of use from the disconnect to the final inspection, so the off-season is the usual window.