Raising your house is an excellent way of adding living space without sacrificing yard space elsewhere on the block. If you’re looking to add an extension to your home but don’t want to build up or out, raising it is an excellent option.
You’ll have freed up space underneath for parking, storage or new rooms as well as improving the view and adding value to your home. The idea of lifting and reposition your entire house may sound like a complex task and in many ways, it is. Fortunately, that doesn’t mean it takes a huge amount of time.
Average Time it Takes to Raise a House
The average time it takes to raise, slide or spin a house is between two to four weeks from start to finish. The time it takes can vary due to a number of factors, such as:
- The height, width and length of the house
- How the house was built
- What the house is made of
- Speed of council approval
- Weather conditions during project
- Whether clear engineering plans and soil tests are immediately available to the house raiser
Ensuring you plan and coordinate the project ahead of time is the best way of ensuring the project runs smoothly. This involves contact engineers, surveyors, soil testers and local planners well in advance.
How Does House Raising Work?
House raising involves extreme precision and impressive engineering to safely execute. It happens over several steps, including:
- Plans are made for the construction in the new space
- Necessary land clearing, cutting and filling, grading and soil testing is carried out
- House is lifted using steel beams and hydraulic jacks
- New supports are added underneath
- Existing stumps are replaced
- Electrical and plumbing connections are made
- A concrete slab is added below
- New stairs are built
- Any other construction is carried out based on how you want the extra level to be used
Once the house is raised, there are a variety of design approaches you can take. You could reconfigure the existing upper level to contain the kitchen, bathroom and bedrooms and have living areas downstairs. Alternatively, you could retain the raised house with minimal changes and put addition bedrooms and a secondary living area on the lower level.
Other Considerations When Raising a House
If you’re thinking about getting your house raised and are concerned about the amount of time it might take, you should seriously consider and carefully choose the house raising company you work with.
Raising a house is a huge undertaking and you want to have a reliable company with extensive experience taking care of it. Choosing the wrong company could lead to a potential blow out in costs as well as the project taking longer than the average two to four-week period.
Efficient House Raising & Restumping
If you’re interested in raising your house in Brisbane or elsewhere in Queensland in a timely manner, get in touch with the experienced team at Meier House Removals. We will work closely with your builder, surveyor and local council to ensure your house raising is efficiently conducted with the utmost professionalism.
Call us today on 07 3171 9334 or get in touch with us online.
