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Posted by LightsAREon on August 25, 2006, 12:12 am
Frank D wrote:
> I currently have a 30 yr old seasonal two story log cottage sitting on cedar
> posts which are either sitting on bedrock about 2 feet below ground or
> buried in
> soft ground at varying depths according to slope of bedrock. I do not have
> access to heavy equipment as I am secluded. The land slope is about 10
> percent. My problem is that the frost has been heaving the posts at the rear
> of the cottage which is now 5 inches higher than the front. I tried putting
> in cement blocks filled with concrete and putting them as deep
> as I could but they are heaving too. The construction is simple 6 inch
> cedar logs nailed vertically on post and beams. The 2 story cottage
> measures 25 X 32 feet. The slope of the bedrock( which is a few feet below
> ground level at some support points) can be at 30-40 percent. My next plan
> is to just get the cottage level and use new cedar posts. I need to lift the
> sagging sections and put in new cedar posts. For this I want to use three
> 20ton bottle jacks to straighten the main beams which are double 2 X 12.
>
> My problem is how to safely support the jacks at a three foot hight. The
> ground is sandy with clay underneath. Can I just use cottage pads on the
> ground and put solid concrete blocks to fill the gap. So one support would
> be a 18 X 18 X 3 inch reinforced pad on the ground with maybe crushed stone
> to level. then several 3 x 6 x 8 solid concrete blocks stacked together and
> finaly the bottle jack and a 3/8 steel plate secured to the jack and the
> beam. In my area there is available either a 20 X 20 X 4 inch 7000lb per
> square inch cottage pad or a 18 X 18 X 3 inch steel reinforced. I would
> prefer the reinforced one because its only 75 lbs and easier to stack and
> move around. I don't know what the load capacity of the 3 in is and I dont
> know how much of a load I will actually be putting on it. There are so many
> variables. I've seen house movers using what looks like railway ties to
> build cribs to do this but i can't find any DIY info on this method. Has
> anyone had similar challenges that can give me some pointers. How far
> apart to place the jacks? How to keep the whole lifting assembly dead level
> while it is being pushed into the ground?
>
> Sorry for the long post but I'm trying to do this job right for once and not
> kill myself in the process. I heard that if the jack is not dead level it
> could slip out and....well my wife would be rich ;-)
>
>
> Frank
>
>
A couple of moths ago TLC ran a show on the relocation of a historic
train station that was going to be made into a museum. They had some of
the most rotten soil you could imagine and the whole station sat
directly on its floor. Picture a concrete matte foundation without the
concrete. They had a lot of details on exactly the method you were
talking about.
Another possibility is contacting a house moving company and talking to
one of their field superintendents.
The cottage pads should be sufficient but since the soil is sandy on
top. I would try to spread the weight by putting several tightly packed
2x12's under the cottage pad. This should prevent most of the sinking.
The jacks do need to be level but at least one will always be out of
level as the cottage is being raised. Get several (borrow from friends
or rent them) 4' framing levels and strap them to the house at the
corners and midspans. You can even get post levels (very cheap) that
tack on to the corners of fence posts and put them on the bottom corners
of the house.
Just some thoughts.
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