Raising homes to fight flooding

Reporter: Jolena Esperto Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:

After getting severely damaged by Hurricane ian, a homeowner is raising his home to protect against floods.

Dave Smith’s home is five feet off the ground. But it will be 10 feet off the ground in another two weeks. That’s because Dave found a company that could raise his house in case another Hurricane like Ian hits Southwest Florida.

The damage done to Smith’s Southwest Florida house isn’t unique. But finding a company to lift his home instead of just preparing the damaged parts is unique.

Davie Shoring is the guy that Smith turned to for help.

“We’re up to the halfway point. So we pushed all of our pilings. We you put a unified put all of our hydraulic Jackson raised it up five feet, the house is perfectly level no damage done, and it’s suspended,”Shoring said.

Damaged by Ian, a home in Olga is getting lifted 10 feet off the ground. CREDIT: WINK News

Smith explained it’d cost about a third of what it would have cost to demolish his house and start over.

“Big savings,” Smith said. “And it’s a big burden for people, you know that we have to tear him down and bring them to code. So this was this one option. And I called these guys and you can see they’re doing a wonderful job. Raising it quick, for sure.”

Davie Shoring Inc is a company from Louisiana that’s coming in to do the job.

“This company here come to me and says Hey, no, we’re gonna just pick foundation all up. And that’s what they did. There’s no cuttin’ No, nothing of your house. It’s just like, magically saying lift. The whole house comes up,” Smith said.

Shoring already repaired the inside of his home. So when it’s 10 feet in the air, he’s pretty much done dealing with the aftermath of Ian.

“His decision was that he has a home that withstood the storm. It just needed to be elevated,” Shoring said.

This isn’t only cheaper and easier for Smith and his wife, they also said it’s environmentally friendly too.

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