‘House jacking’ lifts Sanibel home 5 feet off the ground

Author: Amy Galo Writer: Carolyn Dolcimascolo, Joey Pellegrino
Published: Updated:

A home on Durion Court in Sanibel is undergoing “house jacking”—getting raised 5 feet off the ground and it will have stilts installed underneath.

This is far from typical hurricane recovery work. The company Davie Shoring tells WINK News this is the first home on the island to be elevated after Hurricane Ian. The operation raised the house around 8 inches every 40 minutes with the help of a machine the company created. The system is like a giant forklift, but it slips under a home’s foundation and props it up so crews can install new footing and stilts.

Warren Davie, the owner of Davie Shoring, says it’s like a giant math problem: Certain parts of the Sanibel house need more pressure than others so that it can lift evenly.

“They decided to stay. But they wanted to be at the right height,” Davie said.

Ellen and Marco Dumont, the homeowners, decided to do the lift to protect the home from future flooding. Ian’s storm surge wiped out everything they owned, but the house’s foundation was perfectly intact.

“It’s still scary, watching it go up. It was a little nerve-racking the first lift,” Ellen and Marco said.

As for cost, it depends on the size of your home and how high you want to lift it. Typical costs, according to Shoring, are $70 to $75 per square foot for a low lift and $90 to $100 per square foot for high raises.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.