Sanibel workshop teaches residents benefits of elevating homes and businesses

With each hurricane that brings damage to our area, many people rush to be more resilient.
Coastal areas have mentioned the idea of “building up” to avoid storm surge.

On Sanibel, more than 300 people have RSVP’d to learn about raising their homes and businesses at a SanCap Resilience Workshop on Wednesday evening.

“SanCap’s mission has been to look at how this community can recover more resiliently from Ian at the time and now Milton and Helene,” said Bob Moore, Chair of SanCape Resilience.

One big topic on the island is house raising, and it’s one that brings up concerns and questions for many homeowners, so SanCap Resilience decided to do some research.

“Tonight we have one of a series of community programs that we’ve been putting on,” explained Moore. “The focus tonight is on home elevation, and we have three different homeowners who will be sharing their experience going through the home elevation process.”

One of those homeowners speaking at Wednesday’s workshop is Jeff Harvey. Hurricane Ian did a number on his single-story home.

“When I first walked here after Ian and walked up my driveway, I was just in denial on the way here walking down San Cap (road),” remembered Harvey. “I’m like, ‘Maybe it passed us. Maybe we didn’t get it,’ and then I turned and I was like, ‘Holy shiitaki!’ You know, this is not good.”

He said there was about 40 inches of water inside his single-story home.

“We gutted the house to the studs, everything, appliances, cabinets, built-ins, wall units, furniture, everything thrown away. Start over,” said Harvey.

Not long after, came Hurricane Idalia.

“It brought the water out of the canal probably 10 feet from our back door,” said Harvey.

With the water getting so close to his home, Harvey decided right then and there, that was the last time he’d hold his breath.

“That was kind of a trigger point for us last November to say, ‘Let’s do this,’” explained Harvey.

“This” being lifting his home 10 feet off the ground.

“We started January 8…. By the middle of March, the house was in the air,” said Harvey.

So by the time hurricanes Helene and Milton hit, he had peace of mind.

“We would have had water in the house again. We would have been doing it again, and instead, it was a pressure washer cleanup,” said Harvey.

Now, Harvey is sharing his story with others at SanCap Resilience’s home elevation workshop.

“We’ve got a lot of firsthand experience that we want to share with other neighbors to tell them, ‘you can do it,’” said Harvey. “It’s a project, but it can be done safely, responsibly, budget-consciously and very timely.”

The workshop is a chance for open and honest discussion among neighbors.

“There’ll be a lot of pictures and discussion,” said Will Jones, a member of SanCap Resilience’s building group. “Pictures throughout the process of the home elevating, and then also input from the homeowners themselves, some of the why, some of the how. I think all the people of Southwest Florida realize that if a major storm and possible flood event is coming, the wisest and easiest thing to do is to get out of the way.”

More than 300 people have already RSVP’d to attend the workshop, and if you’re interested in going, walk-ins are welcome.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13 at the Community House on Sanibel.

Click here to join the workshop over Zoom.