Jacking it Up (Literally)

Have you noticed anything terrifying about SIX TWELVE?

Oh, maybe something regarding the brick and the insane amount of damage it has received due to structural issues?

Yea, that.

I think one of the biggest detourants in purchasing this home was the structural work. While the repair is going to fall in the top three for costliest repairs on this job it has actually been the easiest to get taken care of. At least for us as the homeowner and contractor it has been. For the actual crew, well...maybe not so much.

We hired a licensed Structural Engineer to do an evaluation of the property before purchase. I can't recommend this enough. Because the house was in such poor shape and we knew we'd be replacing all of the interior systems we decided to forgo a typical inspection as it wouldn't really provide much more information than "the house is a costly mess" but a structural inspection was a must.

We shelled out $325.00 for an onsite evaluation and a four page report detailing what was seen at the time of inspection and the engineer's recommendation for our potential property. Worth every dollar. That inspection alone practically decided if we we're continuing with the project or not.

Want to take a guess at how many piers SIX TWELVE needs?

Twenty-one.

If you've priced piers lately, you know that needing twenty-one of them is a buzz kill.

We took the report and attached pier location sketch provided by the engineer and set off to find a company to do the work.

Paul took the lead on finding the company to do the work for us. He asked for recommendations, checked reviews online, met with multiple companies and we received three formal quotes from our top three contenders.

After evaulating the quotes and the work that was going to need to be completed, we picked our company. They started work less than a week after closing and exactly one month after the evaluation was completed. Not bad considering structural repair was second on our list of items to complete.

We decided to do the structure work before the demolition per the advice of the company we hired. "It's better to lift the house heavy (full of plaster, etc) than empty (demolished) when you'll be adding weight back into it." Well, yea, I suppose that does make sense.

Structural crew showing up for work (our house in the background).



That's one tall drink of water.



They hand dug twenty-one of these puppies. Gross. This is why I am not a paid laborer. I would have faked my own death by now if I had to hand dig holes in Oklahoma summers. Kudos boys, kudos.

Things are running a little behind. We are not at a point of pushing anything out, they technically have the remainder of this week to finish up without starting to impact our schedule. They estimated three days. It's going to take five at the least. Bummer for them. 



Placing the piers.



The actual "jacking it up" part.

After they've finished placing the piers, they'll lift the house, repair the brick, re-pour concrete on the patio and backfill the holes they dug. For their sake, I hope they're done tomorrow. Otherwise, we got the service for a steal.