# Question about Jacking/Lifting House



## JiminyCrickets (Feb 23, 2012)

I have an old house, around 110 years old here in MI I just bought. The house is sagging on one side a bit. The house stands on really old cedar posts that seem to have sunk in the ground and rotted out in some spots. I seen someone has done make shift pier repairs here and there but have done a really crappy job, lol. 

I am slowly digging and poring footings and making cinder block piers, like this one:
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




(not my pic) on the inner parts of the crawlspace and I plan on spanning the floor joists with 6"x4" treated beams setting on top of the cinder block piers that I'm making. 

My question is, if I put jacks under a beam spanning the floor joists and start lifting, will it lift the outer walls of the house too? I am hoping it will because the outer wall does have to come up as well. 

Under the outer walls, I do plan on digging 42", poring footings and putting new treated posts for the house to stand on as well. 

I look forward too all replies, thanks guys. 

Edit: Here's a diagram of my idea.






I was thinking about repeating the process going down the entire length of the house and only jacking the low spots. Some parts are lower than others. If I have to, I will jack the outer wall, place new posts and shim the posts and the inner cinder blocks as in the diagram above. Jacking the outer wall should bring the floor joists up right?


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## CalRehabber (Feb 23, 2012)

Probably not, unless those floor joist are tied into the outer walls very well. Typically exterior walls are pretty heavy.

On my last one, I bolted all the floor joists to the studs of the exterior wall, then also added vertical 4x4's bolted to the 4x4's of the exterior wall (older houses in my area have a mix of 2x4 and 4x4 studs) and set jacks under the added 4x4's.


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## JiminyCrickets (Feb 23, 2012)

CalRehabber said:


> Probably not, unless those floor joist are tied into the outer walls very well. Typically exterior walls are pretty heavy.
> 
> On my last one, I bolted all the floor joists to the studs of the exterior wall, then also added vertical 4x4's bolted to the 4x4's of the exterior wall (older houses in my area have a mix of 2x4 and 4x4 studs) and set jacks under the added 4x4's.


OK, thanks for the your input.


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## nealtw (Feb 23, 2012)

If you are going to dig the outside down 42" for frost protection, the inside post will want to be just as deep.The outside will have to be jacked up too. the 4x6s would be minimal for any length of beam. How long are they going to be?


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## JiminyCrickets (Feb 23, 2012)

nealtw said:


> If you are going to dig the outside down 42" for frost protection, the inside post will want to be just as deep.The outside will have to be jacked up too. the 4x6s would be minimal for any length of beam. How long are they going to be?


How long will the beam spanning the joists be?

Code in MI doesn't call for inner footings to go below frost-line. Only the outer wall footings.


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## JiminyCrickets (Feb 23, 2012)




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## nealtw (Feb 23, 2012)

Exception: 

Upon evidence of the existence of any of the following conditions, the 
building official may modify the footing depth accordingly: 

(a) Freezing temperatures (freezing degree days). 

(b) Soil type. 

(c) Ground water conditions. 

(d) Snow depth experience. 

(e) Exposure to the elements. 

I think (e) would apply to a non-basement house.
You will find that two 2x10s will be min. for an 8ft span.


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## 1jackguy (Feb 23, 2012)

4x6 for lifting is ok but the piers in the picture are a over kill, and stack without a bace. The way they are know will sink you will need a solid block. wee use trailer pad 16x16x4 with rebar. If you raising the house just on one side you tpyed nothing about the seal plate.


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## JiminyCrickets (Feb 23, 2012)

1jackguy said:


> 4x6 for lifting is ok but the piers in the picture are a over kill, and stack without a bace. The way they are know will sink you will need a solid block. wee use trailer pad 16x16x4 with rebar. If you raising the house just on one side you tpyed nothing about the seal plate.


Yea, I seen in the pic that they didn't have a base for their pier and was thinking the same thing as you. I am poring footings for a base which are 20x20x6 which I think is code for MI. I don't mind the overkill because the bricks are only like a buck a piece. Thanks for the reply. So you do this sort of stuff a lot?


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