Over time, the foundation of the house can become covered with cracks or even partially collapse, which entails the need to replace or repair it. The latter involves strengthening the base of the house, this can be done only by lifting the building. Lifting your home is a laborious and costly process that you need to be prepared for.
Repair of the foundation can be done only after the house has been raised.
The need to raise the house may arise when a sag of the building has formed and became noticeable, the building in this case tilts at a certain angle, starting to threaten the safety of its residents. This can occur if the construction was carried out on an area with problem soil.
By raising log house, you can not only strengthen its base, but also analyze the strength of the entire building and the connections between the corners and logs.
Tools and materials
Houses are lifted with a jack.
- jacks;
- thick boards;
- high strength cement;
- quarry sand;
- medium fraction crushed stone or gravel;
- reinforcement, the section of which is 10-14 mm;
- 25mm formwork board that can be replaced with construction plywood.
Preparatory work before lifting
The process should begin with determining the places where the logs damaged by time and external influences are located, they will have to be replaced. This is necessary because when the houses are lifted, their elements undergo enormous loads, and if they are fragile, this can lead to negative consequences, including the roll of the building to one side.
All elements of the walls of a log house should not only be analyzed visually, but also mechanically, for which the logs should be tapped, this will determine their suitability for further use.
Before starting work, they call a geodetic examination, conduct a soil analysis and determine the place of foundation failure.
Now you can proceed to earthworks. For this, you should first order a geodetic examination, which will determine the condition of the old foundation. Analysis of the soil will help determine the type of new foundation that will be laid under the house.
Soil analysis will help to understand how close the aquifer is located, and if it is shallow, then additional work will have to be done on laying drainage and waterproofing the base in order to postpone the repeated replacement of the base of the house in the future. The study will determine how strong the soil is. If it is free-flowing, then the base on which the frame will be installed will soon sag. Heaving soils can cause the house to skew and damage the foundation.
If the frame is installed on a not so solid foundation, then this makes it necessary to choose a complete replacement or reinforce the concrete base in those places where it has undergone deformation. Each of these solutions can be taken as a basis, but if you want to get high-quality and full reinforcement, then it is better not to reinforce the base with parts, but to replace it completely after the frame is raised.
After that, you can free the log house from heavy pieces of furniture for the duration of the work and start preparing the trench, which will help free the old base and consider problem areas. In addition, the trench should be such that it can be worked comfortably in it, so its width should be 60 cm, and its depth should be equal to the bottom line of the foundation.
House lifting process
Now jacks can be installed under the log house, which implies the most difficult work in the whole process. For jacks, it is necessary to prepare recesses in which the tools will need to be installed. The minimum number of jacks for a log house is 4, each of them must be installed in a corner. Now you can start a gradual rise, on each side you can lift 2 cm at a time. The supports should be placed after the house has been evenly raised by 2-4 cm.
As soon as the frame is raised to the required height, it can be stripped of the old base, for which a powerful perforator should be used, which will be able to dismantle the base in 2 hours.
After that, you can proceed to the installation of reinforcement and formwork, as well as the subsequent pouring of a new foundation. A new foundation to be installed on an old house, needs high-quality waterproofing in order to maintain lower rims from moisture and decay. For this, the surface of the base must be covered with roofing felt, which must be laid with an overlap.
After it was possible to raise the blockhouse, fill in the new foundation and protect it with roll material, the building can be lowered no earlier than 2 days later. Some experts recommend putting the house back in place after a few weeks, when the concrete has gained strength.
It is necessary to lower the building just as slowly and with great care, the work will be less laborious, since the new foundation will turn out to be slightly higher than the previous one. When the house has managed to take its position, you can install all the pieces of furniture back in the frame.
Features of installing jacks
For work, it is necessary to use reliable and fully serviceable jacks, the carrying capacity of which is 10 tons or more. You can choose the carrying capacity of the tool by calculating the weight of the house, but you should not carry out work to the limit, it is recommended to have a good margin in the carrying capacity, which will not only imply the application of less effort during the lifting process, but will also become a guarantee of safety.
When lifting, an important rule must be followed, which states that lifting must be done simultaneously from two corners of one wall, but not from two diagonal corners. If this requirement is not taken into account, work can provoke the building to move to one side and damage it.
Before starting the ascent to each corner, it is necessary to strengthen 2 slats, which will determine the initial horizontal position of the house, this will help to calculate the lifting height.
To install jacks, it is necessary to prepare a place, for this you need to dig 2 holes at each wall, removing them from the house by 0.5 m, the size of each should be: LxWxD - 100x70x50 cm, the long side of the hole must be placed along the log. The bottom must be made even by determining the horizontal level, and then wide blocks or thick boards must be laid in the pit.
The house will be calm if it acquires a new foundation after long-term use. You can also raise a log house yourself, since such services provided by professionals are extremely expensive.
