House shifting off foundation

If this is a one-story house over a basement, how about applying force at the level of the floor diaphragm?

Wayne

Reply to
Wayne Whitney
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Good point/thought...depends on whether conventional joist or truss and how constructed. Typically the sill plate and directly above will be the most solid point but if is truss, might be as well at the top chord although I'd be inclined to try to spread it across the top and bottom chords I think...

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Reply to
dpb

I would not use tractors, use a electric winch, or heavy duty come along, and speeed reducing, power increasing Block and Tackle. Cranes lift heavy loads because of Block and Tackle. The problem is what to attach it to so you dont rip apart the house. A winch may be to fast.

Reply to
ransley

I'll agree w/ the last. Heavy come-alongs are indeed an option other than they pull instead of push which unless there's a better attachment than the cable around the corners isn't a primo choice imo...

Having moved a lot of stuff w/ tractors, I'll attest one can be pretty doggone delicate if have the right stuff -- that means either the hydrostatic tranny and/or hydraulics, not a fixed-speed manual transmission on a chain. I'd have no hesitation whatsoever in being certain I could nudge it along a fraction of an inch at a time w/ my bucket.

Reply to
dpb

snipped-for-privacy@noemail.com wrote: ...

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Actually, I let you sidetrack me somewhat... :)

Take those bottle jacks and set them on side and use the tractor or something else solid and push against a paul...w/ only a few inches to go, it'll be a piece of cake and no danger at all of too far...

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Reply to
dpb

One key feature of the manual come-a-longs or high lift jacks used in that capacity is the feedback they give as to the load on them, something you do not get with powered hydraulics. Yes, with my backhoe I could lift and position materials very slowly and to a fraction of an inch, but there was no difference whether I was lifting a 1,000# log or a 200# generator. Particularly when pulling from multiple points that load feedback is very helpful in telling where things are moving freely and where they are stuck.

Reply to
Pete C.

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:59:52 GMT, "Pete C." wrote Re Re: House shifting off foundation:

This seems like good advice. Using 5 or 6 (or more) come-a-longs will give much better control.

Reply to
Vic Dura

Could you get angle iron to go to the roof from the base? I think that you are right to pull from the base but guess that the angle iron needs to be on the two stongest parts and not the intermediate. There's a serious risk of crushing it.

Reply to
clot

Pete C. wrote: ...

See my other response on my preferred suggested technique... :)

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Reply to
dpb

Yes, but hydraulic jacks, even being manual, don't give you very good feedback as to the force applied do to their very high ratio. The come-a-longs and high lift jacks are lower ratio and provide better feedback.

Reply to
Pete C.

But it's a lot harder to get them to push... :)

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Reply to
dpb

A high lift jack does both. Real handy gadget. I used a high lift jack, a couple chains, shackles, slings and a half dozen logs to move a 40' container (near 10k#) over rough terrain about 60' and then level it onto stacked solid concrete blocks by myself :) It didn't hurt that it was a heavily wooded area so I had anchors anywhere I wanted.

Reply to
Pete C.

I think you'd be better off with come-alongs, a winch, or chain fall. It will be hard to get the accuracy you need with tractors.

Reply to
Henry

Hello? That was last week. I would hope they have it bolted down and are drinking beer by now.

s

Reply to
Steve Barker LT

How do you build a house without inspections... He did say 3 years ago right..? 2004 not 1904..? Or is the house in malaysia..?

I would think if you're smart and patient enough to build a house, you would not leave out the obvious step of fastening it to the foundation..?

3 inches is a long way to move.. I still say this couldn' t happen without at least one wall moving a different distance than the other 3... The op wants you to believe all 4 walls moved the same distance..??

Impossible..didn't happen.. I would imagine during construction, you'd notice you're not tied down when you start loading up those walls and tying them together etc...

Reply to
Charles Pisano

How do you build a house without inspections... He did say 3 years ago right..? 2004 not 1904..? Or is the house in malaysia..?

I would think if you're smart and patient enough to build a house, you would not leave out the obvious step of fastening it to the foundation..?

3 inches is a long way to move.. I still say this couldn' t happen without at least one wall moving a different distance than the other 3... The op wants you to believe all 4 walls moved the same distance..??

Impossible..didn't happen.. I would imagine during construction, you'd notice you're not tied down when you start loading up those walls and tying them together etc...

Reply to
Charles Pisano

"Charles Pisano" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@storefull-3275.bay.webtv.net...

Happens all the time, especially on partial-crawlspace, or crawlspace-only houses. The walls don't sit on the sill plate, the floor system does. It is a relatively strong box section, with lots of T joints and the floor decking (and X-braces between joists) to keep it square. The framing subcontractor, like in a subdivision, bids the work as a package. Once the foundation inspection is signed off, they want to get in and out fast. By the time they finish laying down the sill plates, the other guys on crew are already laying out the joists and rim joists, and starting the decking. There is a very short window to apply the washers and nuts and torque them down, from above. Task is often assigned to the kid on the crew, and is regarded as scut work. If kid is lazy, or the real carpenter that is supposed to be watching him is lazy, the bolt-down get skipped. It is a pain to do it from below after floor gets decked, and a pain for the inspector to look on later visits, so it often falls through the cracks. Floor system is still solid without it, and nothing will move around unless there is a high wind, so nothing will raise a red flag after the the floor is decked. The J-bolts mudded into foundation are usually only an inch at most above the top of the sill plate, so house has to rise 2.5 to 3 inches before it can shift sideways. 999 houses out of 1000, the wind (or floodwater) will never get that bad. I have seen 40 year old houses with the washers and nuts missing, that never moved at all.

Yes, it would be unusual for house to move and stay perfectly square- it usually gets twisted. But on a small well-framed house, it may be stiff enough to look intact and square. So I do find OP's story plausible. I bet the doors and windows all stick now, though.

aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

there are plenty of places in this here US of A that don't have government intervention in building.

steve

Reply to
Steve Barker LT

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