I currently have a 30 yr old seasonal two story log cottage sitting on cedar posts which are either sitting on bedrock about 2 feet below ground or buried in soft ground at varying depths according to slope of bedrock. I do not have access to heavy equipment as I am secluded. The land slope is about 10 percent. My problem is that the frost has been heaving the posts at the rear of the cottage which is now 5 inches higher than the front. I tried putting in cement blocks filled with concrete and putting them as deep as I could but they are heaving too. The construction is simple 6 inch cedar logs nailed vertically on post and beams. The 2 story cottage measures 25 X 32 feet. The slope of the bedrock( which is a few feet below ground level at some support points) can be at 30-40 percent. My next plan is to just get the cottage level and use new cedar posts. I need to lift the sagging sections and put in new cedar posts. For this I want to use three
20ton bottle jacks to straighten the main beams which are double 2 X 12.My problem is how to safely support the jacks at a three foot hight. The ground is sandy with clay underneath. Can I just use cottage pads on the ground and put solid concrete blocks to fill the gap. So one support would be a 18 X 18 X 3 inch reinforced pad on the ground with maybe crushed stone to level. then several 3 x 6 x 8 solid concrete blocks stacked together and finaly the bottle jack and a 3/8 steel plate secured to the jack and the beam. In my area there is available either a 20 X 20 X 4 inch 7000lb per square inch cottage pad or a 18 X 18 X 3 inch steel reinforced. I would prefer the reinforced one because its only 75 lbs and easier to stack and move around. I don't know what the load capacity of the 3 in is and I dont know how much of a load I will actually be putting on it. There are so many variables. I've seen house movers using what looks like railway ties to build cribs to do this but i can't find any DIY info on this method. Has anyone had similar challenges that can give me some pointers. How far apart to place the jacks? How to keep the whole lifting assembly dead level while it is being pushed into the ground?
Sorry for the long post but I'm trying to do this job right for once and not kill myself in the process. I heard that if the jack is not dead level it could slip out and....well my wife would be rich ;-)
Frank