ELEVATION, SHORING AND LEVELING NEW ORLEANS
From the first years of European settlement to the present, houses in New Orleans and the coastal parishes of Louisiana have been raised above the ground, either during their initial construction or following flooding or the threat of flooding. The appearance of these houses and the methods of elevating them have changed, but the reasons that prompted their raising have remained the same. With the latest and most advanced equipment to safely elevate your home the right way the first time Castillo Builders, LLC. specializes in shoring and raising homes to safer levels. Also, our expertise in the grant process makes it easy for you to navigate through the paperwork process. Our staff will make this process easy for you. Please call or sign into our free estimate log-in page and tell us a little about what your vision is for your property, and we will be happy to answer all your questions and schedule your free estimate.
During the home elevation process houses are separated from their foundations, then raised and held by temporary supports while new or extended foundations are constructed beneath. The result: living areas are elevated and only the foundations remain exposed to flood waters.
FACTS ON FLOODING:
Elevation reduces the flood risk to your home and its contents. It also reduces flood insurance premiums, but more importantly, it reduces the physical, financial, and emotional strain that all too often will accompany flooding.
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Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage.
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Just an inch of water can cause costly damage to your property
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Flash floods often bring walls of water 10 to 20 feet high
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Hurricanes are common but often overlooked as causes of flooding
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New land development can increase flood risk, especially if the construction changes natural runoff paths
Your home has a 26% chance of being damaged by a flood during the course of a 30-year mortgage, compared to a 9% chance of fire.
Raising a house with a pier and beam foundation is fairly straight forward. However, slab built and raised basement homes can be elevated as well. A contractor has two options when elevating a slab house:
Option One: to elevate the slab with the house. First the contractor must install new concrete pilings beneath the grade beams, then he will elevate the home to its new height, he will then pour a new continuous steel reinforced foundation (with a masonry skirt to hide the old slab’s scraggly bits) and finally he will extend the interior pilings up to reach the underneath side of the slab at its new height.
Option Two: to separate the slab from the house, elevating only the walls and the roof. Here we only elevate the walls and thae roof and as one might imagine, this method will require a significant amount of renovation once the home elevation has been completed.
Castillo Builders specialize: in all Foundation Repairs, Foundation Leveling, Foundation Shoring, Foundation Replacement, Foundation Cracking Repairs, Foundation Sub-flooring Repairs, Home Foundation Repairs, Home Foundation Replacement, Home Sub-Flooring Repairs, Shoring Repairs, Shoring and Leveling, Home Shoring Repairs, Home Shoring & Leveling, Elevations, Home Elevations, Installing Footers, Pushing New Block Piers.
It doesn’t always take a foundation specialist to tell you that you have foundation problems. You can examine your house carefully using the following checklist to determine whether or not you need to have your house inspected.
On the inside:
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Cracks in the interior walls.
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Cracks in a brick fireplace wall.
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Nails “popping” out of the sheetrock.
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Windows and doors that don’t fit squarely without binding.
On the outside:
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Cracks that run diagonally along mortar joints in the brick veneer.
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Caulk joints that are pulling apart
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Cracks in exposed concrete at the base of the house. If there are only small cracks, they may be non-structural, but they may also be the first indication of foundation problems.
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Roof leaks even though roof material is in good shape.
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House is leaning
Serious damage to your commercial or home foundation can develop immediately following construction or years later as changes occur within the soils that surround and support your home. Whether the damage is caused by changes in soil moisture content, weak native clay, concrete issues, or poor compaction of fill soils, the skilled team of Castillo Builders offers you permanent solutions to get your home or business back on solid ground.