Malter Residence, Westport, CT – Frame House Lifted With Concrete Slab Floor

March 2011

Dear Wolfe House Movers,

We live in a flood zone A. In an effort to get our home into FEMA compliance we decided to go through the process of lifting it from 11 feet to the 13.5 feet above sea level requirement, and rebuilding the foundation beneath it.  We had recently done a large renovation on the house and didn’t want to destroy the tile work, wood flooring or the fireplace located on the ground  floor and needed to find a company who could successfully lift the house from beneath the concrete slab it sat on. The building department in the town where we live didn’t think such a feat was possible. It had never been done before in our town. The locals have always lifted homes from above the slab and destroyed whatever resided there.

The building departments almost didn’t approve our project, but eventually gave in as we convinced them to have as much faith in Wolfe as we did. They had, after all, done this kind of thing 100 times before.

Wolfe came to CT with truckloads of heavy equipment and five of the most stoic guys we had ever met. The leader of the pack barely cracked a smile but went to work in the most organized and methodical fashion I have ever seen anyone work. Within 4 days the house was dug out and planted on steel beams and pods made of 2×4’s (see enclosed picture). In a week the hydraulic pumps had lifted it to the desired height and a few days later, they successfully pushed the house over 15 feet to the north with a back hoe.  The whole project from start to finish took ten days.

The only damage inside the house was a cracked wall here and there. I had not even packed up my kitchen glasses. I just left the entire house as is (though I did take the pictures off the walls for safe keeping).

It was all truly amazing to watch, handled incredibly professionally, and well done.

– Valerie and Stuart

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