House Raising in NJ by Structural Solutions of NJ.
NEW JERSEY – When it comes to preparing for the next Hurricane Sandy, the lessons learned by those impacted in Hurricane Katrina six years prior are proving to be invaluable, especially when it comes to home elevating.
Home elevating – also known as house raising or house lifting – is when a home is jacked up onto a taller foundation with the intention of better protecting it against flood waters. It’s an industry that has experienced sharp growth since the 2012 storm.
In New Jersey, experts have said that house raising in NJ is a key part of a long-term strategy for dealing with flooding and minimizing damage when future mega-storms hit. Four years ago, the National Audubon Society’s G. Paul Kemp said much the same with regard to lifting homes along the Gulf Coast.
"It can be done in such a short time and at a fairly reasonable cost, and it immediately raises the level of protection, in some cases by hundreds of years," Kemp told CBS News. "We've found out that levees are not always reliable.”
In the Garden State, one of the major milestones that pushed the New Jersey house raising industry into overdrive was the release of FEMA’s new flood plain recommendations. These recommendations offer suggestions regarding how high homes should be elevated, and also impact flood insurance rates. Similar recommendations sparked the Gulf Coast house elevating industry after Katrina, too.
"This will spur activity unbelievably," predicted Jeb Bruneau, a neighborhood association president in New Orleans, in 2006. "A lot of people have been waiting for the advisory to come out so they'd have direction. A lot of people are looking at this as progress."
Donald Powell, chief federal coordinator for Gulf Coast hurricane recovery, told Fox News at the time that he agreed with Bruneau – those flood elevation recommendations were vital to the long, slow recovery effort.
"This will enable people to get on with their lives," Powell told Fox in 2006.
Here in New Jersey, the damage left behind by Hurricane Sandy made clear to property owners like Tuckerton’s Don Horneff that house raising in NJ was essential for the shore region’s future.
“All around me, the homes that were lower, most of them will have to be demolished,” Horneff told the New York Times. “It’s very sad. They have lost everything.”
The same realization was reached on the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina. As Louisiana Recovery Authority spokesperson Christina Stephens told the Daily Comet in 2009, "Elevating homes is really a good investment, and saves the money on future flooding losses. Every foot you go up makes you a little safer."
Indeed, "If you want to be safe … you need to elevate," Jim Stark, head of FEMA’s Gulf Coast Recovery Office, told USA Today in 2008.
It’s a message now being heard loud and clear in New Jersey, too.
And as people are learning, the options available to a homeowner during a lift are more varied than they expect, allowing those undergoing the process to make improvements to their house while they lift.
Unsurprisingly, Gulf Coast residents experienced the same thing.
Shirley Laska, with the Center for Hazards Assessment, Response and Technology (CHART) in New Orleans, told the Times-Picayune that house lifting is not a generic, once-size-fits-all process. Different property owners take differing approaches depending on their preferred aesthetics and needs, and the nature of their neighborhood.
"The elevated house has grown on us, and people are doing a better job at it," Laska told the New Orleans-based newspaper. "Some houses celebrate the new height, for those who want that, while others obscure the height, for those who prefer to blend in … There is no (single) 'right' way to do it. These are merely options, to get the conversation started."
In the Garden State, the conversation is already in high gear.