Lifting a House Up In The Air and Adding a Floor Underneath (House Lift)

A timelapse video of a house lift and construction project.
Filmed October to December, 2022 in London, Ontario, Canada.
Thanks to:
- Gary Girard, project manager
- Richard, Continental Building Movers
- John, Lockhart Structural
- Chris, carpenter
- Shawn, Bracks Plumbing
- Special thanks to Mike & Jeff for their help and support
Video edited by Michael Tanton

[@chrisglenn2096]

Cool stuff! This same video with a voiceover explaining what’s going on would be GOLD! Took an ugly partial basement and turned it into a full basement that can be finished

[@emasters8619]

Yeah, I'd like to see that. I was also wondering how long this took.

[@andrewallason4530]

@@raymond19001yeah. Seems like there was an option to actually work, and reduce that to 25-30 days. Seems like quite a few days of guys just standing around, or sitting on the tailgate of their utes.

[@frostbite1991]

@@andrewallason4530 waiting for supplies. Hence why the foam foundation blocks were only half assembled for a day. Had to wait for delivery. Logistics will take over a decade to recover from the Suez Canal fiasco.

[@P1_384]

That foundation wall system is pretty slick.

[@mikesmith1702]

my grandfather in the 1950s owned a father and son concrete company in Chicago that specialized in putting in full basements under existing houses using conveyors to bring the dirt up to the ground level. Basically done by hand.

[@BenderOMetal]

This was really cool to watch. I would love to see a follow up video of the finished house and yard.

[@mtanton]

I'm putting one together!

[@boysrus61]

@@mtanton That will be nice to see. Can't wait.

[@Amberlyn520]

@@mtanton when do u think it will be finished

[@coloradodayhiker]

I had a new foundation put in and the cost for that was $92k. Lifting the house including dig-out was $120k, roughly. Purchased my home in 1973 for $37k. Home value is now $675k. So we'll worth it.

[@dallasarnold8615]

WOW ! I cleared my 2.5 acres, poured my 150 ft. long driveway, did all the landscaping, and built my 3500 sq. ft. house with a full basement ALL for $ 93k in 1986. My father and I did all the work. Just goes to show how much prices have changed since then. We have 43 windows and 9 exterior doors ( two of which are double doors ) for $10k from Pella Windows and Doors. And we are assessed at $650k. I don't plan to ever sell, so I have not checked to see what market value might be.

[@beetlejuice3x309]

So this is why zoomers can't afford anything

[@jobisrael8313]

It's amazing what he have done but I believe he made a big mistake and missed out on a big opportunity. I would have took a loan off my house and tore down the house and built the whole house in ICF you would approve your house tenfold and better weather protection and probably for the same amount of money. If I had the same choice that what I would do. 01-14-23

[@dallasarnold8615]

@@beetlejuice3x309 Nothing happens overnight. Patience and early planning are required. Too many people seem to think everything comes easy.

[@ivanwallace3296]

I had wondered about that! That seems like an expensive job.

[@TheNightshadePrince]

It’s more adding a basement than a second a new first story. I think I would have preferred it because a two story house with a new basement. :)

[@colinjones5100]

Ahh, machinery! Don't you just love them. They make the impossible, possible.

[@slurker3788]

to be fair, its not a huge house. we built pyramids and castles with sticks and stones :)

[@colinjones5100]

@@slurker3788 The difference is, pyramids, castles etc were built over vast amounts of time and at the cost of many lives.

[@billybike57]

Very impressive, thanks for sharing!

[@bapi6643]

My grandfather did this to our family homestead back in the early 1900’s, by hand, without the benefit of power equipment to created a second housing unit.

[@Grateful_wolf]

Wow big respect to your grandfather

[@bapi6643]

@@Grateful_wolf my mother said that he didn’t want to have to remove a perfectly good roof to add a second floor, lol

[@Grateful_wolf]

@@bapi6643 that’s so awesome what a legend! 💪🏼⚒️🧰🛠️💪🏼

[@petermcgreevy6386]

those were the days when Men were Men and Women were Women.......😊

[@bapi6643]

@@petermcgreevy6386 and today girls will be boys and boys will be girls

[@LynnRedwine800]

This video is absolutely amazing. I actually enjoyed EVERYTHING about it. Especially watching Autumn turn to Winter. The actual construction of the addition was just wonderful to observe. It was educational and extremely calming. For a little over 19 minutes, I was truly at peace. Thanks for sharing this exceptional video. This actually made it to my playlist. ❤❤👍🏽👍🏽

[@martinwarner13]

That’s really cool , I just can’t help but think tearing down and starting fresh be best but I’m sure there was a valid reason behind this , I didn’t even know this was a thing 👍🏻

[@rpvitiello]

Then you are throwing the $100,000 in lumber, labor, and other materials to make the house to a landfill. If the house is in good shape, why throw it out?

[@KG5RK]

@rpvitiello Well ONE THING to consider is whether or not you are OVER INVESTING in the neighboorhood?

[@americansfirst1095]

Overreaching democrat city policies. Guaranteed!!!

[@CherryGryffon]

Or just, building a floor on top.... Roughly same cost, and you'd have two floors AND a half basement...

[@jtaiv2798]

What@@americansfirst1095

[@Losttoanyreason]

So not really a new first floor but a new fully insulated basement instead. Nice ICF build👍. House lifting is always a fun watch for us spectators. Probably not so much for the home owners though, LOL.

[@nofurtherwest3474]

But the house wasn't that great, so seems like it would have been smarter to just demolish the entire thing and start new? Sure it would have cost more but in the end you get a brand new house with new electrical (this one prob has knob and tube) and much more functional and better insulated.

[@richarddecker9515]

Yes I expected them to build another floor, but I was realizing that they don’t have time left to do that. Seems like a lot of work for a full basement

[@perezm714]

The night to day transitions were pretty cool. I liked seeing the basement walls go up and then the house be put down.

[@BlakHeart666]

Where I have a getaway camp in Mississippi, every trailer/house if lifted off the ground about 20’ high as it tends to flood with bad weather

[@TheShowgunofHarlem]

I had to do something similar to my place. The county would not let me tear it down to rebuild. They said my house is on a lot that (under new building code restrictions) unbuildable if I were to tear it down. What I did was, tear off the second floor, rebuilt it, lift that up, then tore down the first floor and foundation, once that was done, set the second floor down on top of it. It was the only way I could circumvent the new building code. Added about $80k to the project, but it was that or nothing.

[@ikani1]

Nice ship of Theseus method :D

[@TheShowgunofHarlem]

@@ikani1 exactly

[@jennhoff03]

Wow!!! That's crazy. I hate when regulations get in the way of logic.

[@johnpartridge7623]

Good job fellas.

[@rpvitiello]

Why no egress windows after all that work to make the basement habitable space?

[@ronbunker5778]

Excellent!

[@dmann1209]

Excellent content, I would love to have viewed the completed project. I must have missed the part where they poured the concrete for the basement floor. My dream would have been to have a 12 foot deep basement. Amazing content!

[@bobharris3433]

fantastic

[@guns942]

Very cool.

[@c4manke]

Mike Holmes would be screaming "Where is the drainage system?"

[@RZRBLAZ]

Did you see Holmes scandal with the houses he “approved” in Canada, guy screwed so many people!

[@oliver9089]

If he did, then I would ask if he's blind, because I saw a drainage system installed in this video.

[@pepino735]

Amazing...

[@Blahh992]

Good choice using ICF

[@TheNorthernmunky]

Phenomenal amount of work! Great job

[@dnewmanbeachwood]

Did it a little different lifted mine and replaced the foundation and framed a new 1st floor under the lifted home turned a cape into a federal with a covered front porch. Cost me 150k in nj

[@christianbabcock6170]

My house was moved to a new spot in 1950. We found a newspaper article about it shortly after we got it. New foundation and all. It was supposed to be demolished but some rich guy did not wanna see that happen for some reason so here we are.

[@whocares6698]

How is this cheaper than building a new house? Structual engineering involved is amazing

[@tuckercase2449]

I'd guess it's marginally cheaper. There's another guy in the comments somewhere around here who claims a house bought cheap back in the day was easier to lift than to tear down and rebuild. Seems like a ton of nerve-wracking work though.

[@richardstone2337]

Now take off the roof and add a top level......

[@philtucker1224]

You didn’t show how the house was being moved! Surely that is the part of most fascination!!?

[@GreywindLina]

It was cool to watch, but I fail to understand why they wouldn't install electric outlets along the walls, etc. And they packed dirt around what insulation they wrapped it with. Was this just an upgraded cellar?

[@Geonious]

I want to do this to my house to add a foot or two of height to my foundation walls so I can get the basement floor repoured higher. Whoever built my house (at the bottom of a hill) built the foundation floor level with the ground. When it rains heavy the water creeps up towards my garage doors. Adding 4-6" of floor height would raise the floor above the potential flood level while increasing the overall ceiling height in my basement. I'm guessing this isn't a cheap process.

[@jimgarb1889]

I'm doing two houses at the moment that you basically describe. Turning a 6ft basement into an 8ft basement. We are underpinning the whole house first, and chopping out the floor, digging down 2 feet by hand, then pouring a new floor. You might not necessarily need to do a lift.

[@allnamestakenlol]

Pretty crazy.

[@kimp1962]

I wanna see the rest of it. When the house gets done.

[@redneckbryon]

From the title of the video, I thought they were adding a complete new basement and main floor, underneath the existing house.

[@FurballHacker]

Wait-wait- wait-wait! How did they lift it? What was happening on the other side of the house?? I have so many questions!

[@scottrob60]

Me too!

[@SteveBueche1027]

In most cases hydraulic jacks designed for this purpose are used.

[@mistersniffer6838]

Lifting is NOT the magic. How did they move it forward and back to its original position?????

[@quacktony]

Damn, that was interesting.

[@RonAaron33]

🤩 wow

[@tom_foolery]

I would love to have this done to my house

[@brucemartini2288]

initiate new worker, by having them "separate the snow from the dirt"🤣🤣

[@zero1fifty8]

How much was doing this as opposed to just taring down the old outdated house and building another house with full basement

[@lethargicmotorsport2025]

Not sure if this is the case in this video but some places have strange restrictions on new construction in older areas, lot is possibly not big enough for new construction but remodeling is a whole different ballgame. I’m always amazed by what they will permit me to do with existing structures in my area but will not give us permits to tear down and rebuild.

[@petepedroraymondmesa7827]

Do you have video after lifting the house and restoring the house inside and out? I love watching videos before and after results....I love watching ( austin flippers ) in texas.

[@debby8428]

I love Lincoln and Lauren!!

[@corknakovastein]

damn! full size basement now

[@InkyOhnoe]

How much did this project cost

[@karelmarx8899]

costs zero ,good samaritan project

[@genis8530]

The house probably cost a million dollars being it's in Canada

[@jjtrades7186]

48 million. But they saved themselves the headache of buying a new home!

[@philtucker1224]

I think an enlargement project of this size would normally require a budget of about $200,000 dollars (depending on finish quality of the new basement-floor fittings etc)

[@roblewis3603]

I would like to know how they keep the basement dry, in a downpour, considering the base is sitting in a pit below ground

[@keithfeenstra1741]

I’m curious of the decision to add on under the existing house vs raising the roof and adding a second floor. I can think of a few, like Twsp code, total cost, able to continue living in your house, as opposed to having no roof during construction. What was your reason?

[@oldnstillworkin5709]

Cool

[@leonr1985]

This kinda looks exactly like my house in Fallout 4

[@DJboutit2]

In Houston TX if you live within a few blocks of a big bayou raising you house 3ft would be a waste of money your house would still fool. You would need to raise your hose 6 to 10 ft to keep it from flooding.

[@DarkHorseParatrooper]

Wouldnt taking the roof of and building up be easier and cheaper??

[@AlexeiTetenov]

In a big city like Toronto, it probably would have cost 5x for the permitting process.

[@rickcampbell4920]

I wish you could see a lot more

[@shirleylavernerosej.120]

Can we see the finished product?

[@Maishley]

Concrete wasn’t poured for the basement floor?

[@JamesCouch777]

It looks like most of the addition was underground.

[@vangavolukanna]

Awesome! Is it possible to achieve a ranch brick house ? We want increase head room of the basement.

[@TheNightshadePrince]

I think it would depend on if the brick is Veneer or not if it’s a veneer and the house is wood framed this should work but if the house is solid brick on the outside it probably would have to have each wall of the basement dug out and new bricks put under the existing blocks for each wall. Then the basement floor could be removed and any pipes and wires would have to be adjusted. Poor a new slab and it should be done. :)

[@Abodemover]

We ( the industry of professional house lifters ) can lift any type of brick structure whether veneer or solid brick .

[@TheNightshadePrince]

@@Abodemover How do you keep the Vermeer from coming off when you lift it? it become very delicate after a few decades. :)

[@Abodemover]

@TheNightshadePrince , you have to support the brick close together at the point you pick it up with steel beams. If it is especially delicate the brick can be supported with vertical support pushing it towards the house walls

[@TheNightshadePrince]

@@Abodemover Interesting. :)

[@JakeMakesProductions]

Awesome, I've lifted a building before with a bunch of jacks and blocking. But how do they move it over like that?

[@mtanton]

Going to have to make a followup with all the random videos and photos that people took during the process!

[@iviaverick52]

why build down vs adding a second floor?

[@stoveguy2133]

Gramps 1875 house was lifted 3’ and they added 50% larger addition.

[@barbrice721]

Do you plan to finish the basement.

[@brucemartini2288]

how do they know where all the "anchor bolts" are?🤔

[@bobm2331]

Very odd they are not wearing hard hats while under the house. Bet the neighbors loved this but well worth the effort.

[@commonsence8223]

Won't help when 50 tons drops

[@rainer2810]

Warum wird so ein Aufwand betrieben? Oder ist das Haus ein Denkmal und darf nicht abgerissen werden?

[@PromasterHOF]

They added a better and up to code basement, it can’t be considered a living space or “extra floor” unless it has an exit directly to ground level, not a set of stairs to a door the same height as the main floor of the house. We spent a tom of money converting a basement into a living space with 2 bedrooms a family room and a full bathroom. We had it appraised and what we did added no value to the original 2 bedroom house. Actually had it appraised by 3 independent appraisers and one bank financed appraiser with the same results.

[@billsmith9249]

you added finished space but you added no bedrooms even though you technically did add 2 bedrooms. They need egress exits in each room to be considered a bedroom by NBC (national building code). I think it's hogwash but I do understand it.

[@billsmith9249]

if you added the egress in each bedroom that should allowed them to be counted as an additional bedroom.... just an FYI.

[@doesnotexist6524]

How is this more cost effective than demolishing the house and rebuilding it?

[@dorotheaisserstedt9238]

War bestimmt eine teure Angelegenheit.........aber ich finde diese Aktion sehr mutig. Schade, dass der Film nicht alle Bauarbeiten zeigte bis zum Einzug.

[@rawland229]

Company info who those the work and in what states they work?

[@BlacknRedSN95]

whats the cost?

[@mistersniffer6838]

How did they move it forward and back to its original position?????

[@mtanton]

Going to have to make a followup video with all the additional media captured by the homeowners.

[@mistersniffer6838]

@@mtanton - That would be cool. Thanks.

[@ourv9603]

In 1980 my wife & I had some friends who did exactly that. He paid a co $10K to raise his ranch house and put in on cribbing THEN he build the lower floor. We moved so I did not get to see the finished product. (my wife said he finished the house) THEN they got a divorce. Too much construction pressure? !

[@KruznwithKMAN]

That seems insane to do to this house on a busy street.

[@A_Buster9693]

you could definitely take a city and push it somewhere else with this strategy

[@rdfarley89]

I dunno why the music had to sound like Spiderman was on the hunt for Doctor Octopus lol.

[@JL-rx6hl]

Why not build above?

[@JamesCouch777]

How do they keep it from flooding?

[@rickyshinobi2303]

French Drainage system it seems you can see them adding the tube in the lower corner of the basement, which will catch and pump out ground water

[@eastpark4864]

@@rickyshinobi2303 it wont work if power is off, pipe breaks and nobody's around to turn the water off.

[@rickyshinobi2303]

@@eastpark4864 I’m no construction expert. But you are correct if there is an issue with power then the sump pump will not work, you might be able to add an alarm, just in case, you can also have a manual backup, and then have a back electric pump around if not too expensive. I believe the goal of these drainage systems is to keep ground water from directly impacting the foundation if you have a groundwater challenges at your home? I assume if The drainage systems if not collected into a pit, if possible they might directly connect it to the main sewer but I don’t know if that is acceptable? If a pipe breaks they will have to dig up and replace it, but most ppl used very thick, robust pvc looking pipes if they don’t want issues with collapse or breakage it seems. Again, I’m no expert, just here learning and taking tips and tricks.

[@cruzzindodge]

You can clearly see they don't have a problem with ground water or only problem they might have is with run off but im sure that's minimal and they added a French drain for redundancy.

[@jwboll]

Cool timelapse but they're out by about 5" on the corner of the entryway 19:35.

[@robertboykin1828]

if yer inna flood plane stick some poles under it.

[@justins21482]

this is wicked and something I would love to do BUT I have to ask....you're telling me this was cheaper than just dozing the house and building a legit house from ground up that is already 2 stories? I suppose what is making me scratch my head is that now the first floor, I'm assuming, is going to be the second floor? I admit im commenting only 5 minutes in without seeing the final result. This process CAN'T possibly be cheap.

[@RATADATUAVELHA]

that's the advantage of living in a shed.

[@audreyatherton3373]

That is something we cannot do in South Africa as our houses are made of brick.

[@NicsHODLN]

I'm assuming if they tore it down they wouldn't be allowed to rebuild. I lived in a rental like that and the owner had to "remodel" it one section at a time until the house was completely new. Ridiculous

[@buyamerican3191]

So referring to the title, you didn't really add a floor, you just put a new basement under the old house? or is there going to be a part 2 showing lifting the house back up and adding another floor?

[@dallasarnold8615]

This would have been much better if you were to slow it down a bit and show HOW the house was lifted and shifted sideways. There are a bazillion videos showing foundations going in.

[@mtanton]

Unfortunately, these were the only two places that timelapse cameras could be placed during construction. If there is enough interest, I will cut a followup video using the piles of videos and photos that were taken from all angles before, during, and after construction.

[@edwardfast4525]

No rebar

[@eagl3ye]

Zoomers: Can’t find/afford a house Boomers: Let’s take out another $200k loan on this little cash cow I bought for $20k in 1975.

[@someguydino6770]

dem dudes musta have balls O' steel ta be woik'in unda der dats fo sho

[@wesleyblanton2432]

I’m just trying to understand Why? It just seem cost effective for this House.

[@whymindsetmatters]

Wouldn't this be considered a basement and not a floor?

[@Stanza21588]

I never even heard of anything like this. I thought it was clickbait lol.

[@Emilthehun]

Whatever you paid , it was money well spent

[@eastpark4864]

It's money pit!

[@Emilthehun]

@@eastpark4864 every house is a money pit bro 😂

[@RG-li5zq]

Looks like the cost of the project would exceed the sale price of the house, but prehaps it is located in a third-world area like California.

[@mikewhitaker2880]

seems like it would have been cheaper to do complete tear down and build from scratch... also a lot of work just to redo the basement...

[@dano8328]

The music is so annoying but the video was cool to watch

[@whymindsetmatters]

Does your volume button work? Just turn it off.

[@juanlaris1656]

Idk because of hawaii

[@tomrandall4722]

They just put a new foundation under it they didn't add a new floor

[@TORAH-613]

dec.2022 I bet that job costed more than the house and piece of dirt it was on. Id say at least 50k to 100k us dollars to do.

[@JustATakit]

Ok so you lied. This is a basement, adding floor means above ground. Though I will admit that I only watched this video because I wanted to see them lift that house up on top of another floor above ground.

[@TomsBackyardWorkshop]

I sure hope its a fish eye lense because those walls look so crooked.

[@mtanton]

It is an extremely distorted lens. The walls are perfect.

[@lancepaul2154]

I do this everyday this way looks complicated way to many man hours if this took 50 days..

[@DanKoning777]

Interesting time lapse. I am curious why a concrete vibrator wasn't used during the pour though. Pretty standard practice regardless of the cement type.

[@rozachernushchernush5549]

Dude, you didn't have to use the truck. You had to use 4 jacks. And it would be cheaper. And not so laborious.