P3PPY
P3PPY GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/11/21 2:10 p.m.

MIL has an old trailer in a flood zone along a river here in MI. It's the family vacation destination and she wants something more permanent in order to spend more time there after retirement. Cannot build on ground level after some huge flood years ago, everything must now be on stilts. Shes wanting like 20x30 or similar and open air underneath for picnic tables, on a concrete slab. 
Over the years the others in the area have put singlewides up on stilts. I'm recommending they ask the neighbors what they had to do, but it was 30 years ago for most of them. Does the hive have any idea what's the best solution for living like 8' up in the air? I can't imagine the cost of getting a crane to put it up there either, if a pre-fab is the preferred course, anyway. 
My main concern with her is how she's going to climb those stairs as the years go on, but I guess that's for another day. 

MrChaos
MrChaos GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
4/11/21 2:20 p.m.

i mean these are done all the time in costal areas. So there are companies that do them, It just a modular home on stilts. designed to handle hurricanes.

OHSCrifle
OHSCrifle GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
4/11/21 2:26 p.m.

Is there a county building department? If so they'd be a good place to start. Ask genuine questions and they'll help you. In general the higher ABOVE the FEMA flood elevation the bottom of your first floor joists lie, the lower your insurance cost will be. 
 

You'll probably need a fairly level "bridge" to get to the entrance, then a stair for a second egress. If it's a river I assume  there is a bank that you can use to land the other end of the bridge. 
 

I love the idea of a stilted trailer on a river with a picnic area underneath. Seriously.

 

Edit: if it's not a trailer but  a "modular" house... you have to unload with a crane anyway so a little higher shouldn't be much different. 

mechanicalmeanderings
mechanicalmeanderings New Reader
4/11/21 2:32 p.m.

In eastern Colorado  it seems many of the modular homes get craned on to the foundations, should be easy to do.

 Local knowledge is key I would think in this case.  

The stair question/ramp is more challenging.  Make the railings part of the “stilt” structure so they are heavy duty and durable.  Also maybe a big porch at the house level up on the stilts so it is still possible to enjoy the outdoors when it gets harder to go up and down the stairs.

 

rustyvw
rustyvw GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/11/21 2:58 p.m.

I just got back from Kitty Hawk NC, almost every house down there is up on stilts.  There was a house down there that was raised up higher on a bunch of cribbing, I guess the piers under it are getting re-done.  I'm assuming with enough blocks and jacks, you could raise the trailer up and set the piers under it.  

Lee
Lee UberDork
4/11/21 4:19 p.m.

SWMBO's uncle has a rustic house on stilts in Western Tennessee. It's in an area that floods frequently and for long periods of time, he has to park his truck far away and take a canoe or jonboat part of the year.

He is in his 60s but not real healthy. He gets in and out of the house via a homemade elevator off of the deck. There's a platform and a small ATV size Warn winch that operates it.

 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter)
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
4/11/21 4:46 p.m.
MrChaos said:

i mean these are done all the time in costal areas. So there are companies that do them, It just a modular home on stilts. designed to handle hurricanes.

Yup, there's all kinds of single- & double-wides down here up on stilts. 

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter)
Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
4/11/21 5:03 p.m.

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Very common on the Northern Gulf coast. I expect to see a lot more of them along any bodies of water. 

Brian(formerly neon4891)
Brian(formerly neon4891) MegaDork
4/11/21 5:52 p.m.

I've seen similar. The landlord for our rental garage has an elevated home like this. I don't know specifics, but I imagine any reputable builder in a flood zone should be able to at least point you in the right direction. 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter)
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
4/11/21 8:43 p.m.

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

They have some really cute ones around here, albeit single-wide. They're basically designed like a shotgun house, with a deck on the front(skinny) end. They've been popping up(literally) all over the lower parts that were wiped out by Katrina. 

P3PPY
P3PPY GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/11/21 8:58 p.m.

Good stuff here. Thanks. And I didn't know about crane already required for modular, that's good to know. 
We routinely vacation along the hurricane coasts, I'll have to pay more attention down there, as well. 

Lee
Lee UberDork
4/12/21 10:18 a.m.

There's a much better video on FB, SWMBO's cousin shared of her dad's house during the Feb '19 flood, but it's private and I can't share it here.

Here's a screen shot of the elevator.

 

You can see several houses in this news segment, his house is at the 16 second mark and you get a good view of his jon boat and the elevator at the very end of the segment.

 

P3PPY
P3PPY GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/12/21 7:02 p.m.
Lee said:

SWMBO's uncle has a rustic house on stilts in Western Tennessee. It's in an area that floods frequently and for long periods of time, he has to park his truck far away and take a canoe or jonboat part of the year.

He is in his 60s but not real healthy. He gets in and out of the house via a homemade elevator off of the deck. There's a platform and a small ATV size Warn winch that operates it.

 

I'm listening... Locks and all that like on a lift? 

Lee
Lee UberDork
4/12/21 9:12 p.m.

In reply to P3PPY :

No, it's pretty simple, homemade, I think it's a Warn 3500 lb winch, which I think it has a built in brake, but the only safety mechanisms are gates to help keep you in and reduce the chance of being guillotined.  The elevator was already there when he bought the place.

NOT A TA
NOT A TA SuperDork
4/12/21 10:51 p.m.

Sell it and buy something on higher ground.  I say this as someone who lived in a home up on piers in CT.  A friend let me live in her summer home for a couple years (year round) after my home had been destroyed by a different type of flood that my insurance wouldn't pay for (long story).

Anyway, it was an absolutely beautiful place to live when no flood. While living there I spent hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars rebuilding walls and dug down way below grade to the water table during the dry season to put in additional reinforced concrete piers which I set thick steel plates in to bolt the floor joists and sill plates of the house solidly to the piers. Created swinging spring loaded doors to let the flood water into and back out of the "basement" area which was a concrete slab on ground level with walls I built with pressure treated wood after the previous walls went downriver during an earlier flood. Previous walls had no chance with just air behind the walls other than what water leaked in until the pressure blew the walls in.

It flooded both spring seasons while I lived there although it hadn't flooded for a few years prior. The first flood we (the residents) were told the flood gates for the dam would probably need to be opened the following day (they were) and to evacuate. So ya that sucked and clean up and repairs after flooding took a lot of time.

The next spring there was a lot of snow that winter in Northern New England and a quick warm up with heavy rains in the spring. I knew there was a high possibility of flooding so I parked up on Rt.34 the main road and walked in to the house. About 8PM the firemen came and said the dam operators wouldn't be opening the flood gates until possibly the following day so no need to evacuate and I could spend the night there.

About 3AM the firemen were beating franticly nonstop on the door. Once awakened, groggy me came down the stairs to a couple firemen in waders with flashlights who told me I needed to evacuate. I said "OK I'll gather up some clothes and my laptop and go, I left my truck up on 34".   Their reply was "NO, RIGHT NOW! Get your keys and come with us, you can't walk."  It was pitch black, no power in the house, raining heavily.  So they shined their light inside and I grabbed my keys and coat and locked the door. Fireman says "Hold my hand tight ! "    As we start down the deck stairs my feet get wet.  I then realize everything around the house is river, the water is waist deep in the yard already and although the air temp was above freezing it was really, really, cold water moving swiftly. They'd driven in with a big monster truck tall enough to just barely be above the water which was rising quickly.  The three of us made it to their truck and they got me out. Meanwhile a neighbors regular pickup truck had been flipped by the water because they hadn't parked on higher ground.  Not a fun night, lived at my store for about a week till I could return to the house.

I fixed everything on the house after that flood, repainted the inside, new plumbing fixtures, repaired and reinforced the river wall, basement walls & piers, so it was nicer than it'd ever been while she owned it. I told her in Dec.  "I'm moving to FL now, sell the house now while everything's perfect".  She hesitated and the following spring an even higher flood came which was over a foot deep on the first floor damaging all the flooring, kitchen cabinets, 1st floor bathroom, the Steinway piano, washer/dryer, etc. etc.  My basement work had performed admirably but the additional flood height wrecked the 1st floor of the place.

As time goes by more and more roads, parking lots, and other man made features increase the flash flood potential of our river systems. So what was once considered a hundred year storm situation may no longer apply. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if the building of new structures isn't allowed in the area where the trailer is now even up on piers or stilts. I wouldn't do it, it's just problems all the way through. If you do decide to do it, get a hatch in the roof that can be opened from the inside, you may save someone's life one day.

This is the house. The floods while I was there didn't quite get up to the deck. Flood after I left was about 2 feet over the deck.

[URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/NOTATA/a/e4f62cb6-b077-491d-9cd0-7cf5b086662b/p/4eecc6df-cde6-46a7-bd8b-3fb1616a8248][/URL]

 

[URL=https://app.photobucket.com/u/NOTATA/a/3282331e-e8b0-46b0-a583-3aa64ad91fd5/p/7ac6abd0-26f0-4d6b-b9ba-20ccf34305af][/URL]

Antihero (Forum Supporter)
Antihero (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UberDork
4/13/21 12:09 a.m.

I've lifted and moved modular homes. It's done with cribbing and normal old bottle jacks instead of a crane.

 

I've also dropped one with me under it onto a foundation. It was.....not fun

jharry3
jharry3 GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/13/21 7:25 a.m.

House trailers on stilts are done all the time in South Louisiana.   Jacking with cribbing is the cheap way to go. 

Some people build goal post looking frames and set the trailer on top of the crossbars. 

You drive in telephone pole size pilings, jack up the trailer, then install the cross pieces under the trailer to hold it up.  Then tie the trailer to the poles so it doesn't blow off in a hurricane.

Cajun ingenuity.  

P3PPY
P3PPY GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/13/21 7:12 p.m.

Well, the reason we have it and the neighbors are up on stilts is because in the 80s when it flooded like crazy, her parents had just installed a roof over it, using sunk four by fours or six by sixes around it to hold up the roof. Well, water comes through and washes away everyone else's stuff except for her place, or rather her parents place, because they had kind of framed it in. So the whole thing has been redone a couple of times over the years due to the floods, but right off the end of the property in the river there is where she met her future husband when they were just kids, and she's adopted and it's the first place her adoptive parents took her. So yeah... In one form or another, this place is staying. 
 

my personal thought is just to have a second level on top of a picnic pavilion, basically, And maybe some kind of storage up there, but you bring up a very good point about floodwaters rising. I will bring that into the discussion, to not just go bare minimum.

P3PPY
P3PPY GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/13/21 7:13 p.m.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

I've lifted and moved modular homes. It's done with cribbing and normal old bottle jacks instead of a crane.

 

I've also dropped one with me under it onto a foundation. It was.....not fun

So the ones I've seen that look done that way, it looks like there isn't a lot of just like open space underneath. Is it possible to do this method and still have a big open area?

Antihero (Forum Supporter)
Antihero (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UberDork
4/13/21 8:49 p.m.

In reply to P3PPY :

Because of the amount of cribbing?

 

If so, not really. Houses are heavy and I really wouldn't recommend undersupporting it.

 

If space is the goal though a concrete foundation would probably be better. You would still start with cribbing though

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