Hello all (again),
Does anyone know where to buy used jacking equipment in the NE? I’m specifically looking for Railroad Jacks. I’m not looking to buy new ones, since I don’t want to pay $600 a piece for them. Also interested in screw house jacks as well (used of course).
10 to 20 ton capacity if that helps.
thanks in advance for any help.
Jeff
Replies
will each jack be holding that much, I guess this is for your personal residence, you could rent some big boys to lift the house up and stage cribbing to hold it while you do the work, then rent again to put the house back down.
I own several jacks for that now but the above is what I did before I purchased them. we still use the cribbing because it is safer than leaving the house up on hydraulics for an extended period of time.
now make sure you know what you are doing before lifting any structure, this is not a usually not a diy project. at the very least consult a couple of house movers for a plan of attack.
free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it, your mileage may vary.
James
So you're really going for it?
Cool.
How about some 'in the now' pics and a description of what you want to do?
I just posted some pics in the Photo Gallery... look for "Rasputin's dwelling and project" as a subject.
and for all... feedback is always welcome!
Looked at the picture. Suggestion is "Lift house, replace basement".....
You'll be good at this by the time you're done.
Joe H
>You'll be good at this by the time you're done.
Har Har. The voices of experience.
The list of sh*tty jobs I am good at is endless.
Joe H
Speaking of a shiitty job...
Years back I took on a total renovation of a 1908 house that should have been torn down. If was the old family place all the cousins practically grew up in, so I did it. Needless to say my total lack of awareness at what it takes to make it go was lacking so I've learned everything the hard way. Pulled it off tho'.
Anyhow, the septic hadn't been used in like 15 0r 20 years and I knew nothing of the thing except it's general locality. I dug the dirt to the cover and found a concrete slab top with a like 1 foot square cover which I removed to see a dirt floor down there. New septics run about 10 grand around here and being a poor boy I move under radar so I elected to pour a slab floor.
Armed with a light, shovel and 5 gallon pails, I attempted the impossible among the funny smelling dirt. Fit diagonally through the square hole, dug it all out and found it already had a cement floor, no cracks and the block was in great shape, no roots. Replaced the ceramic tile piping with PVC and was good to go.
No I couldn't be hired to do that job but if you pay me 10 grand I'll drive over and do yours.
Let's see you top that for a shiitty job. Roar!
Junkhound already warned me off of that one. Mine's new and empty, and emptying it is one sh*tty job I'm not gonna learn.
Joe H
I use fifty ton hydraulics for lifting and then set cribbing and the screw jacks to hold for safety.
Excellence is its own reward!
Try asking Otto Service thru their web site.
http://www.hyjacks.com/
They'll probably know who to send you to at the opposite end of the country. The funny thing about screw jacks these days is they're getting to be more expensive for the same capacty than new hydraulics. My method was to lift with hydraulics, and crib and shim to hold. There were pictures of my job in the photo gallery under "New footing in the middle of the house". I'll see if that's still there, and bump it up to the top for you if I find it.
-- J.S.
Jeff
Where is this house you are working on?
Northeast Massachusetts... almost a far northeast as you can get... Essex county.
Why do you ask?
J
I figured if you were in the neighborhood, I could loan you some jacks, but you aren't very close (central PA).
I purchased a RR jack at a flea market and several screw jacks at public auctions. Cribbing came from a tumble down barn (with permission of owner).
Looked like this last time I used them:
we use old building mover screw jacks.. the boxes are 2x6 nailed up round-robin...Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Here's an old grandpa hydraulic:
Where on earth did you find that?
Came from a defunct dock company. Was broke and my brudder played with it and got in working again. Comes in handy for heavy weight with a low opening.
This past summer we jack'd our house and put in 4- 40 ft. steel I beems. My advice on the jacks is farmers and farmers auctions. It's amazing what those guys have sitting around in the corner of their barns!
These are cheap and limited in lifting ability but consider the support posts that are commonly used in a basement.
I have a garage that was on a 6x8 sillplate mounted on piers. Each Pier sank into the muck and the plate became soil eventually (built in 1910 or so). Working on the cheap I had to raise one wall 13 to 14 inches. I put 4 inch lag screws thru the wood siding into the studs at about 6 " below the top plate. I did this every 4 foot. Then I took the basement support posts and hooked the open top of the pipe on the lag screws (2 per stud screwed at an upward angle). The bottom (screw end) was placed on a 2x8 plate on the ground outside the building.
The screws were turned by hand up and down the 24 foot wall until it reached the end of the screwthread in the post. Then backed off and cement bricks were put under the threaded end for the next round of lifting. RPN (repeat as necessary.)
Eventually I got the top plate level with the top plate on the other side of the garage. Then took a circular saw and cut away the rotted wood. Finally digging a trench pouring a footing and building a block foundation wall. After a new sole plate of 2x4 PT I set the wall onto its new foundation.
In the big picture I saved the landfill 20 cu yards of waste. Also the financial burden of the pipejacks was only 15 to 20 bucks each.
Now if you are lifting a house, cribbing and the mass will make this seem goofy as the main mover. However as a supplementary force to lift and hold they do have merit.
PS. wood splits pretty easily with a point load. Little metal plates help keep the wood blocks you use from splitting.