Large houses on concrete slabs can be lifted several feet to avoid future flooding. The city of Orange Tuesday held a workshop for people to learn about elevating houses using federal emergency recovery grants.
Four companies from Texas and Louisiana had representatives with photographs or videos of houses being lifted. Some companies were offering free estimates for elevations.
The city’s grant consultant, Greg Wobbe, said the elevation grants can come from either FEMA or the Texas General Land Office, called GLO. Both agencies are using federal money for the grants. Some of the grants will pay 100 percent of an elevation.
The companies had examples of lifting slab houses of 4,000 square foot houses 12 feet and higher. The projects involve tunneling under the houses and using hydraulic lifts to raise the house.
One vendor said most houses in Orange would not need to be lifted above three feet. That kind of job could take only a day. The elevation projects include adding stairs to a house’s entrances.
The companies also offer ways to landscape or use architectural ways to camouflage the columns used to elevate.
About 30 people attended the workshop and the city had application forms available. The city has information on its website, orangetexas.net.
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