My early home improvement experience included a complete remodel our home in Los Angeles before we moved to the San Francisco bay area. The remodel started in 1985 and involved lifting our 900 sq foot 3-bedroom, one bath house up about 10 feet and building a first floor under it.

The idea of the lift, instead of a traditional 2nd story remodel, began during design discussions with an architect, and was rooted in my early training in modular software development. In a traditional remodel you have to add piers and structural supports for the 2nd story in and around the original house. To accomplish this you have to chop up and work around the existing floor plan.

By lifting the original home to create a 2nd story, we were able to retain the same floor plan with two changes. One small bedroom was sacrificed to become a large open stairway, with the hallway becoming a large 2nd floor landing. The original living room, kitchen and small laundry room became the spacious master bedroom, bath and walk-in closet. The two remaining bedrooms and the bathroom (and roof) remained intact.

The lift was done by a house moving company, using the same principals, but moving it up instead of sideways. They disconnected the house from the foundation, placed I-beams underneath the house and used hydraulic jacks to lift it up, placing rail-road ties cribbing as it went up. Then a new foundation was built (for a slightly larger first floor) and the framing added before the 2nd floor was gently settled into place.

The new first floor had a bath and adjacent guest bedroom, an open plan living room with 10 ft ceiling, a den, a dining room and a large kitchen.

It was a great house!