Ask the Architect

We’re raising our house. Help!

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Q. I have so many questions since I met with the contractor who will raise my house. Is it safe, and do I have to empty everything out? My contractor says I can use “microllam” beams, not steel beams on top of concrete posts, to save money, and save even more with concrete walls all around to make an enclosed space. Why would my architect even plan a “stilt-like” house that’s open underneath? It doesn’t make sense. I think it will look ugly, since it won’t even be high enough to stand in. I also want it higher to park my cars, but it will cost me for the extra 4 feet NY Rising won’t help with. This is confusing and annoying.

A. Welcome to Louisiana! Every step of the way, we architects have asked the same questions, only to learn that at each level of government that is “trying” to help you, these things are assumed: 1) You’re a rich New Yorker who can afford what it costs to prepare your house for the next flood. 2) Your house should resemble a swampland home in an area where there’s constant heat and humidity and seldom freezing weather. 3) You don’t mind the open look and unusable space where animals can live in the tarp-covered belongings that won’t fit in your hardly usable, cramped attic loaded with air conditioning ducts, and the height restrictions that prevented you from storing items that used to be in your now filled-in basement (a pre-requisite for accepting funds to lift your home).

I wish contractors got the day-to-day communications that participating architects and engineers have every time we hit a roadblock while trying to get our client-homeowners back in their newly flood-resistant dwellings. I wish contractors would ask architects why we choose steel beams over pieced-together, laminated beams, or why NY Rising will only give allowances for “stilt-like” open-air construction instead of concrete-enclosed foundation walls.

Your contractor is correct to recommend the walls instead of columns, but incorrect to suggest “microllams.” Why? Unfortunately, any kind of beam that has glued-together components that aren’t fully weather-protected isn’t warranteed by the manufacturer, and won’t hold up to submersion in a flood. Since coated wood isn’t strong enough to span the distances the government programs will pay for, what’s left is steel beams or steel plate sandwiched between lumber, called flitch beams. The limited choices have to be carefully calculated, so steel-plate flitch beams are usually only for shorter spans.

This flood era has produced many bad decisions that will require a lot of expensive future repairs. It may not be nice to hear, but it’s the truth. There’s much more to explain, and every taxpayer should be aware of what happens when building experts — people trained in the latest engineering and building science — are excluded from the decision process. To be continued next week.

© 2016 Monte Leeper. Readers are encouraged to send questions to yourhousedr@aol.com, with “Herald question” in the subject line, or to Herald Homes, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City, NY 11530, Attn: Monte Leeper, architect.