We fastened the ledger board vertically to have more wood meat attaching to the balloon studs. But, in this way, the ledger boards won’t twist or contort or split while jacking.
The previous ledgers were attached horizontally.
The 20- and 30-ton bottle jacks were placed under the ledgers.
This worked well. The house was raised enough to place these little screw jacks under it. I forget what individually these are rated for, but collectively, all eight, they sit at about 40% capacity.
As the house can now be slowly raised using these screw jacks, the ledgers were removed.
However, the next obstacle is that the porch (soon to be a veranda) is refusing to budge; it is bending and contorting, and nails are popping out of wood. This is because of the concrete at the front. The majority of the resistance is not weight but, rather, the concrete holding the front (south) of it to the sidewalk. This is evident by the sidewalk moving upward as the house is raised.
I rented a jack hammer to break the veranda free from the sidewalk. At its new, normal height, there is a gap of about 3-3/4 inches between the two.
More concrete had to be removed from the east side of the veranda. There will be a gap of about a foot that will need to be filled somehow. I’m thinking rocks – lots of rocks.
Now a footing needs to be created. I can’t leave the bottle jack there.
When the house is at its final level (I must use my laser level to make final adjustments), the main floor suite living room drywall and windows can be put back in. One step at a time.
<sigh> This old house – jacked.
