Building a home, rebuilding, repairing or renovating, we all know. But tinkering with a home and that too with its foundation and then lifting it to a desired height, is something not usually heard of.
But then, that's exactly what has been done with a dwelling at Venkataramana Colony near Nagole in the city. The family of S.V.L.N. Narayana was confronted with the problem of the road in front of home being raised by several feet.
Not only such a situation of the ground level of a dwelling being low than the street level is considered inauspicious by many, it presents several problems including water easily gushing in from the road during rains.
What the family did was to find the people who could raise the entire building by three feet and bring it to road level. He availed the services of Haryana-based Mamchand & Sons Company which has expertise in ‘lifting' or ‘shifting' of a house.
The team then went to work, dug up to reach the basement, sliced the pillars using gas cutters and with the help of about 200 cone jacks and additional reinforcement with wooden pieces, lifted the building. And the operation went on so smoothly that the team later pointed out that the structure did not develop even a single crack in the process.
Site supervisor Sunny Kumar claims that the house owner could construct two more floors after completing the work. “We will take up the responsibility for any damages to the house while lifting the house,” he says. The house owner has to lay flooring again after completion of the work. According to Mr. Kumar, the company has lifted even three-storeyed building near Gurgaon. A religious structure was also lifted and shifted to 17-feet back in Harayana.
The technology used by the company has given a ray of hope to owners of ten other houses in Venkataramana Colony to lift their houses to main road level.
