December 27, 2013

Raise High the Floor Boards

An overcast sky looms above the waters of Barnegat Bay
Many shades of gray, a winter's day along the bay.

Bay Head Yacht Club building supported on steel beams and stacks of wood.
This Old House has run a series on the rebuilding process at the Jersey Shore. After watching an episode where they ever-so-slowly used hydraulic jacks to lift a home above its foundation, I had the opportunity to take a close look at a similar (but grander) project.

Overall view of the Bay Head Yacht Club building, raised above ground.
The Bay Head Yacht Club building was built a long time ago, at the water's edge (naturally). Hurricane Sandy was not kind to the structure, which now must be raised. But wait, you say: that building is at least a hundred yards from the water.

Not only did they lift that massive building, with its two brick fireplaces and chimneys—they shifted it north, onto the (former) tennis courts.

Crane and drill installing pilings at the water's edge.
With an enormous crane and drill, engineers are driving helical piles into the ground to create a new (higher) footing for the clubhouse.

Man may win this battle, but one day the sea will prevail.
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 1, 2014 at 10:04 PM

    The authoritative comment on such inevitably doomed struggles is John McPhee's _The Control of Nature_, which contains sections that various detail the Army Corps of Engineers' wrestle with the Mississippi River, the struggle of Icelandic fishermen with a volcano, and the doomed attempt of Los Angelenos to prop up their hillside mansions. The last section predicts in detail the destruction of New Orleans that has now taken place, but there's nothing about the Jersey Shore. McPhee's _Assembling California_ does describe homes in Daly City that topple over the San Andreas into the ocean, though. As a New Jersey native, you might also check out _The Pine Barrens_, through which I once canoed.

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