Sanibel Island home to be lifted on stilts after new FEMA rule

SANIBEL, Fla. — On Tuesday, a company from out of state will be on Sanibel Island to raise up an entire house to put on stilts.

The company doing these lifts is called Davie Shoring. They’re located out of Louisiana and are licensed to do this kind of work across the Southeast United States.

A simple check of their YouTube Page shows the company’s focus specializes in coming into areas after serious storms and literally digging homes out of the ground they’re sinking into.

Davie’s work ties into new FEMA rules saying a home has to be at least 1 foot above sea level, especially if they’re in a flood zone. Most of Sanibel Island falls into that category.

Their system is like a giant forklift but it slips under a home’s foundation and props it up so crews can install new footing and stilts. A representative from Davie Shoring told Fox 4’s Shari Armstrong that Tuesday’s lift could be a strange sight for us, but for them — this is a run-of-the-mill job.

“We’ve done literally thousands and thousands of houses in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. And similar houses in New Jersey and York following Sandy and of course in Galveston Texas.”

Crews have already made their way near Matlacha, installing these stilts and lifting homes after Hurricane Ian. Davie Shoring says they charge about a third of other companies to lift homes and put them on stilts.