Tale of 2 West Seattle houses: One up, one down

| Development | West Seattle news

Thanks to Keith for sharing that photo of his home at 3045 49th SW (map) near Schmitz Park. He explains:

Sure, there’s construction going on around West Seattle, some of it pretty interesting, but still, nothing like this that I’ve ever seen. … I can’t tell you what a surreal sight it is to see our little house sitting on “cribs” some 13 feet up (23 feet up from the road). It’s a real traffic stopper, I can tell you. People ask what we’re doing. Can you tell? Feel free to run the photo, and to invite people to come by and guess. Just don’t recommend that anyone stand underneath and sneeze . . .

We could cheat by checking city online records, but we won’t spoil it for you. Meantime, 16 months after Seattle Fire Department crews did some training at pre-teardown 5232 California (map), the house itself is finally debris.

Rick from nearby Rick’s Barber Shop told us last week that the backhoe had arrived – we didn’t get over in time today to catch it in action (early-morning work to be done before things really heated up?) but caught the pile of debris before it was cleared. The city page for the site says permits were just renewed for plans to build two buildings at the site – 4 townhouse units, 3 “live-work” units.

Robert July 27, 2009 (3:02 pm)

They are elevating the house so the new West Seattle spur of the Light Rail can travel under and continue on down to Alki.

Crystal July 27, 2009 (3:30 pm)

I know that people used to buy a house cheap and squash it together with another 1-story to make a two-story house. That’s all I have.

digidoll July 27, 2009 (3:37 pm)

You’re adding a second floor… UNDERNEATH the first! Either that, or replacing the foundation/crawlspace with a proper basement (usually because the old one was leaky/sagging/broken), but that’s my second guess because I doubt they’d need to jack it up 13 feet to do it.

celeste17 July 27, 2009 (3:42 pm)

Adding a second story (full basement) to the house.

Vanessa C. July 27, 2009 (3:50 pm)

Didn’t you see the report on those monster waves that traveled 4000 miles to hit the beaches in So. California, and some of those waves are 20 feet. Duh….

christopherboffoli July 27, 2009 (3:54 pm)

Didn’t the Jetsons have feature in their apartment building that allowed them to raise the elevation for better weather? Maybe Keith is headed up cooler breezes and enhanced mountain views.

rox July 27, 2009 (3:56 pm)

Another floor and a 2-car garage under that!

toddinwestwood July 27, 2009 (3:57 pm)

Its to keep out Zombies. Zombies cant climb very well, so there you go.

CMP July 27, 2009 (3:59 pm)

Yea, I’m so glad to see that green house was finally torn down! I swear it had become a transient magnet, but now they’ll probably migrate north to squate at the Spring Hill apartment site.

D July 27, 2009 (4:03 pm)

I’ll go with the people that said adding a floor under the existing house. When my wife and I were shopping for a house in West Seattle we looked at one where they had done this. There were a lot of pictures of the process and it looked pretty cool.

And Keith’s house is quite eye-catching up in the air like that.

GenHillOne July 27, 2009 (4:17 pm)

I saw this yesterday and it seemed obvious that they were adding a floor beneath. Since you want us to guess though, maybe there’s more of a twist – ? Thanks for the pics, it IS impressive!

RIH July 27, 2009 (4:30 pm)

What people won’t do for better T.V. reception…

JM July 27, 2009 (4:58 pm)

There is a house raised up on 42nd near the 1900 block, too. Though, with that one they tore down so much of the place I almost wonder why they bothered lifting it to begin with.

ALS July 27, 2009 (4:58 pm)

I’d guess replacing the foundation. When we moved into our house they had to replace the foundation due to a powder post beetle infestation and had to raise it up in a similar manner.

miws July 27, 2009 (5:27 pm)

You’re going to plant a seedling underneath, that has the potential to become a tall strong tree, and in 15-20 years, you’ll have a treehouse?

TR, clever headline as usual, but, I’m a bit surprised you didn’t title this something like, “The raising of one house, razing of another.” ;-)

Mike

WSB July 27, 2009 (5:29 pm)

Mike, so much more creative than me. Sitting here in 95-degree house and … what is it, 45 percent humidity? … my brain is a little fried. (Of course, not that I’m assuming you’re in 65-degree a/c comfort!) Thank you! Mike wins “Better Headline of the Day”! – TR

add July 27, 2009 (5:59 pm)

45% humidity? I’ve been in New Jersey all weekend and it’s been 85-95% humidity and 85 degrees. Talk about sticky!

add July 27, 2009 (6:00 pm)

My apologies, I should have said: “TAWK about sticky!”

Jeffro July 27, 2009 (7:27 pm)

Having seen this house in person, that picture does not do it justice. I only briefly saw it as I drove by, but it looks like two stories are being added. It looks high enough now to have a view of the Sound.