City inspectors in Cedar Rapids say they’re worried home owners are taking on flood fix-up projects that are too big to handle. Last weekend, city inspectors told a Cedar Rapids man he needed to hire professionals to fix his home, as the house had slipped off its foundation.
Ronald O’Brien says his home is structurally safe. City officials in Cedar Rapids say O’Brien didn’t have a permit to work on the foundation of his home. One of the concrete blocks he’d used to raise the home from the foundation apparently broke, the house slipped off the supports and twisted. Rich Goodwin of Goodwin House Movers say there are tricks to raising a house off its foundation.
"A lot of them can get by just fine and it’s just like these guys. They were getting by fine. Everything was going good," Goodwin says. "All’s it took was one little thing missed and then its all over with." O’Brien had been working on his home last week when the brick broke and the house shifted on its supports. On Saturday, the city served O’Brien with a notice that he had to hire a professional to do the job. Goodwin, the professional house mover, says the home should be realligned by tonight.