- Does your house/building have subfloor stumps?
- What are the stumps made off?
- Hardwood timber or concrete?
- Are your concrete stumps still structurally sound? (i.e, no cracks in them, no obvious lean on the stumps or no concrete cancer). If your concrete stumps are still structurally sound then they may just require House Levelling Jacking and Packing.
- How do you know if your house needs restumping, foundation repairs or house leveling?
Here are some of the telltale signs.
- The flooring in the middle of the room bounces.
- The hallway doors get stuck or swing on their own accord. This could happen seasonally.
- The latch and striker on the door do not line up and do not close securely.
- Long horizontal gaps appear between the skirting and the floor.
- Irregular width gaps appear between the door edge and the door frame.
- Doors become stuck on carpet or the flooring.
- Floor tiles have cracked in a spider web manner.
- You get the sense and feeling that the floor is running down hill or dropping and come to the conclusion the floor is unlevel in some areas of the floor.
- Doors the door frame and corresponding architraves do not visually appear square.
- Cracks have appeared in the plasterboard around the door and are growing and spreading.
- The list can go on.
IF YOUR STUMPS ARE CONCRETE AND STILL STRUCTURALLY SOUND (i.e, no cracks in them or leaning over or have concrete cancer) THEN YOU MAY JUST REQUIRE A "JACK and PACK" to reset levels see House Levelling Jacking and Packing and in certain circumstances if we are underpinning your house we may be able to help.
Prior to the introduction of concrete stumps all stumped houses were built on hardwood timber stumps such as redgum.
If your house is an old weatherboard it would have been built on timber stumps and these most likely have rotted in the ground.
If it is a heritage house such as a Victorian terrace, the stumps could still be hardwood timber or may have been upgraded to concrete stumps at some point in the past.
If the house is a brick veneer then the stumps could be either redgum or concrete.
All of the issues and points stated above are internal subfloor related stump problems. If you are deeply worried or concerned then speak to the Professionals.
If you have a brick, block or rock house these either sit on a concrete strip footing or a concrete slab. The distress shown now is caused by external problems and this is where concrete underpins are required to fix any subsidence of the external walls. This is not a restumping issue but an underpinning issue.
As such, any cracks in the external brick work with mirrored cracks in the plasterboard/solid plaster internally relates to the concrete strip footing or slab sinking.
Call or Email Us
If you’re interested in fixing your house foundations and an alternative to restumping in Melbourne, call us on 03 9720 7700.
