Restumping in Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula

Holiday houses that became homes

Much of the peninsula's older housing started life as beach shacks and holiday weatherboards, particularly around Rosebud, Seaford and the older parts of Mornington. Over time many were extended, re-clad or turned into permanent homes, but the stumps underneath often stayed the same. It is common to find:

• Short, lightly built timber stumps that were adequate for a weekender but are now carrying a much larger, heavier house.
• Extensions on different footings, sometimes several generations of them on one house.
• Low subfloors close to the sand, with limited ventilation.
• Past patch repairs using whatever was on hand.

Frankston and Mount Eliza add post-war and 1960s to 1970s family homes, weatherboard and brick veneer, many on sloping blocks with views over the bay. Carrum Downs is mostly newer housing on concrete slabs, but older homes and units on stumps are still scattered through the area and nearby Seaford.

Sandy coastal ground

A lot of the peninsula, particularly along the Port Phillip side from Seaford to Rosebud, sits on sand. Sand behaves differently from the clay found in much of Melbourne:

• It does not swell and shrink much, so seasonal movement is usually less of a problem.
• It can be loose, which means footing holes may collapse as they are dug and footings may need to be wider to spread the load.
• It moves with water. Downpipes discharging next to the house, broken stormwater pipes or heavy runoff can wash sand away from under footings.
• Low-lying areas can have a high water table, especially around Seaford and the old swamp land behind the coast, so holes can fill with water.

Not all of the peninsula is sand. Mount Eliza and parts of Frankston and Mornington sit higher, on firmer clay and weathered rock, and on steeper sites there you may see tall stumps and slope-related issues instead.

Salt air and steel

Salt in the air is the other big coastal factor. It accelerates corrosion of anything steel, including:

• Galvanised steel stumps and brackets, which last much longer when they have a heavy galvanised coating and are kept clear of soil and standing water.
• The reinforcing inside older concrete stumps, which rusts and swells, cracking the concrete from inside.
• Bolts, straps and tie-downs in the subfloor.

That does not rule out steel near the coast, but it does change the specification and makes reinforced concrete stumps a strong default choice on exposed sites. We consider how close you are to the water and how exposed the subfloor is when recommending a stump type.

Timber, termites and ventilation

Low, poorly ventilated subfloors on sandy ground are attractive to termites, and timber stumps, bearers and joists in older peninsula homes often show termite damage or rot. We inspect the timber the stumps carry as well as the stumps themselves, and recommend improving subfloor ventilation where it is clearly lacking.

Owners living elsewhere

Plenty of peninsula properties are still holiday homes or rentals, and owners are not always nearby. We can arrange access, report back with photos and findings after the inspection, and coordinate the permit and work so you do not have to be on site for every stage. If the house is let, we can work around tenants and give them clear notice of noise and access times.

Where we work on the peninsula

Seaford, Frankston and Frankston South, Carrum Downs, Langwarrin, Mount Eliza, Mornington, Mount Martha, Safety Beach, Dromana, McCrae and Rosebud, and nearby areas. If you are further down the peninsula, ask and we will confirm whether we can help.