Restumping and Reblocking in Melbourne

Restumping and reblocking are the same job

Across Melbourne you will hear both words. Older tradespeople and most quotes say restumping; some builders, councils and online searches say reblocking. Both mean lifting the load of the house off its old stumps, removing them, and setting new stumps on new footings so the floor sits level again. Underpinning is a related but different job, used for houses on brick or concrete footings rather than stumps.

The real decision is the scope:

• Full restump – every stump under the house is replaced. Usually the right call when the original stumps are timber or early concrete and are failing throughout.
• Partial restump – only the failed stumps are replaced, often under a wet area, along one wall or under an extension.
• Re-level – stumps that are still sound are packed or adjusted to take the dips out of the floor.

How Melbourne's ground affects your stumps

Melbourne is not one soil type, and that is a big part of why stumps fail at different rates in different suburbs.

• Basalt clay in the north. Large parts of the north sit on heavy clay formed from old lava flows. It swells when it is wet and shrinks hard in dry summers, so stumps get pushed and dropped year after year.
• Silty clay in the east. The rolling suburbs east of the Yarra sit on clay over sedimentary rock. It moves less dramatically than basalt clay but still shifts with the seasons, and big gardens and established trees dry it out unevenly.
• Sand near the bay. Bayside and peninsula suburbs often sit on sand. It does not swell like clay, but it drains fast, can wash out from under shallow footings and is often paired with a high water table.
• Steep, damp hills. In the Dandenong foothills, sloping blocks mean tall stumps on the downhill side and wet, shaded subfloors that rot timber quickly.

Signs it is time to have the stumps checked

• Floors that slope, dip or bounce, often near an external wall, a bathroom or the laundry.
• Doors that jam or swing on their own, and windows that will not close cleanly.
• Cracked plaster and cornices, typically stepping out from the corners of openings.
• Gaps opening between skirting boards and the floor.
• Stumps you can see are leaning, split, soft or crumbling, or concrete stumps with rusty reinforcing showing through.

Some seasonal movement is normal in a Melbourne house. A proper inspection with level readings across the floor separates normal movement from stumps that have genuinely failed.

Concrete or steel?

Reinforced concrete stumps are the everyday choice for Melbourne restumping. They are durable, termite-proof and suit most sites. Galvanised steel stumps with adjustable heads cost more each, but can be fine-tuned after the job, which can be useful on reactive clay or on tall subfloors. Near the coast, steel needs extra thought because of salt air. Whatever the stump, the footing under it is sized and dug to suit the soil on your block.

What happens on the day

• Inspection. We crawl the subfloor, check stumps, bearers and joists, and take floor levels so the quote reflects what is actually there.
• Permit. Restumping is building work in Victoria and generally needs a building permit. We organise it through a registered building surveyor.
• Support. The house is carried on jacks and temporary supports while old stumps come out.
• New footings and stumps. Holes are dug, footings are inspected and poured, and new stumps are set.
• Re-level and repair. The floor is brought back to level, and any rotten bearers or joists found along the way are dealt with.
• Sign-off. The building surveyor carries out the final inspection.

Most families stay in the house throughout. Expect noise under the floor and, once the house is re-levelled, possibly a few hairline cracks in plaster as it settles into its new position.

Where we work in Melbourne

We cover metropolitan Melbourne, including the northern suburbs from Brunswick and Coburg up to Reservoir and Pascoe Vale, the eastern suburbs from Box Hill out to Ringwood and Croydon, the Dandenong foothills and ranges, the south-east from Bentleigh and Moorabbin through to Clayton and Mentone, and down the bay to Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula. If your suburb is not listed, ask when you book and we will tell you straight away whether we can help.