House Restumping, Reblocking or Raising

Re-stumping, re-blocking, and raising services are required for homes that are no longer correctly levelled due to the weakening stumps or the soil conditions.

Re-stumping – also known as re-blocking or raising – is the process whereby the timber stumps that support a house are replaced due to being rotted or defective. When selecting new stumps, rot-resistant timber stumps, like Victorian red gum, are still quite commonly used. In Queensland stumps in the past were made of 300mm diameter ironbark or similar rot-resistant timber. Now copper chrome arsenate treated pine, or concrete stumps are used.

The advantage of timber is that they are still sometimes 10 percent cheaper than concrete, and although they have the disadvantage of limited life expectancy, this will not affect occupants living in the house for less than 20 years. Perhaps the biggest disadvantage is that timber stumps cannot be as firmly secured to the bearers as concrete stumps so that re-levelling may not be quite as accurate. Because of high wind stresses, anchor bolts are required at each corner of a Queensland house, around the perimeter every four metres and under bracing walls. These bolts are also needed in high wind areas of Victoria.

Concrete stumps are available in several types. The concrete stump with the most positive form of connection is the one with a 10mm diameter threaded rod at the top secured with a poured concrete pad footing. The threaded rod allows the stump to be bolted to the floor frame preventing both upward and downward movement. The concrete pad will provide protection against long term footing settlement. Concrete stumps will last indefinitely except in extremely damp conditions where the metal reinforcement in the stump rusts and expands, causing weakness.