Across the older streets of Werribee, Werribee South, Hoppers Crossing and Altona Meadows, stumped homes come in two main types: timber weatherboards and brick veneers with a timber floor. Both can be restumped, both sit on the same reactive clay, and from the street they can look like similar jobs. Underneath, they are not, and the difference affects how the work is planned, how far the house can be re-levelled and what you should expect afterwards.
First, is your brick house actually on stumps?
This is the question to settle before anything else. Many brick veneer homes in Wyndham, and almost all of the newer ones through Tarneit and Point Cook, are built on a concrete slab. A brick veneer on a slab has no stumps, and if it has moved, the conversation is about footings and underpinning, not restumping. We covered how to tell the two apart in our guide to restumping versus underpinning.
A brick veneer with a timber floor is different. It has a subfloor you can get under, vents low in the brickwork, and a floor that feels slightly springy. Inside the brick skin, the floor frame sits on a grid of stumps, and those stumps can wear out and be replaced just like the ones under a weatherboard.
How the two houses are built
Weatherboard on stumps. The whole house, walls and roof included, sits on the timber floor frame, and the floor frame sits on stumps. The perimeter stumps carry the external walls and the internal stumps carry the floor. Every part of the house moves together.
Brick veneer with a timber floor. The house is a timber frame clad with a single skin of brick. The timber frame and floor sit on stumps, but the brick skin does not. It sits on its own continuous strip footing around the perimeter, tied back to the frame with wall ties. In effect there are two structures side by side: a timber house on stumps, and a brick wall on a strip footing.
Why weatherboard is usually the simpler job
On a weatherboard, the crew can jack and level the whole frame, including the external walls, because everything is sitting on stumps. Timber cladding tolerates a bit of movement while the house is brought back to level, and there is generally room to correct a noticeable drop.
- Perimeter and internal stumps can all be replaced and adjusted.
- The external walls come up with the floor as it is levelled.
- Minor cracking inside is usually limited to plaster and cornices, and is made good afterwards.
What changes with brick veneer
With brick veneer, the internal stumps can be replaced and the timber floor re-levelled, but the brick skin stays where it is on its strip footing. That creates some real limits.
- Re-levelling is constrained by the brickwork. The floor frame and the brick skin have to stay reasonably aligned at windows, doors and the wall ties. Lifting the floor a long way relative to the bricks can open gaps or stress window and door frames, so levelling is often a best-achievable result rather than dead level.
- Existing cracks in the brickwork are a footing issue. Restumping levels the frame and replaces the stumps. It does not fix cracked brickwork, because the bricks sit on their own footing. If the brick skin has cracked, that is assessed separately and may point to the perimeter footing moving.
- Access can be tighter. Brick veneer subfloors are often lower, with access through a small opening in the brickwork rather than from around an open perimeter. That slows the work and can affect cost.
- Gradual lifting matters even more. Levelling slowly reduces the risk of new cracks in plaster and around openings.
What we assess at inspection
Whichever type of house you have, the inspection comes first and it shapes the quote. On both, we check:
- The condition of every stump, including rot, sinking, tilting and lost contact with the bearer.
- Bearers and joists for rot, borer or termite damage and sagging.
- How far out of level the floor is, measured across the house rather than guessed.
- Subfloor height, access, ventilation and drainage, including downpipes and garden beds against the walls.
On a brick veneer, we also look at:
- Cracking in the brickwork, where it is, and whether it steps through the mortar joints.
- The alignment between the floor frame and the brick skin at doors and windows.
- Any signs the perimeter footing itself has moved, which would change the scope.
That is how we tell you plainly whether the job is a straightforward restump, a restump with limits on how level the floor can get, or something that needs an engineer to look at the footings.
Cost and permits
A typical three-bedroom weatherboard with 40 to 60 stumps generally runs $10,000 to $18,000, with harder sites costing more. Brick veneer homes are heavier and often have tighter access, which can push the price up, so a written quote after inspection is the only reliable figure. Our guide to how much restumping costs in Melbourne's west explains what drives the number.
In Victoria, restumping is structural work and generally needs a building permit, whichever type of house you have. Our guide to building permits for restumping in Werribee covers who arranges it.
Getting it right
If your home is a weatherboard or a brick veneer on stumps and the floors are sloping, bouncing or cracking, start with an inspection. Our House Restumping and House Reblocking & Releveling services cover Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Point Cook and Altona Meadows, and we will tell you exactly what your house can and cannot achieve before any work starts.