Most people who book restumping have never seen it done. They know their floors slope, the doors stick and the inspector has confirmed the stumps have had it, and they have a vague picture of the house being jacked into the air. The reality across Werribee, Hoppers Crossing and Tarneit is more methodical and less alarming than that. Here is what actually happens on restumping day, what you need to do before the crew arrives, and what to look for afterwards.
Before the day
A few things need to happen before anyone crawls under the house.
- Inspection and quote. The subfloor has been inspected, the number of stumps to replace or the full restump has been agreed, and the stump type, concrete or steel, has been decided. There is a separate guide on this site to choosing between the two.
- Permit. Restumping is building work, and in most cases a building permit is required through a registered building surveyor. We arrange this as part of the job; do not let anyone start without it.
- Services. Gas, water and drainage pipes run under the floor. They are identified before lifting so nothing is stressed or broken when the house moves.
- Access. The crew needs a clear path to the subfloor access point and room to bring in stumps, jacks and concrete. Anything stored under the house or against the access hatch needs to be moved.
What you need to do inside the house
The house will move. Not much, and not suddenly, but a floor that has dropped 40 or 50 millimetres at one end is going to come back up, and everything sitting on it comes with it. Before the day:
- Take pictures and fragile items off walls and shelves, especially anything on high shelves or leaning against walls.
- Empty tall cupboards and china cabinets, or at least the top shelves.
- Move furniture away from walls where practical so nothing gets pinched as the floor levels.
- Expect existing cracks in plaster to open or close slightly as the frame moves. On a house that has dropped noticeably, some cracking is normal and is made good afterwards.
You can usually stay in the house during the work. It is noisy and there will be people underneath you, but there is no reason to move out for a standard restump.
Day one: setting up and lifting
The crew enters the subfloor and sets up hydraulic jacks under the bearers near the stumps being replaced. On a full restump, the house is lifted in stages, a small amount at a time, working across the frame so that no part is lifted much further than its neighbours. The aim is to bring the bearers back to level, or as close to it as the frame will safely allow, without over-stressing the structure. On a partial restump, only the failed stumps are dealt with and the lifting is localised.
Removing the old stumps
Once the bearer is supported by the jacks, the old stump is removed. Old timber stumps on Werribee's reactive clay are often rotted at the ground line or have simply sunk, and they come out easily. Old concrete stumps are broken out. The hole is dug to the depth the new stump requires, which in reactive soil is deeper than people expect, because the stump has to bear on ground below the layer that swells and shrinks with the seasons. That soil movement is the reason so many homes across Wyndham need restumping in the first place.
Setting the new stumps
New concrete or steel stumps are set in the holes on a concrete pad or footing, positioned under the bearer, and plumbed. Steel stumps are typically fixed to the bearer with brackets and bolted; concrete stumps are set with the bearer bearing on a sole plate and a damp-proof layer. Packers are used to bring each stump to exact bearing height. The jacks are then eased off and the bearer settles onto the new stump. This is repeated stump by stump across the house.
Concrete needs time to cure before it takes full load, so on a full restump the sequence is planned so that fresh footings are not loaded straight away.
How long it takes
A partial restump replacing a handful of stumps is usually a day. A full restump of a typical three-bedroom Werribee weatherboard is commonly two to four days depending on the number of stumps, the access under the floor and the ground conditions. Wet weather and very low subfloor clearance both slow the job.
After the crew leaves
The house will feel different. Doors that stuck will open, and sometimes doors that were fine will now need adjusting, because the frame is back where it was built. Windows may behave the same way. Small plaster cracks may have appeared where the frame moved and may need patching once things have settled for a few weeks. None of this is a fault; it is the house returning to level.
What you should check:
- Doors and windows open and close, and note any that now need adjustment.
- Gas and water work normally and there is no smell of gas or sign of a leak. Report anything immediately.
- The subfloor access is closed and the site is left clean.
- You have the paperwork: the permit, the certificate of final inspection when issued, and the invoice describing what was done.
What restumping does not do
Restumping levels the frame and replaces the stumps. It does not fix cracked brickwork on a brick veneer home, which sits on its own footing, and it does not stop the ground moving. Managing drainage and moisture around the house, keeping gardens and downpipes from wetting the soil unevenly, is what protects the new stumps from the same fate as the old ones. Where the problem is a sinking footing rather than failed stumps, the answer is underpinning rather than restumping, and there is a guide on this site to the difference.
The short version
Move the breakables, expect some noise and a little plaster movement, stay in the house if you like, and plan for a few days. Our house restumping and reblocking and releveling work across Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Point Cook and Altona Meadows follows this process every time, and we walk you through it on the site inspection before you commit.