Restumping, reblocking, underpinning and floor re-levelling from Brunswick and Essendon to Epping, Craigieburn and Greensborough. Permits and engineering organised. Start with a free subfloor inspection.
Old stumps rarely fail all at once. They show up as small things around the house first. If two or more of these sound familiar, it’s worth having someone look underneath.
Book a subfloor inspectionA marble rolls down the hall, or the floor dips toward the middle rooms where the internal stumps carry the most weight.
Doors that swing shut by themselves, scrape the boards or catch at the top corner, and sashes that jam in one season.
Diagonal cracks climbing from the corners of doorways and windows, or a cornice line that has opened up along the ceiling.
A gap opening between the floorboards and the bottom of skirting boards or built-in cupboards that wasn't there before.
A soft, springy or drummy feel underfoot in one room, often a kitchen, laundry or bathroom with old plumbing.
Shine a torch through a subfloor vent: stumps that lean, look soft at the ground line or have dropped away from the bearer.
Not every house needs a full reblock. We’ll tell you which of these suits yours after we’ve been under it.
We get under the house, check stumps, packers, bearers and joists, look at drainage and take level readings across the main rooms.
You get an itemised scope. Once you accept, we lodge the building permit through a private surveyor and arrange engineering if it's needed.
The floor is propped in sections. Old stumps come out, holes are dug to the permit depth, inspected, and new footings poured.
New concrete or steel stumps are stood, braced and tied down, after which the bearers are packed back toward level.
We retake level readings, clean up, and the surveyor signs off. You receive the permit paperwork for your records.
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BeforeAfter
BeforeAfterPick your patch for what we see in local houses and soils.
Northern Reblocking restumps, reblocks, re-levels and underpins houses across Melbourne's northern suburbs. Our work starts under the floor: every job begins with a look at the stumps, bearers, joists and drainage, and a set of level readings, so the scope is based on what is actually there rather than a guess from the street. No part of Melbourne has as many houses on stumps as the north, from Edwardian cottages and inter-war bungalows in Brunswick, Coburg, Northcote and Preston to post-war weatherboards, brick veneers and former Housing Commission homes in Reservoir, Glenroy, Fawkner, West Heidelberg and Broadmeadows. Much of it sits on reactive basalt clay, and the rest on the sloping ground of the Banyule valleys. Each brings its own problems underneath. We offer concrete and adjustable galvanised steel stumps, organise building permits through a private building surveyor, arrange engineering where the job needs it and check heritage overlays before work begins. Quotes are written, itemised and explain what is included and what is not.
What affects the cost of a reblockNothing, in practice. Each word describes pulling out old stumps, installing new ones and getting the floor level again. Restumping is the more common word in Melbourne; reblocking is often used on quotes and permits.
Common signs include sloping floors, doors and windows that stick, cracks over door frames, gaps under skirting boards and a bouncy feel underfoot. A free subfloor inspection confirms whether the stumps are the cause.
We cover Melbourne's northern suburbs across Merri-bek, Darebin, Banyule, Whittlesea, Hume and the Essendon side of Moonee Valley — from Brunswick and Ascot Vale up to Craigieburn, Mernda and Doreen.
Yes. Restumping and underpinning need a building permit in Victoria. We lodge it through a private building surveyor, arrange engineering if required and check for heritage overlays.
Both. Reinforced concrete suits most low and medium crawl spaces. Adjustable galvanised steel suits tall stumps, tight access and reactive clay where later adjustment helps. We recommend after inspecting.
For an average single-level home, a complete restump is usually one to two weeks on site after the permit is issued. Partial restumps and re-levelling jobs are often a few days.
Thousands of weatherboards built between the wars in Brunswick and Coburg are still on their first stumps. Here is what a reblock on one of these houses looks like, from the first look underneath to the final level check.
6 min read →No. 02Much of the north is built on clay weathered from ancient lava flows. It fattens up every winter and contracts every summer, and the stumps ride along with it. Here is how that clay works and what it means for your floor.
6 min read →No. 03Many period homes in Northcote and Brunswick sit inside heritage overlays. Restumping is usually allowed without fuss, but a few details can trip people up. Here is how heritage controls and reblocking fit together.
5 min read →Free subfloor inspection · Permits organised · Brunswick, Preston, Reservoir, Ivanhoe & Epping
