Reblocking & Restumping in Brunswick and Coburg

Houses in Brunswick and Coburg

Brunswick grew fast in the late 1800s and early 1900s around its brickworks, quarries and factories, and the housing reflects that. Single-fronted weatherboard cottages on blocks five or six metres wide are common in the streets off Sydney Road and Lygon Street. Further from the main roads, double-fronted Edwardian villas and inter-war bungalows take over, with slightly wider frontages and deeper back yards.

Coburg has a similar mix, but with more inter-war and early post-war stock as you move north toward Coburg North and the Merlynston end. Californian bungalows with low-pitched roofs and wide front verandahs line many streets west of Sydney Road.

Almost all of these timber houses were stood on hardwood stumps. Where the stumps have never been replaced, they have now been in the ground for between eighty and well over a hundred years.

Ground under Brunswick and Coburg

Most of Brunswick and Coburg sits on the edge of the northern basalt plains, with the Merri Creek running along the eastern side. On the flat land west of the creek the soil is typically heavy reactive clay over basalt. Brunswick's history of clay pits and quarrying is a reminder of how much clay is down there.

Closer to the Merri Creek the ground falls away and soils can be wetter, siltier and more variable. Houses on the slope down to the creek often show more movement on the low side, where the ground stays damp longer.

Basalt is close to the surface in parts of Coburg and Brunswick West. Digging footing holes through it is slow, and sometimes the crew needs a jackhammer or a core drill to reach the specified depth.

Narrow blocks and tight side access

The biggest practical challenge in Brunswick is access. Many cottages have a side passage less than a metre wide, or none at all, with the house built close to one or both boundaries. That affects how the job is done:

• Stumps and concrete are carried in by hand, often through the side gate or a rear lane.
• Spoil from footing holes is bagged and wheeled out rather than loaded with a machine.
• Lightweight steel stumps can be easier to manoeuvre into very tight spaces.
• Rear lane access, common in parts of Brunswick and Coburg, can make a big difference and is worth mentioning when you book.

None of this stops a restump, but it takes longer and is reflected in the quote.

Heritage overlays in Merri-bek

Large parts of Brunswick and Coburg are under heritage overlays in the Merri-bek planning scheme. Restumping itself is normally treated as repair and maintenance. What can trigger a planning permit is a visible change from the street, such as:

• Raising or lowering the front floor height, which changes the verandah and step levels.
• Replacing original weatherboards or base boards at the front with something different.
• Altering the front verandah while the subfloor is open.

We check the overlay status of your property before lodging the building permit, and design the job so the street-facing appearance stays as it is.

Common problems we see here

• Original red gum stumps rotted through at ground level, sometimes still standing but no longer carrying weight.
• Stumps sitting on old bricks or flat rocks instead of footings, a common early method.
• Rear lean-tos and kitchens added in the 1950s or 1960s on a different, shallower stump system.
• Sunken floors under bathrooms and laundries where a leaking pipe has softened the clay.
• Blocked subfloor vents from raised garden beds and paving laid hard against the house.

Our approach

First comes a free subfloor inspection, where the floor levels are mapped and stumps, bearers and joists checked. Then we give you a written scope that sets out whether the whole house needs restumping or just part of it, which stump type we recommend, and how we will deal with access.

Brunswick and Coburg are close in, busy and parked out, so we also plan around neighbours, rubbish bins and street parking. If a permit is needed for a skip on the road, we arrange it.

Book your inspection

If you are in Brunswick, Brunswick East, Brunswick West, Coburg or Coburg North and your floors have started to slope, call us or send a request. We will come out, get under the floor and tell you what is going on.