Restumping & Re-levelling in Townsville

Your house is telling you something

Most older Townsville homes still sit on their original timber stumps. After decades of wet seasons, dry spells and termites, those stumps rot at ground level, sink and lean. When you need house restumping in Townsville, you'll usually notice the signs inside first:

• Floors that slope, dip or feel springy underfoot
• Doors and windows that stick or won't latch
• Cracks in walls and ceilings, often above doors and windows
• Gaps opening between the floor and skirting boards
• A roofline or verandah that looks out of line from the street

Left alone, it gets worse. Stumps keep moving, cracks keep spreading and the repair gets bigger.

What house restumping and reblocking fix

House restumping (also called reblocking or re-stumping) takes out failed stumps and puts new concrete or galvanised steel stumps in on engineered footings. The house is levelled, so doors close and floors sit true again. Tie-downs and bracing are brought up to your block's cyclone rating at the same time. The house stays where it is and at the same height, and any domestic building work over $3,300 is covered by a written contract with a QBCC-licensed contractor.

Partial or full restump?

A partial restump replaces only the failed stumps. It costs less now and can suit a house where one corner has dropped. A full restump replaces every stump at once. On Townsville's reactive clay, where stumps move at different rates, a full restump usually lasts better because every stump starts level on the same footing design. An underneath inspection shows which option suits your house.

How it's done

The house is jacked up a section at a time onto temporary supports. Old stumps come out, new footings are dug and poured, and the new stumps are set to a common level. The house is lowered, levelled, tied down and braced. Doors and windows are eased and small cracks patched.

What changes the price

The number of stumps, the height and access underneath, partial or full, your soil, the condition of the bearers and joists, and whether tie-downs need upgrading.

Areas we cover

House restumping covers all of Townsville and surrounding North Queensland. Original timber stumps are most common under older Queenslanders and workers' cottages in Hermit Park, Railway Estate, West End, South Townsville, North Ward, Belgian Gardens, Hyde Park and Mysterton, where decades of wet-season moisture and termites take their toll at ground level.

Across post-war suburbs built on highly reactive clay, including Aitkenvale, Gulliver, Currajong, Heatley, Vincent, Mundingburra, Pimlico and Wulguru as well as Kirwan, Condon, Rasmussen, Kelso and Deeragun, seasonal ground movement causes stumps to shift and floors to dip. Homes are also restumped and re-levelled on rural blocks along Hervey Range Road, up the northern beaches, on the southern outskirts, and across Ayr and Home Hill in the Burdekin and Charters Towers.

Common questions