Reblocking
Reblocking is the Victorian term for restumping: replacing the stumps a house sits on once they rot, sink or crack.
Restumping in Barwon Heads
Restumping Geelong restumps Barwon Heads' older timber homes: the holiday cottages and beach houses that grew up between the river and the Bluff. Coastal damp and age take out stumps here, and we replace them properly. Request a quote and we'll book an inspection and give you a written price.
Barwon Heads has been a holiday town for well over a century. Geelong families were camping by the river mouth from the early 1900s, and the village that grew behind the foreshore filled with timber holiday cottages through the decades that followed. Plenty of those cottages survive around the village grid off Hitchcock Avenue, many still on old timber stumps.
Today's Barwon Heads is a blue-chip address, and its old cottages are being kept and restored rather than knocked down. Restoration starts underneath. If your cottage's floors dip and roll, or the veranda has dropped away from the house, request a quote. We'll inspect the stumps and subfloor and tell you exactly what's needed.
Local knowledge
Restumping older homes in Barwon Heads
The housing mix runs from original holiday cottages and postwar beach houses to high-end rebuilds. The older homes were built light: small-section timber, minimal footings and stumps that were never expected to serve a hundred years. The lower streets near the river hold damp, so subfloor moisture is common, and damp plus age is the standard Barwon Heads stump failure.
Working on these cottages takes a lighter touch than a suburban restump. Old timber frames rack easily, original linings crack if the lift is rushed, and period details are worth protecting. We lift in small stages, relevel to what the frame can take rather than forcing a century-old cottage dead level, and replace subfloor timber where damp has got into bearers and joists.
What to look for
Common problems we see in Barwon Heads
- Original cottage stumps rotted out by coastal damp
- Light holiday-era framing sagging between widely spaced stumps
- Damp subfloors on the low streets near the river
- Verandas and sleepouts dropping away from the main cottage
- Salt-air corrosion of ant caps and subfloor fixings
What we do
Services for Barwon Heads homes
Steel Stumps
Steel stumps are galvanised posts, usually with adjustable heads, that neither rot nor attract termites.
House Levelling
House levelling, also called relevelling, brings sloping floors back to level by jacking the house and packing or adjusting the existing stumps.
Restumping Cost Guide
A full restump of an average Geelong home usually costs $4,000 to $20,000.
Get a free restumping quote in Barwon Heads
Tell us about your place and we will get back to you with an honest assessment and a fixed price.
Barwon Heads restumping questions
Can you restump our old cottage without losing its character?
Yes. Restumping happens under the floor and doesn't touch the visible fabric of the house. The care point is the lift: old cottages get relevelled gently and progressively so original linings and joinery survive. Done right, the only visible change is doors that close again.
Our block is sandy. Do stumps hold in sand?
They do when they're founded properly. The failure mode here is rarely sinking stumps and usually rotted ones. New concrete stumps set at the right depth on sound bearing handle Barwon Heads ground well, and the inspection confirms conditions under your block specifically.
Do you work around holiday lets?
We can. Restumping is under-floor work with outside access, and a small cottage restump is usually measured in days. Owners of holiday lets tend to book us between peak seasons; winter is ideal, and quieter for scheduling too.