Reblocking
Reblocking is the Victorian term for restumping: replacing the stumps a house sits on once they rot, sink or crack.
Restumping in Whittington
Restumping Geelong restumps Whittington's 1960s homes, including the former Housing Commission stock that makes up much of the suburb. We swap rotted timber stumps for concrete or steel and bring the floors back to level. Request a quote and we'll inspect the subfloor and give you a firm written price.
Whittington was largely built in one push. Residential development spread through the area in the 1960s, and the Housing Commission put up more than 500 homes here. Sixty years on, the original timber stumps under that housing are failing in numbers, and restumping has become one of the most common structural jobs in the suburb.
The upside of a suburb built in one era is that the problems are predictable and so are the fixes. If your floors slope, your doors catch, or a building inspector has flagged the subfloor, request a quote. We restump these houses regularly and can usually tell you the likely scope before we even get under the house.
Local knowledge
Restumping older homes in Whittington
The housing is mostly compact timber-framed homes on stumps, built to Commission designs shared with Norlane and Corio. Many have been extended or re-clad over the years, but the floor structure underneath is usually original: hardwood bearers and joists on timber stumps set in the early-to-mid 1960s. Stumps that age tend to go in groups, because they went into the same ground in the same year.
Whittington's flat, low-lying ground holds moisture longer than Geelong's hill suburbs, and damp clay is what kills timber stumps. A long-term wet spot under a house shows up as a rotted cluster of stumps and a floor dip you can see with the naked eye. We fix the stumps and, where the block needs it, improve subfloor drainage so the new ones last.
What to look for
Common problems we see in Whittington
- Commission-era timber stumps from the 1960s failing in clusters
- Visible floor dips over long-term damp spots in the subfloor
- Sticking doors and windows through the wetter months
- Re-clad or extended homes hiding original, tired floor structure
- Stump repairs flagged at sale time by building inspections
What we do
Services for Whittington homes
Timber Stump Replacement
Timber stumps rot from the ground line down, where soil moisture sits against the wood, and termites finish what damp starts.
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 Whittington
Tell us about your place and we will get back to you with an honest assessment and a fixed price.
Whittington restumping questions
Do former Commission homes in Whittington restump well?
Yes. They're simple rectangular floor plans with solid hardwood frames, which makes them some of the most straightforward houses in Geelong to restump and relevel. Costs stay at the lower end for the same reason. It's the heavily renovated ones that take longer to quote.
Whittington's ground stays damp. Won't new stumps just rot too?
Not if the job's done right. Concrete and galvanised steel stumps don't rot, which is why we recommend them over new timber in damp ground. Where water pools under the house we'll also tell you what drainage work is worth doing. The damp caused the last failure; there's no reason to hand it the next one.