Reblocking Melbourne's Western Suburbs — Straight Floors, Sound Footings

Each house is priced on its own merits. The main drivers are how many stumps are under the floor and how many have failed, the crawl-space height, how hard the site is to get into, whether the digging strikes basalt, and the state of the bearers and joists. Re-levels and partial reblocks tend to be far smaller jobs than a full reblock. We come out, measure and look underneath for free, then give you a written figure.

We cover the inner and middle west: Footscray, Seddon, West Footscray, Yarraville, Kingsville, Spotswood, Williamstown, Newport, Maidstone, Maribyrnong, Braybrook, Sunshine, Sunshine West, Sunshine North, Albion, Ardeer, Deer Park, St Albans, Keilor East, Avondale Heights, Altona North, Altona, Seaholme and Brooklyn. Werribee, Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Point Cook, Altona Meadows, Laverton and the rest of Wyndham sit outside our patch.

Mostly the ground. The western suburbs sit on volcanic basalt plains, and the clay that has weathered from that basalt is heavy and highly reactive. It soaks up winter rain and swells, then dries and splits open over summer. On top of that, a great many cottages and postwar homes are still on their original timber stumps, which rot at ground level after decades in damp clay.

In most cases it will. The permit comes from a registered building surveyor, who also signs off on how deep the footings go, and an inspector checks the open holes before any house comes back down. If your home is under a heritage overlay, it is also worth checking with council in case any external change needs a planning permit. We look after the permit paperwork and book each inspection.

Either can work well. Reinforced concrete is the everyday choice and suits most western suburbs homes. Galvanised steel stumps with a screw-adjustable head let the floor be tweaked again in later years, which some owners like on very reactive clay. Where the footings sit on or near rock, the ground below behaves differently again, so we recommend a stump type once we have seen the site.

Yes. Reblocking happens underneath the house, and the new stumps are hidden behind the existing base boards or brick plinth, so the street view usually stays the same. If the job involves raising the floor height, replacing the front base cladding or altering the verandah, council may want a say first. We talk that through at the inspection so nothing catches you out.