House Re-levelling in Melbourne's West — Getting Floors Flat Again

Good candidates for a re-level

Re-levelling is the answer when the floor has shifted yet the stumps beneath it are still carrying their load properly. Typical situations include:

• Packing that has squashed or decayed between stump tops and bearers, letting sections of floor sink a little.
• Seasonal clay movement that has lifted or dropped one side of the house and never fully returned.
• An earlier reblock that has settled unevenly, or that was packed by eye rather than by level.
• New flooring on the way, where timber, tiles or vinyl need a flat surface to sit on.
• Doors catching and windows binding, but stumps that test firm and stand straight.

If the stumps are rotten, cracked or sinking, a re-level will not hold. That calls for reblocking, and we will tell you so plainly.

Measure first, lift second

A floor can feel badly out while being only a few millimetres off, and it can look fine while dropping a long way from one end of the house to the other. Rather than guess, we shoot levels in every room and follow each line of bearers from front to back. The pattern tells us a lot. A single low corner points to one problem area, such as a leaking tap or a blocked downpipe. A broad dip through the middle points to general settlement of the internal stumps.

Then we crawl under to look at the stumps, bearers and joists. This part decides whether re-levelling is realistic. Sound stumps with tired packing are ideal. If some stumps have been driven down further than others into wet clay, those may have to be replaced before the rest of the floor is adjusted.

Basalt clay and floors that roam

The reactive clay across the west moves more than most people expect. In a dry summer it can shrink away from the stumps on the sunny side of a house while the shaded side stays damp and full. Come winter, the opposite side swells. Over a few years the floor can end up with a gentle wave in it even though no single stump has failed.

A re-level resets that wave. It will not stop the clay moving in future, but sensible drainage helps a great deal: downpipes discharging well away from the house, garden beds kept clear of the walls and leaking taps repaired promptly. Where the clay is especially lively, adjustable steel stumps can make future fine-tuning a much smaller job.

How a re-level is done

Once we know the house is a good candidate, the work generally goes like this:

• Jacks are positioned beneath whichever bearers have sunk furthest.
• We raise the floor a little at a time, rechecking the levels after each lift so nothing is forced.
• Old packers are pulled out and replaced with durable packing cut to suit each stump.
• Loose or missing connections between bearers and stumps are refixed.
• A final set of readings confirms the floor is back where it should be.

Lifting slowly is the key. A house that has sat out of level for years has settled into that shape, and pushing it back in one hit is the quickest way to crack plaster and rack door frames.

Living with a re-level

You can stay home during the work. There is some noise from underneath, and doors may need small adjustments once the floor has come back up. Old plaster cracks can open slightly as the house shifts. That is expected, and repairs are best left until the floor has spent a little while sitting on its new packers.

Re-levelling before a renovation

A lot of re-levels in the west happen right before new floors go down. Older cottages in Seddon and Yarraville often have floors that drop noticeably toward the back, where a lean-to or later kitchen was added on a separate set of stumps. Getting that sorted before the new boards or tiles are laid saves you lifting them again later. We check the stumps at the same time, so you know whether a re-level will hold or whether part of the house should be reblocked first.