Houses tell you when the stumps are failing

A timber-floored house rarely fails suddenly. Stumps rot, sink and lean over years, and the house shows it gradually — a door that needs a shove, a crack that wasn't there last winter, a floor that feels slightly downhill. Because the changes are slow, they're easy to live with and easy to miss. Across Geelong, where thousands of weatherboard and brick-veneer homes are still on stumps that are fifty to a hundred years old, knowing the signs can save you from a much bigger repair later.

Here are the seven signs we see most often.

1. Sloping or uneven floors

The most obvious sign. You might notice a lean walking down a hallway, furniture that rocks, or a ball or marble that rolls to one side of a room. A floor that dips towards an external wall often points to failing stumps around the perimeter, where the ground wets and dries the most. A single dip in the middle of a room can be a sunken stump or a sagging bearer.

2. Doors and windows that stick

When the frame of the house moves, door and window openings go out of square. Doors start to bind at the top corner, won't latch, or swing open or shut on their own. Windows jam. If the problem comes and goes with the seasons — worse in winter, better in summer, or the other way around — that's a strong hint the house is moving with the ground.

3. Cracks in walls and ceilings

Diagonal cracks running from the corners of doors and windows, cracks along cornices, and cracks where walls meet ceilings are classic signs of movement. In older Geelong West and Newtown homes with lath-and-plaster walls, cracking can be widespread. A few fine cracks are normal in any old house; cracks that are growing, reopening after patching, or appearing in a new pattern are worth investigating.

4. Gaps under skirting boards

When the floor drops but the walls stay put, a gap opens between the bottom of the skirting board and the floor. You'll often see it first in corners or along external walls. It's one of the clearest signs that the floor has moved rather than the walls.

5. Bouncy or springy floors

A floor that feels soft or bouncy underfoot usually means the framing — the bearers and joists — has a problem, but it can also mean stumps have dropped away from the bearers and are no longer carrying weight. Either way, something under the floor has changed.

6. Stumps you can see are failing

If you can see under the house through a vent or subfloor access, have a look with a torch. Warning signs include:

Timber stumps rotting at or just below ground level.
Stumps leaning or no longer sitting squarely under the bearer.
Gaps between the stump and the bearer, or packing that has crushed or fallen out.
Cracked or crumbling concrete stumps.
Water pooling or very damp ground under the house.

Only look from the access point — don't crawl under a house that might have structural problems, asbestos or electrical hazards.

7. It's an older house that's never been restumped

Sometimes the biggest sign is simply age. A house built before the 1970s on its original timber stumps is very likely due, even if the symptoms are mild. Red gum lasts a long time, but not forever, and many Geelong homes are on stumps older than their owners.

What else can cause these signs?

Not every crack or sticking door is the stumps. Seasonal movement of timber, a failed door hinge, a plumbing leak softening one area, poor drainage, or a problem with the framing rather than the foundations can all produce similar symptoms. That's why the fix shouldn't be decided from inside the house.

What to do next

If you're seeing two or three of these signs together, the next step is a stump and subfloor inspection. Level readings across the floor show where and how far the house has moved, and a look under the house shows whether the stumps, the packing or the framing is the cause. From there the answer is usually one of:

Nothing yet — the house is sound, keep an eye on it.
Re-levelling — the stumps are fine but the packing has failed.
A partial reblock — some stumps have failed in one area.
A full reblock — the original stumps are failing throughout.

Catching it early usually means a smaller job. Leaving it lets rot spread into the bearers and joists and cracks spread through the plaster — and makes the eventual repair bigger.

7 Signs Your Geelong House Needs Restumping