Inner North · Brunswick 3056
Restumping in Brunswick
Brunswick's restumping problem is usually an overload problem. Decades of second-storey additions, rear pop-tops and open-plan reconfigurations have loaded original 1900s stumps with weight and wall positions they were never sized for — and the failure shows up years after the builder has gone.
Brunswick housing — what we are usually dealing with
Brunswick runs from Victorian terraces near Sydney Road through solid brick and timber-floored California bungalows out towards the Merri Creek. The critical detail is that a huge share of these homes has been altered. When an internal load-bearing wall is removed for open plan, the load it was carrying gets transferred to a new beam and then down onto specific points in the subfloor — and if that load lands on 110-year-old timber stumps sitting on nothing but dirt, they will eventually punch down. Second-storey additions do the same thing on a larger scale. We regularly find one or two catastrophically failed stumps under an otherwise healthy house, directly beneath where a wall used to be.
The ground under Brunswick
Brunswick sits on the northern clay plains — moderately reactive clay, considerably more active than the inner west's river flats but nothing like the growth-corridor soils out at Melton. That means seasonal ground movement contributes here: stumps founded on shallow, poorly compacted bases lift and drop with wet winters and dry summers, and mature street trees along the creek corridor draw enough moisture to make one side of a house move more than the other.
What this means for your job
In Brunswick it is worth being specific about whether the job is a restump or a structural correction. If a previous renovation transferred load onto the subfloor without adequate footings, replacing like-for-like stumps will not solve it — that point needs a properly engineered footing sized for the actual load. Any quote for a Brunswick home that has had an extension or open-plan work should identify where the loads come down. Terraces bring a second issue: shared party walls mean movement in your house can involve your neighbour's structure, and that is a conversation to have before work starts, not during.
What we see in Brunswick homes
- A dip or bounce in the floor directly under where a wall was removed for open plan
- New cracking that appeared a year or more after a renovation was completed, not immediately
- One side of the house moving seasonally while the other stays put
- Doors that stick in summer and swing free in winter, pointing to seasonal clay movement rather than pure rot
Restumping costs in Brunswick
$13,000 – $20,000 for a full restumpStandard Brunswick bungalows sit mid-range. Where a previous renovation has dumped load onto the subfloor, budget for engineered footings at those points — commonly $1,500 to $3,000 per location on top, and worth every cent compared with doing it twice.
Indicative range only, based on typical jobs in this area. Access, soil conditions and the extent of movement change the number — a fixed price follows an on-site inspection.
The right service for Brunswick
Brunswick homes of this era have suspended timber floors on individual stumps, so restumping and reblocking is the service that applies — replacing failed stumps and re-levelling the floors above them. Read what the full job involves, including permits and the lifting process, on our restumping page.
Restumping in Brunswick — your questions
Why is my Brunswick house cracking years after the extension was finished?
Because subfloor overload is slow. When a renovation removes a load-bearing wall or adds a second storey, new loads come down onto specific points. If those points are supported by old timber stumps rather than engineered footings, the stumps do not fail immediately — they compress and settle over several years until the movement becomes visible upstairs. That is why the timing feels disconnected from the building work. The fix is to establish where the loads land and put a properly sized footing under each one.
My Brunswick home is a terrace with a shared wall — can it still be restumped?
Yes, but it requires more care and more paperwork. Where a party wall is shared, lifting your floor structure can affect the neighbouring property, and under the Building Act protection work notices may need to be served on the adjoining owner. Practically, it usually means smaller lift increments and independent support to the shared wall. Raise it at quoting stage — a contractor who has not asked about the party wall has not thought the job through.
Is my Brunswick problem stumps or is it the clay?
It can be both, and telling them apart changes the fix. Rot and stump failure produce movement that only ever goes one way — down, and it does not come back. Reactive clay produces seasonal movement: doors that stick every summer and free up every winter, cracks that open and close through the year. If the symptoms are seasonal, restumping alone may not settle it and the footings need to be founded deeper, below the zone where the clay moves.
We also work near Brunswick
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