Restumping or reblocking of a house is a process in which stumps of a house are replaced with new ones. Stumps are the building blocks of the support structure of any house, so sometimes stumps start to establish in an improper way due to soil movement or wooden stumps start to rot away due to moisture. In such a scenario, it becomes necessary to replace the old stumps with new ones otherwise the whole structure could collapse causing huge damage to people living inside.
There is a number of factors to think about when you are planning to execute the restumping process and the most important factor is the cost of restumping a house. Depending on the extent of damage, it becomes very important to execute this step and that too, soon.
What can be the Cost of Restumping a House?
What is the Whole Process?
The process of restumping could be a long and tedious one. It involves assessment by a professional who makes an analysis of how much damage has been done under the house, what will be the total number of stumps required and how they are to be used.
Restumping can of Two Types:
- Partial restumping: This includes the restumping at few specific places or particular areas of the house that are supposed to be at high risk of uncertain damage, while others are in good condition.
- Full restumping: This is a much greater task where the whole structural frame of a house has to be restumped. The cost of restumping a house usually goes up when a full house needs to be restumped by replacing all the blocks present in the original structure of the house.
The Process of Restumping involves:
- Testing the soil where the foundation of the house is built upon. The soil condition will determine how to go about the process so as to avoid any problems in the future.
- The defective stumps are removed one by one, usually by jacking up the house.
- The new stumps are installed and the house is evenly leveled.
It is usually said that stumping is required when there are noticeable signs that a house is sinking into the ground as there is a change in height or elevation and other associated problems.
Some of the indicative signs that can tell you if your house is in need of stumping are:
- The floors of the house begin to show an evident slope.
- The doors become more difficult to open.
- There are visible cracks on the walls of the house.
- There has to be a proper on-site assessment to confirm if the house requires restumping or there are other ways to fix these problems.
How Long can Restumping Take?
The time required in restumping a house, like a process itself, depends on a lot of factors. The first thing that needs to be verified is whether the house requires partial or full restumping. Then comes the size of the house and the extent of damage that has to be fixed. On average, it can be said that the full restumping of a house of moderate size will take around 7-9 days. A partial restumping can take about 2-3 days, depending on how many stumps are to be replaced. The cost of restumping a house will vary along with these factors.
This is the overview about the cost of restumping a house, the parameters involved, and what other things have to be taken into consideration before one decides on the process. Given the odds, one should always be careful about the maintenance of the house and be aware of the timely changes required by the structure that one calls home.