Hullo there.
Stumps have sunk on one side of IP. This has of course produced a distinct slope down one side of the house (ie the enclosed verandah only). Consequently some of the windows are jammed on that side.
Now while the tennant hasnt complained, he has suggested his father, who has a restumping business, is willing to put in a quote.
I had been planning on putting in a fence but now Im wondering if the money wouldnt be better spent on re-stumping. Tho I really don’t have a lot of cash to splash around.
Do you think it is better to do the re-stumping? Do you think the value of the house is decreased because of the sloping floor? Would it deter you from buying the property?
Thankyou for any comments
MillyHi Milly,
I suggest you get an assessment of how bad the problem is first, it may only be with the verandah.Complete restumping may or may not be required and you don’t want to spend money unnecessarily. You do however, need to stop further deterioration.Your income is derived from having a liveable house to rent out, you need to protect that income. Leave the fence for now
Jeff
Hello Milly
Leaving the restumping will end up costing you more medium to long term. In qld stumping can range from $200 to 400 per stump depending how low or how long they are. concrete or steel are best. Have these capped as well.I agree with Jeff, the fencing is really a plus in this instance.
Ray
Restumping can also cause problems with plaster cracking and requiring fixing and painting.
My sister re did the stumping on her PPOR and there are cracks in the plaster everywhere.
Restumping is no easy task.
Thats one of the reasons I am not too keen on weatherboard houses unless its been restumped recently.
oh groooooooooooan! I guess I had better get it done.
Interesting comment Yack about the plaster splitting. I have experienced problems myself in restumping. Five yrs ago when we raised our home, doors and windows no longer shut.(the house is now exactly level but wasnt prior to raising). My wardrobe doors STILL havent been attended to. Of course things ya put up wiht yourself, Id never expect tennants to put up with.
Actually that would make an interesting thread….’things we put up with in our PPOR that we wouldnt permit in our IP’. Besides wardrobe doors not shutting, Ive had the top of the toilet cistern off for 4 months now so I can manually push down that plunger thingamy when ya flush.
Anyways this IP doesn’t have plaster walls.VJ’s tend to have a bit more give thankfully.
thanks for comments
Milly<<<<<<Anyways this IP doesn’t have plaster walls.VJ’s tend to have a bit more give thankfully.>>>>>
What are VJ’s????
Yack,
VJ’s = tongue and groove.Incidently we gotta let this topic die cos I keep reading ‘stinking sumps’ instead of ‘sinking stumps'[confused2]
No cant let it die just yet… Stinking, sinking stumps… I am about to buy an IP that has two stumps which require replacement. Was quoted $75.00 per stump.
I know nothing about stumps, but as far as I am concerned when it comes to structural issues with houses, this takes priorty over everything.
Cheers[biggrin]I have just had the exact same problem with an IP.
Windows on one part were badly binding and it was due to movement in the stumps.My PM called in a tradey of some sort who said the stumps didn’t actually need replacing, as this entails the entire house being raised to replace them. Instead, he just jacked up the offending part of the house, using a truck jack I think, and slid pieces of tile or somesuch onto the tops of the stumps and then put back the whiteant capping into place.
Total cost to me, only $100. Tenant is now happy she can now open the windows again.[biggrin]
If you want to get out of a hole, first stop digging.
l’l tell ya a little story about re-stumping. In general figures. A mate bought a house for 27k on the 7,000 FHOG and on a pension, the reason why probably he got it cheaper then the average duck was because it needed re-stumping, because there was a swamp nearby with a trickle of a river running thru it. He had intended to do up the house slowly and re-stump it ect, but he probably put 4,000 into it and two years later late 2003 solf it for 75k Woooow what happened, well in that time three things happened, the property boom was on and happening, two). The Hamilton areas had released info of the big Mineral mines coming and Three) For rob in his area the council had annouced a major project to restore the swamp , into a huge eco park for birds and playgrounds! I know that had all the benifits of capital gains in times mentioned. But that’s a story about a house that needed re-stumping. But never got re-stumped.
***********************
Online Positive Cashflow Financial Analysis Calculator.Marisa $75/stump!!! woohooo yahooo! I want your stumper!
But even better, Brenda, I love your solution and I shall certainly be mentioning it to whoever gets the job.
Jaffasoft, I am really curious about the end of that story. Did your mate go on a spending spree of buy another house?
Sorry , my thread subscription didn’t work!
No my mate silly bugger, it was a strange story because he had never bought a home before and just wanted to buy his own home, but the way he was thinking (because I know him really well he’s a life time mate) he thought he had to get into a house and away from his parents to impress and ‘get’ a girlfriend. But he actaully wouldn’t go to his new home most of the time, hence he just sold it [biggrin]. But it was funny because I hadn’t known he had sold it and visited him ‘about’ three months later. And here he was with a brand new second hand ute and new studio recording equipment and a few new things [biggrin], back in his parents home [exhappy]!!
He said he’d spent about 20 thousand so far. With a total of $45,000 when he sold the house.
Here I was sitting there thinking shame shame, esp with all this investor knowledge going on in my head. But then again that just what he wanted and the way things worked out so I was just happy with his success. But he done it all without really knowing the powers that be that was at work and what was going on in the market at the time.
I guess not that dis-simular to a lot of other people buying a home around that time. milly
Just wondering if the sinking is caused by the original stumps not put in properly (may be not deep enough), or if the soil is unstable another restumping may be needed in few years time (throwing good money after bad !). Any builders/architects in this forum ?
I recently signed contracts on a property and then found out the stumps were rotten. They didn’t budge on original price even though i did have a clause in there for acceptable pre-purchase condition report.The rough quote for stump repairs was about $5000.
I got underneath and with the help of my dad (civil engineer), poked at every stump with a screwdriver about 6 inches below ground level (being very careful to put dirt back how it was….critical!!). And made a plan that showed only 10 stumps really needed doing.
The cause was a sloping block, and some minor digging will fix the water flowing under house when it rains.
I have bought stump preserver for $60 to treat each stump. Maybe a weekends work.
And a stump re-blocker just quoted me $660 to change the 10 stumps.
So for a bit of poking around and a weekends work and $660 (claim on tax), it sure beats the $5000 original quote.
[hat]
lifexperience
New member, baby boomer/ architect. Lifexperience has the good oil here. Examining each stump by digging to expose about 100 mm below the soil line showed that only a small number needed to be replaced due to wet conditions. As a general rule, where more than 20% of the stumps show deterioration, a complete stump replacement is generally recommended. Stump deterioration can result from the type of timber used, soil conditions, water problems or insect attack. Water problems are generally the main cause of deterioration.
Just discovered one of our IP’s (fibro) – has a couple of sinking stumps at the front and have caused a lot of movement in the house (cracking walls/sticking windows ect. Should have got onto it sooner, as we discovered a leaking front tap which had been trickling under the house thus causing the damage. My father-in-law is going to crawl under the house this weekend and take a look, but says he can use cement to rectify the offending stumps!! He seemed to think it was not too major, so will keep you all posted on how we get on with this one. SQ
hi guys
wow, my first post!!
another way to test stumps is to whack them with a hammer, the ones carrying weight will ‘ring’, the rotten ones will sound ‘dull’. been there done that – i restumped my renovators opportunity myself
steve
You guys have me stumped.
I am a registered building practitioner in restumping and underpinning, and i can tell you now, you cannot determine the condition of stumps by digging 100, 200 or even 300mm from the soil surface level. Hence the thought of replacing a hand full of stumps is rediculous. The first point of deterioration occurrs primarily in the sole plate first. Also, a stump deteriorates from the ground up, not from the middle down. I can tell you that if you have more than 2 or 3 stumps deteriorated, I could guarantee that more than 80% of your stumps have deteriorated. I'm not here to promote business, i'm just here to tell you it's an urban myth to think you can get away with replacing a few stumps. Do you drive your car with three wheels?
My email is [email protected] for professional advice, which is free.
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