If you live in a relatively old home, chances are that the foundation is made of wooden stumps. However, while wooden or timber stumps can support a house for years, their structural integrity may deteriorate over time. This could be as a result of erosion, wear, susceptibility to moisture or pest infestation over the years. With a weakened foundation, your house may be at a risk of collapsing, which could result in injuries and costly damages. To prevent this, restumping, a process that involves replacing the old timber stumps with new ones, is often done. Here are some of the signs that your house may be a good candidate for this house restoration process.
Misaligned Windows or Doors
Uneven floors are some of the most common indicators of weakening timber stumps. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to spot uneven floors in your house with the naked eye. Therefore, watch out for doors and windows that appear unaligned. You will notice this when some of your windows or doors fail to shut properly for no apparent reason.
You can even conduct a "marble test" to confirm that your floors are uneven. This simple technique involves placing a marble on your floor and observing its movement. The marble should maintain its position if the floors are even. Another way to perform this test would be to roll the marble anywhere on your floor and observe whether it changes course at any point, usually in an abrupt fashion. This can help pinpoint the areas on the floor where the stumps have weakened the most.
Noisy Floors
Deteriorating wooden stumps will often produce creaking or squeaking sounds as they struggle to support the weight of the house. In most cases, you will hear these noises when walking on the floors or when you move considerably heavy items such as furniture on the floor.
Spongy Floor
Do your floors have a spongy feeling when you walk on them? This is usually a result of decayed wooden stumps.
Cracks in Walls/Brickwork
Cracks may develop in brickwork around your house when the stumps supporting it start to fail. When this happens, part of your house (where the stumps have deteriorated the most) will start sinking, leading to the development of cracks in the walls or even floors. Therefore, watch out for cracks when conducting routine checks around your home. Be keen to identify the size of the cracks too. Usually, larger cracks are a sign that your timber stumps are completely failing, and in such cases, restumping services should be sought after quickly.
