So in our walk-throughs it was most evident that the building would require leveling. The stumps themselves looked fairly good to the untrained eye, but subsidence had set in over many years causing very uneven floors. The worst affected areas were the external walls, of course, due to the weight of the roof primarily pushing down on the piers supporting those walls. This was especially evident in the foyer area where the manager’s office glass door became a structural support, as well as in the kitchen, which I’m sure was hired out as a slope during ski season.

So if you’re in Jandowae and you need your house leveled or re-stumped, who do you call? Well, not Ghostbusters, but the very next best thing – Wassell House Removals. We called for a quote as soon as settlement was effected and Ian was able to fit us in the very next Thursday! Honestly, when one thinks of re-stumping or leveling, one thinks of an exorbitant price tag. I have to admit my chest was pounding and I cringed just a little when I saw Ian calculating up the quote in his head… When he dropped the bombshell though, I thought I needed to get my ears checked. It was most definitely reasonable, and at least half to a quarter of what any of us had thought it would cost. That said, all the piers were in good condition and none needed replacing. Being a low-set no doubt also helped reduce the cost.

I have to admit the process was rather fascinating to observe. I lamented that other duties called me away for most of the day and I only got to witness about an hour at the beginning and end of the job.

Because the building has two fixed points – these being the large vault and the double stack chimney, the rest of the building needed to be raised and lowered to suit them, instead of just finding a median point to work to. This no doubt created the need to raise certain areas more than would ordinarily be required.

I didn’t ask, but presume the numbers on the piers relate to the amount of lift required at each stump. Presumably the numbers correlate to measurements in millimetres, and even at that it is still a rather substantial amount. Whilst most were around 50, from memory I saw one or two that were above 70!

One may assume that with a timber structure there’s a lot of forgiveness when it comes to a job like this. In the case of a row of windows such as here though, that all goes … uh… out the window, if you’ll pardon the pun. The long row of aluminium windows that had been installed along the length of the old verandah certainly didn’t make the job easy for the Wassell’s boys. They needed to lift that entire side up effectively as one piece, taking each point up just a fraction at a time to ensure there wasn’t too much pressure put on any single pane of glass.

It has to be said that I would never recommend anyone attempt this as a DIY project. Whilst at times the job may appear simple (on the surface), what we don’t get to see is the years of experience and training to ensure there is no unforeseen damage to the property. There are certain jobs that just ought to be left to the professionals, and this is most certainly one of them!

In the afternoon I returned to find the job almost completed, the boys were just re-mounting some of the skirting fence that needed to be removed to allow them to do their job in the first place. As I previously mentioned, due to the fixed points within the building, the rest of the structure needed to be raised and lowered to suit. As such, there are a few new areas that will need to be repaired. These include the top cornice around both the fireplace in the living room and the stove cavity in the kitchen as well as the bottom skirting around the front and side of the vault.

The job had been finished quite nicely by the addition of custom cut stump pieces. It was great to see the previously warbled walls straight again. No more ski slope in the kitchen either! And the manager’s door has ceased its structural function too.

Earlier that morning I was talking with Ian about the fire that had occurred in the kitchen at some point, and since I mentioned we were going to rip out the false wall next to where the stove was, he told me he got curious  and pried back a panel.

As per our assumptions, there is no damage inside this cavity, which means that we can most certainly use the space, if we work out how best to do so. But we’ll talk about our kitchen puzzle another time.

The next step will be to assess and prep the outside for the external paint job.