Find an underpinner or restumper in WA

Foundation repair in Western Australia

Perth's coastal sands drain well but can wash out under leaking pipes; clay pockets inland move seasonally like the eastern states. Double-brick on slab dominates, so start at signs of subsidence unless your floors are timber with a crawl space underneath.

Subsidence in Perth: what it looks like and what fixes it

Subsidence is the ground under part of the house giving way, so one section of footing drops. On Perth's sand it is usually a leaking pipe, a soakwell that has stopped draining or stormwater pooling against the house washing the sand out from under a footing. In the clay belt further inland it is more often the soil shrinking through a dry summer. The signs are the same either way: stepped cracks in the brickwork, doors and windows out of square on one side of the house, floors that slope towards a corner, and gaps opening between skirtings and the floor.

The fix depends on what has moved. If the footing has dropped and the soil beneath it can no longer be trusted, that is underpinning: new support under the footing by mass concrete, screw piles or engineered resin. If the slab has settled but the ground around it is otherwise sound, a slab re-levelling lifts the floor back and re-compacts the sand beneath it, often with resin injection. Whichever it is, the cause gets fixed first; underpinning over a pipe that is still leaking only moves the problem along the wall.

Re-levelling in WA: slab homes and stumped homes

"Re-levelling" means a different job on different houses. On a double-brick slab home it is slab lifting or underpinning, as above. On a timber-floored house with a crawl space underneath, which is common in older inner-suburban and regional WA stock, it is a relevel or restump: jacking the floor back to level and packing or replacing the stumps that have sunk or rotted. Say which kind of house you have when you enquire, because it decides which firm should be quoting.

Before you ask for quotes

Photograph and date the cracks, note whether they are still growing, and look for wet ground, blocked downpipes or a soakwell that no longer drains. For anything beyond hairline cracking, an independent structural engineer's report before any contractor visits gives every firm the same brief to price against and keeps a product-led diagnosis out of the picture. Engineer's reports explained.