How Paint Jobs Can Affect Your Home

How Paint Jobs Can Affect Your HomePainting your home is an experience that spans the spectrum for homeowners. It’s time-consuming – that’s for sure – and it really depends on how much value you’re going to get out of it. This article on the Restumping Melbourne blog covers both your internal and external paint jobs and while you’d think that external would take exponentially longer AND cost more – that’s not always the case. Don’t worry, the Restumping Melbourne team is here to provide all sorts of guidance related to every aspect of your home. It helps when you’re the premiere provider of underpinning, reblocking and restumping services (and have been for decades). Why does it help? Because you’re outside at very important points in the process, and you’re also inside – looking at the cracks in the floors, walls and ceilings. Over time, we’ve certainly built up a library of knowledge. Not only about what works and what doesn’t work – but how we can make what doesn’t work turn into what does work. And today, in this post, the key word is paint.

We started stockpiling this information when we started leveraging paint jobs as a good sign that some sort of foundation reinforcement was needed. There are always key signs for this – cracks, moisture, sloped floors, doors that don’t close, etc. But peeling paint jobs weren’t/aren’t necessarily a tip-off that something is wrong with the entire structural integrity of your property. We did start to see a pattern though, and we started to double-check whenever we saw some sort of issue with the paint or wallpaper on the wall.

We always have to give this caveat – it doesn’t necessarily mean that anything is wrong. After all, paint fades and peels, and wallpaper definitely have a lifecycle. But it’s become another check off the list to ensure that we’re doing our homework before the Restumping Melbourne team makes a recommendation about the work that needs to be done.

That’s foundations and that’s our business. But let’s look at it from your point of view, especially if you plan on living in your home as a short-term investment before selling it. You want that paint job to be top-notch – a project that you can easily take on with the help of family or a couple of friends. Just make sure that if you’re working on the exterior, you also factor in the time and money it takes to pressure wash any necessary areas and consult an expert (we’re here) if you have any questions.

We always like to end our blog posts on a happy note and that can certainly be the case if you do a paint job or wallpaper job correctly. If you’re living in the home for life, you’ll feel a certain emotion every time you walk into a room. You might feel a lot calmer; you might feel a pleasant sense of memories; it doesn’t matter – it’s a paint or wallpaper that you pick out and it has sentimental value to you and your household.

The Top 10 Deadliest Floods in History – Part 1

The Top 10 Deadliest Floods in HistoryWhat a depressing title of a post, right? The Restumping Melbourne team doesn’t normally make a point of sharing such information, but every now and again it’s absolutely necessary. Riddle us this – why do you think reinforcing the foundation of your home is so important? It’s not just for fun, it’s for function (although you can’t spell function without fun… come on, you have to give us that one…). Our team has reinforced the foundations of homes for generations and for decades through our restumping, reblocking and underpinning services, because we know how important it is.

As with many things, some of the most important – you have to learn the hard way, through heartache, through disaster, and through hard times. There are fewer things that fit into all three of those categories than floods. If you’re a regular visitor to the Restumping Melbourne blog, then you know that we’ve been doing our best to profile some of the most earth shifting (literally) events that have happened in modern history, as they really are the catalyst for our business and why reinforcing the foundation of your home is so important. Sometimes we like to zero in on one specific event, while others, it’s important to paint a broad picture of what havoc Mother Nature has created. Here is the first part of our list of the top 10 most deadly floods in recent history:

10- North Sea flood, The Netherlands (1212)

Coming in at number ten is the North Sea Flood in The Netherlands. Fun fact – the area is surprisingly one of the most impacted by floods and other natural disasters. This particular flood – commonly called the North Sea flood, began in June 1212 – lasting an extensive six months, claiming almost 60,000 lives and leaving a path of devastation in its wake.

9- St. Lucia’s flood, The Netherlands (1287)

The famous St. Lucia’s flood took place on December 12, 1287 with between 50,000 and 80,000 casualties in both The Netherlands and North Germany. The irony being that before the flood, there was a huge drought, with no water in any of the surrounding lakes. So how did the flood happen? It was a Molotov cocktail of a windstorm, low pressure and a high spring tide. Unfortunately, it destroyed multiple areas, and eventually caused Amsterdam to become coastal town.

8- Jiangsu-Anhui flood / Yangtze river flood, China (1911)

The Yangtze River is the third-longest on the planet. Its 3,917 miles long and the first source of transportation and irrigation in China. The Jiangsu-Anhui flood took place in 1911 when the Yangtze and the Huai (another major path of water) rivers began flooding at the exact same time, claiming almost 100,000 lives. The impacts were felt long after the flood was done, as it left about 375,000 people homeless in all of the surrounding areas.

7- Red River Delta flood, North Vietnam (1971)

1971 was the year when the Red River Delta Flood occurred, obviously at the peak of the Vietnam War. While the Vietnam War caused extensively more damage, the flood did still claim more than 100,000 lives – especially if you lived in the city of Hanoi.

6- St. Felix’s flood, The Netherlands (1530)

The name day of St. Felix wasn’t one of celebration in the year 1530 – when this flood occurred. More than a dozen villages and towns were completely wiped away. Looking at the numbers, about 120,000 people were killed. Land and properties worth more than 100 million euros collectively were completely destroyed. History will always remember it as the deadliest flood in European history – even to this day.

5- Yangtze river flood, China (1935)

The 1935 Yangtze river flood killed more than 145,000 people, also leaving millions of people homeless. This was a particularly scary flood because it brought along diseases and famine for the ride. The diseases included tuberculosis, malaria, and dermatitis.

Still feeling positive? We hope so. Give the Restumping Melbourne team a call so that your home is safe, no matter what Mother Nature sends your way.

How to Take Care of Home Additions

How to Take Care of Home AdditionsWhen you buy a home, there are a lot of considerations. You want to think through what works, what doesn’t, what’s worth it and what’s not. Sometimes, the price is just right and everything is in tip-top shape. Eternal optimists, but hey, it can happen. More often than not, it’s a question of deciding whether additional investment into your property to make it your dream home is worth it. We can’t make that decision for you, but having worked in this industry for decades, the Restumping Melbourne team knows that adding on rooms for specific purposes is generally a huge reason to improve homes after you sign on the dotted line.

Overview – what is an addition? It can be an attic (building up), a basement (building below your home) or an addition on any floor (most commonly your ground floor). Homebuyers add them generally either because they’re expanding their families or households, or there is a particularly promising piece of the property that would work well for passions or projects. We’re talking about gyms, spas, man caves, she shacks… you get the idea.

Now that you’re up-to-date on what an addition is, as well as what it would be used for, let’s talk about how to care for them. The Restumping Melbourne team has an elevated level of respect when it comes to preparing and caring for your home, because we reinforce the foundations of homes with every sort of design and style under the sun. We love it. It keeps us moving and, on our toes, and allows us to help share information like this.

Preparing for an addition – this is *maybe* something you want to plan for when you buy your home, but it can also be a thought after the fact as life happens. If you plan ahead, you’ll know how much space you have and what amenities it needs. Do you need a lot of natural light? Okay, you’ll want to build above ground and probably facing towards where the sun hits best during the day. Do you need it to be soundproof? Sounds like it doesn’t matter if it’s below ground, like a basement, maybe you’re about to embark on the epic journey of becoming a popstar. Or, is it more of a functional question? An additional bedroom knowing that you’re about to expand your family. Factor all of these things in as early as possible, so that you’re not disappointed or having to scramble and get creative when the time comes to build.

Caring for an addition – here’s a heads up… it might look a little bit different than the rest of your home and may require additional renovation when it comes to things like painting or staining the floor, painting or wallpapering the walls and ensuring that the insulation and heat and energy are in line with what you currently have.

With both of the above, don’t fret about the time or money investment. As long as you plan ahead and ask experts like the Restumping Melbourne team any questions that you may have, you’ll be not only good to go… but excited about this new addition to your home.

March Home News

March Home NewsHow is it already March? Soon we’ll have even cooler weather and get to celebrate all of the fun that comes with that. If you’ve checked out previous posts, you know that we have a countdown clock on.

While there are a million different directions that the Restumping Melbourne team could go, we tend to focus on your home. You’ll see all sorts of posts and information on this blog – our way of connecting with you and starting the conversation about reinforcing the foundation of your home. As shared before, we find stability in consistency, which we think helps our prospective and current customers feel as comfortable with our team and the work that we do, as possible. So… guess what time it is! That’s right. March home news. Read on for our favorite finds from around the internet this month:

Build A $10 Million Home

Who doesn’t love a good online test? We’re pretty saturated with them these days. Hey, some of them are pretty bad, but others are pretty good and help you with big decisions that you might not have even known that you had. Well… we found one of the latter, on BuzzFeed (surprise, surprise). It’s become a great hub for not just quizzes, but interesting and visual articles. While we’re not focusing on those today, we do recommend that you check them out. Today, however, you get to act like a millionaire (or billionaire if we’re looking at some of these questions). Build your dream home, we dare you. Full link here to explore.

Build Your Dream Outdoor Space

Okay, we know that this might come off as a little mean for our local friends, given the fact that we’re only heading into colder weather, but we have two responses there: it’s never too early to plan, and – you can plan outdoor spaces for all seasons. In fact, you should. We love stumbling upon articles like this because the Restumping Melbourne team spends so much time outside and can really appreciate the landscaping around your property. Big or small, flat or built on a very steep hill, there are so many creative things that you can do to smile when you come home or go outside first thing in the morning. And we can’t really hate a good sale, so do yourself a favor and check out this compilation of the best ways to build yourself and your household a top-notch outdoor space.

Significant Improvements With Just A Simple Design For Your Home

Painting is one of those things that none of us look forward to (unless you’re a prolific artist, in which case, we’re all just very jealous). The Restumping Melbourne team does a fair amount of painting in our daily roles, but it’s generally very tactical and important because it supports the process of reinforcing the foundation of your home (something we’re pretty good at). This article points out some well-researched reminders that we all need to hear about how painting can really take a home to the next level. You can read more here.

Please reach out with any questions. We’d love to hear from you.

Winterizing Your Home in 2021

Winterizing Your Home in 2021As we’ve shared before on the Restumping Melbourne blog, ‘constant’ is a word that we appreciate and consistently use. It means that though we’re innovating every year and always growing, we know the practices and the information that never grow old. (Or as we say… timeless). Planning ahead for seasons is definitely one of these themes and it’s time to start winterizing. We see and visit a lot of properties that deal with the issues associated with colder weather and love to give out the most up-to-date advice every year so that this issue (or these issues) is/are as minimalized as possible.

*Of note, this is one of two for this month as we just have too much information to share in one blog post.

First of all, a friendly reminder to those who are unfamiliar: ‘what IS winterizing?” Winterizing is a great practice that at worst-case scenario assumes that the home is empty. Ignore that. If you’re in your home, you should still follow the same practices to make sure that your pipes don’t burst, that your heat doesn’t turn off… you get the picture. Here are some of our favourite tips at Restumping Melbourne:

Prepare the plumbing system. You want to purge all of the water out of your existing plumbing system, especially if you’re not going to be home. There’s nothing worse or more expensive than pipes bursting. And… nothing worse to come home to. That said, this advice is specific to those who are heading somewhere warmer for the season: Empty the water heater, drain the entire system of your pipes and bonus points if you’re able to look into filling different fixtures with anti-freeze. You can ask the Restumping Melbourne team for more details.

Insulation is also a key word here and a very important one. As this Yale Climate Connections article shares, “Living in an energy-efficient home does not just save money on utility bills. A well-insulated, weather-tight household heat longer than one that’s poorly insulated and drafty.”

Two other key tips for this post:

  • Make sure that you schedule an inspection for both your furnace and your chimney at least on an annual basis.
  • Make sure that you’re taking a look at your energy/power bills and consulting with experts if you need an energy audit to either understand it better or figure out how to lower it.

And while we’re talking about winterizing, the concept remains in the summer. You just want to do your research about the best ways to insulate, so that the hot air remains outside on warmer days, as does the cold air when winter comes calling.

According to this article, properly insulating and preparing your home for any season can save you upwards of a thousand dollars, as it mentions – especially important during COVID-19 if different families have been impacted. Whether it impacts you or not, this is vital information to know.

As mentioned, – this is one of two. There was just too much information to fit in one blog post and properly serve our community of customers and readers. So, stay tuned…

If you have additional questions heading into the colder seasons, please reach out to Restumping Melbourne. We’re experts at your foundations and reinforcing them, but we definitely also know our way around the other elements of a home to keep it warm and safe.

Foundation Damage: 1931 China Floods

Foundation-Damage-1931-China-FloodsRemember when we talked about the Missoula Floods? It’s been a while, but the Restumping Melbourne team loves perusing our archives. It’s a great reminder of the themes that we love sharing with you – who are so valued as our community of customers. It’s also a great inspiration for fun facts that we again, want to share, and also learn from. When we discussed the Missoula Floods, it was with the intention of sharing the major impacts that Mother Nature doesn’t just have on your home in general, but specifically on the foundation of your home. You can’t fight her and you can’t necessarily plan for her, but when you work with teams like ours, you know that you’re one step ahead and can breathe slightly more easily should negative weather be on the horizon.

Today, we’re traveling to the other side of the world. We’re headed to China.

In 1931, there was a major flood. Not just one, but a series of floods over a period of time. They lasted through the summer of 1931 – from June to August. Can you imagine a worse winter? They’re commonly called the 1931 China floods OR the 1931 Yangtze-Huai River floods. Regardless of what you call them, they hit a tonne of the most prolific cities in the area, including Nanjing and Wuhan.

At the end of all of the fun, the floods had caused a dike breach which took place along Lake Gaoyou. Unfortunately, it had multiple negative outputs, including hundreds of thousands of fatalities. A cholera epidemic took place the next year. It wasn’t a great couple of years for the area…

Here’s what’s important to learn from now:

  • It only took the two years prior, when China dealt with a significant drought.
  • The winter prior was especially harsh, which meant an abundance of snow and ice wherever there were mountains. What happens with harsh winters? They most likely mean significant melting snow and ice in these mountainous areas that then flows directly downward to lower elevations.
  • Triple threat? According to records, that summer saw cyclonic activity that was far higher than normal – we’re talking nine cyclones throughout the region.

So, what does this have to do with your home? More than you’d think. There’s a lot of excitement that goes into choosing a new home. Sometimes it can be a very spontaneous decision. Sometimes it’s something that you’ve pondered over for months on end. There are a lot of criteria that go into it and the plot of land, terrain, elevation, etc., can either be something that’s automatically top of mind or something you’re not thinking about at all.

Our advice… think about it. While we’d like to say that situations like this are rare, we’re still invested in sharing them as cautionary tales, so that you make the right decisions for you and your family. Don’t be scared! The Restumping Melbourne team knows all of the right tricks to reinforce your foundation, you just need to give us a call to start the conversation.

The Importance of Taking Care of Your Crawl Space

The Importance of Taking Care of Your Crawl SpaceThe Restumping Melbourne team’s blog talks frequently about all sorts of matters that affect your home. We believe strongly in diversifying the content that you’ll find on here because it helps you and your households be the best owners and occupants possible. But the root of what we do lies within reinforcing the foundation of your home through our premium restumping, reblocking and underpinning services – all things that you may not think about on a regular basis, but are absolutely paramount.

When we work with the foundation of your home, we need to get below the regular rooms and spaces that you explore. That may be within your basement, but more often than not, it’s areas like crawl spaces. Now, crawl spaces aren’t areas where you’d have any sort of dinner party or even want to relax after a long day. But they are really important to the design of the home, because they’re basically the barrier between the poles or stumps that support your home and the spaces that you can use for absolutely whatever you want.

That’s why they’re important. Or at least the number one reason. But how and why should you take care of them?

They’re small spaces, often even seeming claustrophobic for some, but they’re the closest to the ground and that means that they easily gather moisture. Not good. You want to keep these areas dry. The crawl space is often a frequently forgotten about area, so it may be lined with soil. That’s the easiest way for moisture to get in. Our recommendations? Look into vapor barriers. Insulation if you have any air ducts or pipes down there can help, just make sure that they’re properly installed. Finally, you might want to think about having a dehumidifier installed down there.

We all know how it feels on really cold days if you’re not properly equipped to stay warm. Not fun, right? Well, insulation is the key here and there is no exception for your crawl space. If you don’t have it, it’s the easiest way for air to travel upwards and upend your day in the rooms you’re using. Bonus? Adding insulation makes your home more energy-efficient.

Finally, figure out a way to keep out any sort of bugs. Definitely something to avoid. This is the easiest way for them to get into your house. They can chew through electrical equipment; they can create health challenges and they can cause odors that you just don’t know the source of. But don’t fret! We have ideas. This is one where we recommend working with professionals, but whenever you move into a home, make sure that your air ducts are properly screened as that’s the first line of defense.

Questions? Let us know. The Restumping Melbourne team would love to help.

* image source: Evergreen Attic Insulation

Bad Weather is Coming… What do you do for Your Home?

Bad Weather is ComingNot much worse, right? You hear that there’s a storm on the horizon and you simply never know how bad it’s going to be. The Restumping Melbourne team obviously thinks about the safety and comfort of our customers first. It’s why our business was literally created on reinforcing the foundation of your homes. It might sound a little selfish, but if we contribute to that, then we immediately have a stake in the game, making sure that you’re taking care of the rest of your home. Customer service is a big part of it. If we could call each of our customers whenever there’s a storm – believe us, we would. But since we can’t, we share what we can right here on our blog. So, what do you do when there’s an impending storm? Let us tell you:

The first thing that’s going to come down around your property is any sort of trees and associated debris. If there are any examples around the property, especially close to your home, make sure that they’re cleared and removed.

Now, you have to look at fences and gates. It doesn’t matter what style or material, these are a small component of your home’s design and should a storm be fierce, it’s very possible that they’ll be crippled. There’s not a ton you can do, besides making sure that gates are closed and that there are no loose posts.

If you know it’s going to be a windy storm, you’re going to want to do some work inside as well. Heavy furniture should be alright, but if you have any qualms, the Restumping Melbourne team recommends that you secure all things. If you have expensive artwork on the walls, especially in precarious places, take it down, so that it doesn’t fall and smash.

Gutters are the bane of many of our existences, it doesn’t matter if there’s a storm or not. At least with storms, you hopefully know they’re coming. To that point, it’s a great excuse to clean out your gutters, no matter how much of an annoying job it may be. Carve out an hour or two, make sure that you have a sturdy ladder, and check that there isn’t a build-up that could prove problematic to the frame of your home.

Have the basics ready to roll. We’re talking food, batteries, all of the usual suspects. Insider tip – make sure that you don’t use them just because you’re running low on a random Sunday. Put everything in a box that would last you at least 72 hours, label however you please and then don’t allow yourself to touch it. It’s an emergency box for a reason.

There are dozens of other pieces of advice that we can give, especially as we head into a season where storms are a lot more likely. You know what’s great? Even if the power is off, we’re always on. Reach out with questions and comments whenever you’d like.

February Home News

February Home NewsCan our readers believe that it’s almost winter? Time is definitely flying by and we’re enjoying a beautiful autumn, no matter where you live. Every month continues to surprise us and the industry definitely feels the same. Trends are changing, opinions are changing, so many things are changing. Don’t worry – the Restumping Melbourne team is on the case. We always are, whether it comes to the work that we’re doing on the foundation of your home or the support that we show when we share every piece of information that we deem worthy of our valued base of customers. Yes, it’s about that time. Read on for our favorite finds throughout February about just about anything related to your current or future dream home:

Post-pandemic Dream Home

If you didn’t know, there’s a pandemic going on. Jokes aside (we don’t think anything related is funny), it has driven a variety of changes, updates, successes and failures as different economic sectors decide different ways to work and different ways to help out their customers. Construction and home design is no different, in fact, it’s been a great role model. We’re looking at a new future in a lot of areas, and staying on top of information like this is absolutely vital for our company to succeed and for our customers to be safe and comfortable. We’re talking about the post-pandemic home. Check out this link for more information.

How to Make a Mood Board for Interior Design

To the point above, many are spending more time than previously anticipated at home and maybe even in a state of solitude. As you’ll see on pretty much every aspirational site, this is the perfect time to inspire and motivate yourself creatively. We may be biased, but since your home is pretty much the most perfect slate to exercise such skills, we loved this article. Heard of mood boards? We’re sure you have. In some capacities, you may think that they’re a little bit bogus, but they’re actually a really great tool to design your dream home. You just need to know how to properly design one. Style, mood and colours are the three key words that you need to think about, but we’ll let you check out the article in full to answer all of the other questions that you may have.

Dreaming of Growing Your Produce?

We’re also sure that many of you are simply looking for a hobby. When you work with every facet of our customers’ homes, looking in and looking out, you start to think about what could be done to make the best homes even better. You notice trends. You notice what works and what doesn’t. If you’re someone who is looking for a hobby, might we suggest growing your own vegetables in your garden? It’s even easier than you may think. From everyone we know who has explored this – it’s incredibly satisfying. You’re saving money, you’re eating something you’ve created yourself in some cases, and you’re limiting your carbon footprint. Learn more here.

Home Improvements for Your Pets

If you have a pet of any sort, you get it. Your life tends to revolve around them. As some of us say, “it’s your world… we just pay for it.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s commendable. They’re another member of your household whose needs you need to keep in mind at all times. They can honestly be even higher maintenance than children sometimes. Children grow up and (hopefully) learn to take care of themselves. Pets, while very smart, will rely on you for their entire lives.

When you get a pet, no matter what kind, you need to make all sorts of sacrifices. You need to think about your schedule, you need to think about budgeting for what they need, and the focus of today’s post – you need to adjust your home a little bit. That can be overwhelming, but you know that the Restumping Melbourne team not only has your back but will help prepare you for every situation. In today’s case, let’s prepare your home for a pet. Read on for more information and always reach out to us with any questions and comments:

  • Do your homework about what you need to buy. The first thing that comes to mind is anything that’s going to protect your floor (potty pads, a cat litter box, etc.), but this article has a great comprehensive list. We should clarify that this article does tend to focus on your furry friends, especially because they are the most mobile.
  • Once you’ve done your homework and purchased what you think you need, again – focus on the floors first. It’s not like they can do their business on the walls or ceiling. (If they can, let us know – that’s just impressive). You don’t want to be constantly cleaning your carpet, where stains can sink in quickly and you won’t even know they’re there. You don’t want to be constantly wiping up your wooden floor – nobody’s back wants that. Training is obviously a solution, but so too are the products like we mentioned above. You might want to purchase a few in key rooms in the house, where you’re noticing that your pets are hanging out the most.
  • Gates are paramount, depending on the size of your pet and how well they’re trained. Especially when they’re babies and if they have explorative natures, you don’t want them wandering around the house. So, set up gates outside of key areas, (especially where there are valuables) and at the foot or top of the stairs if you have a multi-storey home.
  • Finally – and this can be the most cost-intensive, you might want to look into a mini door on your back door for your pet to go in and out. Of note, this should only be explored once they’re trained and you know they won’t escape, but can be a game-changer, especially if you have outdoor spaces that they can learn to access and then enjoy by themselves. Just make sure they’re fenced in!