Playing Nice With Your Neighbors During Installation

Your relationship with your neighbors is of a particular variety. It doesn’t matter whether you’re thick as thieves or avoid each other at all costs, respect still needs to be present. It’s not just because your neighbors will come in handy when you need that egg or cup of sugar, it’s because your neighbors play a bigger role than you know when you’re undergoing home repairs or renovations.

Playing-Nice-With-Your-Neighbors-During-InstallationThere are two different ways that we can look at this. The first is that whole thick-as-thieves, best friends for life, best man or maid of honor in your wedding type relationship. We all aspire to have these relationships with everyone that we know, but when they work out with neighbors, the minimal distance and close proximity are extra handy. Yes you can borrow ingredients when you need. You can also ask them to keep an eye on your place when you’re out of town or walk the dog if you’re late at the office.

The other end of the spectrum can be difficult to navigate, and this plays a big role in home improvements or repairs. If you don’t get along well with your neighbors, not only have you lost out on all of the benefits detailed above, but they can also make your life very difficult if you’re trying to update your property. Fencing is one particular example that comes to mind. After all, it’s on their property as well. They need to sign off on its design, materials, price and schedule. While your neighbors don’t have to sign off on the update of your foundation or any of the Restumping Melbourne services, they will probably want to know about new strangers on the property, machinery and extra cars in the street.

So how does one go about creating the best relationship possible with your neighbors? There are a couple of main characteristics to focus on.

The first is transparency. We always recommend letting your neighbors know at the beginning of the valuation process that you’re having work done to your property- no matter what it is. As stated above, it might be the smallest repair but it can have a domino effect of side repercussions including traffic and machinery.

The next is patience. Home repairs are stressful, even if they’re not your own. They can disrupt your life in the smallest of ways. A smile and brief conversation whenever you see your neighbors during the process will put you in your neighbor’s good graces in no time.

Finally, make sure that good humor is integrated into all of your interactions with your neighbors. Good moods are infectious. If you are perpetually in a good mood, the chances are much higher that those around you will be in good moods. Good moods are interesting, because they serve as immediate catalysts to ensure a good experience is had by all involved.

Follow these recommendations and your home repair or installation will speed right on by.

The Materials Used in Restumping

1If you didn’t understand how houses are painted, would you feel comfortable entrusting the service to someone you barely knew and who didn’t explain their work at all? If you didn’t know how taxes worked, would you be okay calling up the first CPA in the phone book or listed on the internet and saying, “hey, take my money.” If you’ve answered yes to either of these questions, then we may have a larger problem on our hands.

The team at Restumping Melbourne knows our stuff inside and out. We have the decades of experience to prove it. But why should that be enough for you to choose us? It shouldn’t. You should feel comfortable asking us, “what on earth we’re doing and how,” at any point in the process.

Part of this is the materials that we use. The fact alone that restumping and reblocking are phrases used interchangeably depending on where you live, is probably confusing enough. Here’s a breakdown of the different materials used in the restumping process, all over the country.

Victoria:

  • Victoria chooses rot-resistant timber stumps. Victorian Red Gum is one of the most commonly used. There is an advantage with Victorian Red Gum– it’s 10% cheaper than concrete. However it does have the disadvantage of limited life expectancy. Many don’t care about this because they will still last upwards of 20 years and many assume that they won’t be in their homes that long. It’s still something to keep in mind, regardless.
  • In our opinion, an equally as impactful disadvantage with Victorian Red Gum timber stumps is that they won’t be nearly as well-secured to the the bearers as concrete stumps will be. This ultimately means that the home won’t be leveled as accurately.

Concrete:

  • Concrete stumps are used throughout Australia. They’re on the market in several different types. Those that cause the best connection have a 10mm diameter threaded rod at the top of the stump, which is then secured with a footing from a poured concrete pad. This threaded rod is what allows the stump to be bolted securely to the floor frame. Once you do this properly, you prevent both upward movement and downward movement. Then the concrete pad provides protection against the settlement of long term footing.
  • These concrete stumps last indefinitely– the longest shelf life by far. The only exception here is the most damp conditions because even the best concrete stumps are amenable to rust. If a stump rusts, it may expand and cause weakness.

Queensland

  • Life Victoria, Queensland has specialized stumps that they tend to use frequently when they enforce the foundation of their homes and businesses. In the past, the stumps that contractors used in the area were made from 300mm diameter ironbark or rot-resistant timber of a similar style.
  • These days, these choose CCA (Copper Chrome Arsenate) treated pine, or concrete stumps. In a lot of areas where the ground is particularly soft, a concrete footing is poured first.
  • High wind stresses are also particularly prevalent, so anchor bolts are required in each corner, around the perimeter every four meters and also under bracing walls.

We want to equip you to ask the right questions. If there is content that we don’t cover, feel free to reach out to any of our team members. We’ll be happy to help. 

 

Great Ways to Weatherproof Your Home

Whether we like it or not, there are four seasons each calendar year- each with specific weather patterns. Maybe you lucked out and you live in a more temperate area, but most endure the heat of the summer and the bitter cold of the winter, at least for a small amount of time.

1During the summer, you probably curse the insufferable heat. You feel like there’s never enough air in the room, and didn’t know that your body could produce that much sweat. During the winter months, you regret every negative thing that you had to say about good ‘ol summer. You picture the heat as an oasis in the bitter cold. Unfortunately, both of these extremes have great impacts on your comfort level at home. So today lets discuss a few easy and inexpensive ways to weatherproof your home for any day of the year:

  • Add plastic coverings to the inside of your windows. You can easily add plastic coverings to the interior of your windows to help insulate and fight the draft. Add plastic over wooden blinds, leaving a hole at the top to pull the cord through so that you can still open the blinds and allow the sun to shine through, when it comes out to play.
  • Purchase Draft Stoppers for your doors. There are tons of aesthetically pleasing models which serve their purpose to keep the right air in the room, and the wrong air out.
  • Get a Water Heater Insulating Blanket. When you Insulate your hot water heater you can create drastic energy savings because you reduce the heat that you lose through the sides of the water heater by 25-40%. Energy savings mean much more money back in your wallet, where it belongs.
  • Insulate all of the outlets in your home. This may not sound very intuitive, but it’s extremely important. The majority of the electrical outlets, especially if you have an older home, aren’t insulated. This is a surefire opportunity for the cold air to sneak in. Outlets are just a hole in wall, after all. Don’t worry, this is easy enough to remedy. All you need to do is purchase foam padding and line the outlets and light switches. Just make sure that you follow directions when working around electricity.
  • Look into both attic or basement insulation. Yes, this will be a bit more of an investment, but like any good investment, when done right, you will see the greatest return. Uninsulated spaces, just like your outlets, are the biggest opportunities to let in the cold air and let the hot air out. You can reach out to a professional or do it yourself, just by rolling extra insulation along the floor and walls of your attic or basement.  

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tips for keeping your home warm and cozy. You know how passionate the Restumping Melbourne team is about everything home renovation so feel free to reach out to us with any questions that you may have.

What Makes a Great Contractor?

I’m sure you’ve seen both good and bad contractors in your day. Hopefully more of the former, but too often we’ve received alls to help us eradicate situations where contractors have really made a mess of of it for our customers. This always hurts us to the core. In the mind of every team member at Restumping Melbourne, there is no reason out there why work shouldn’t be tip-top, done in a timely manner and with a smile on every team member’s face. The best way to circumvent a negative experience with your future work on your home or business? Call Restumping Melbourne. If that’s not an option, or you need a little time to realize that it’s the best option, here are some tips and tricks to look for in choosing your next contractor:

Make Sure That They, Or Their Company, Have a Vision- This should be a no-brainer, but too often, contractors decide to be solely logistical, with no creative drive. Your contractor or contracting company should be an equal balance of analytical, creative and logistical. It’s the trifecta of successful work. Your contractor should not only come to the table with ideas to upgrade your home or business, but when asked- a vision for their company or future. Emotion drives creativity, and you know that they’ll have a stake in the work that they do.

Discuss Leadership And What It Means To Them- When you choose a contractor, you’re giving them full reign over your home or business. You’re putting your trust in them, to manage this huge investment (probably emotionally, and financially), and you’re hoping against hope that they’re going to treat it with care and respect. You’re not going to get the same level of care and respect from someone who isn’t ready to lead his or her team. If your contractor can successfully lead a team, then your work will be done more quickly and more efficiently. You can read leadership from the initial conversation. They’re a listener, they’re thoughtful, they’ll deliver answers on every question that you come up with. And most of all? They have a plan.

1They Want To Learn And They Want To Teach- Here at Restumping Melbourne, we will never believe that there is a crux in the industry, or a pinnacle of when we’ll reach perfection. There are too many amazing vendors in the area, nipping at the backs of our heels. What sets us apart from them? And, what should set your next contractor apart from the pack? Both the drive to learn, AND the drive to teach. Do not think about them as two separate entities. Rather they should drive eachother, the chicken and the egg. If your contractor wants to learn, he or she will tend to be on the cutting edge of new methods and materials to integrate into their work. If they want to teach, you will feel far more looped into the project and up-to-speed on exactly what is happening.

When in doubt, give us a shout. We will cut through all the spin and help you achieve the quality of work that you deserve.

Welcome!

Welcome to Restumping Melbourne! We are so excited that you’ve visited our site and want to share with you what sets us above and beyond other restumping, reblocking and underpinning companies in Melbourne and the rest of Australia. At base level, we also offer general construction, repair, decking and renovation works. More holistically, we ensure that your home or business is a place that you’re proud of, and that it will be for years to come. Consider this blog a forum to keep you up-to-date on all things restumping, reblocking and underpinning. We want to continue the conversation about your needs and how we can best service you. Check back in regularly for seasonal deals, tips, and helpful knowledge about restumping, reblocking and underpinning.

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