What To Use As A Datum Point When Restumping?

[Metal Head]

Hi,

As I have stated elsewhere we had our place restumped several months ago. I remembered asking the contractors where did their water level tests from. They informed me that you (as they did) should use the base of the brick chimney (as the datum point) as it wouldn't have moved compared to the wooden stumps.

Is this what you professionals/expert amataurs use to level off the wooden floor with?. I hope I have made myself understood.

Thanking those in advance who reply to my questions.

Cheers
David

[ThePope]

chimney sounds reasonable, is there a reason you can't use that ?

[Ashore]

After the earthquake in Newcastle had to have all the foundations replaced under insurance and the local pro's used the fireplaces as the Datum point


Rgds

[thebuildingsurv]

The reason you need to use the chimney a datum point is that if you jack the building up any higher than this, it may cause problems with the chimney collapsing, unless you cut it clear from the rest of the building. If the chimney is lower than other parts of the house you need to use normal concrete stumps and weld a thread on to it and once the concrete has set tighten the thread to pull the bearer down.

[some_one]

:eek: Guys BEWARE!!! , we had our place restumped and guesssssss whattttt.....the chimney had moved or had sunk to one side and the guys found out only when doing the levels...as they could not understand why chimney was lower than other parts of the house.....hummmmmmmmm, so they went out side with a level and found that the wall of the chimney was not straight. So if you have any such doubts ask the guy who will do restumping to do a level before they start so that they know what they are going in for...:mad:

[Metal Head]

Sorry for the continuing saga. However you will see that I have attached a couple of pictures of our chimnley pot. Where the cables come out of the weatherboards signal the internal floor level of the house.

I assume this is the datum point I work from?. Can anyone else confirm this to reassure me please.

Cheers
David

[outback]

If ya chimbley moves, does it stop the smoke from going up?

[seanr]

I spent many years in the surveying industry . I'm curious why you cant use a solid base as a datum point . ie driveway (paint a small x ) road (insert a spike ) brick wall etc . Something that will not move , this is what we always used . You can then go from this point to the chimney and use the original datum to check that the chimney is correct as the road or driveway wont move . 10 mins extra work , will save stress, time ets..

[thebuildingsurv]

You can use whatever you want as a datum (fence post or whatever) but as I said in my previous post you can not jack up a house higher than the chimney without cutting the rest of the structure free of the chimney. Then you might have problems with the hearth etc anyway.

[grinner]

You'll need to pull of the external barge / base boards near the chimney so you can see and get to the the top of the stumps or underside of the bearers nearest the chimney. Then use this point as a reference for the top of the stumps for the rest of the house.

[Metal Head]

You'll need to pull of the external barge / base boards near the chimney so you can see and get to the the top of the stumps or underside of the bearers nearest the chimney. Then use this point as a reference for the top of the stumps for the rest of the house.

Thanks to all those for taking the timeout to reply - much appreciated.

Regards
David